SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 (UPI) -- Most U.S. young people believe their retirements will depend on their own individual planning and investments, a survey released Tuesday indicates.
In what it calls "a landmark study of four generations," Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. of San Francisco released a survey of 4,000 people that indicates a big majority of "Generation Y" (people between the ages 21 to 31) believes their retirement funding will come mostly from personal savings and investments, signaling a "coming era of financial self-reliance."
Only 32 percent from the oldest generation (ages 63 to 83) hold the same view, reflecting a belief among young people that corporate and union pensions, Social Security and other forms of guaranteed fixed income are things of the past and that they're largely on their own to secure to their old-age survival.
Meanwhile, the survey also found that on average people believe "old age" now doesn't begin until age 75 or older, and with the average retirement age now in the early 60's, the survey's authors say Americans are "reasonably planning for upwards of 30 years in this stage of life. Most people are beginning to think of this as whole new third act."
