A recent survey has revealed that most of the government employees need a lot of help in learning about their retirement benefits. They need someone to guide them on their finances so that they can have a peaceful retirement. The survey also exposed the fact that most federal workers would prefer to retire at the minimum retirement age if they were to be financially secure. They would also invest in the TSP more if they could get the benefit of retiring early.
Federal employees are Least Informed
The survey was conducted on 557 federal employees. About 33 percent of them admitted that they were well informed about their retirement benefits. Only around 6 percent said that they were fully informed. The survey was conducted by Silver Light Financial and Federal News Radio.
Feds Need Training
In the same survey 74 percent of the respondents admitted that they need training on retirement benefits related topics and they don’t need any incentive to attend that training.
Financial Confidence
About 66 percent of the respondents admitted that they would prefer to retire as soon as they cross the minimum retirement age if they think they were financially confident. About 36 percent of respondents said that they expect to retire at their MRA. About 53 percent of those who were not expecting their MRA said that they won’t retire because they believe they won’t be able to financially sustain their lifestyles.
TSP and Early Retirement
Federal employees also said that they were willing to invest more to their Thrift Savings Plan if it could help make a meaningful impact on their retirement. About 93 percent retirees admitted it. They also wanted to reduce their retirement age and about 60 percent of the respondents said that they would add at least 5 percent more to the Thrift Savings Plan if they have a better understanding of it.
The Gap
It now remains to be seen whether the results of the survey would motivate the government agencies and the retirement investment service providers to better educate the federal employees. It is clear that if federal workers could get free training on retirement benefits, they would feel more secure about retirement and would not worry about their financial stability after retirement. Their situation is a lot similar to a person who has got a vehicle and a destination but doesn’t know driving.
