Survey: Feds planning well for retirement

Retirement Readiness Employee Survey Results

Most federal employees have done a good job of planning for their retirements, according to a new survey, and the Office of Personnel Management aims to help them do better.

OPM's Federal Employee Retirement Readiness Survey, which was conducted last year between May and September, found eight out of 10 feds say they are on track or ahead of schedule in planning and saving for their retirement years. More than half of feds said they expect to retire before the age of 62 and roughly 40 percent expect to retire at or before 59.

Nearly 90 percent also participate in the private-sector, tax-deferred Thrift Savings Plan 401(k). The report also found that workers were less inclined to invest in savings accounts specifically tailored for health-related expenses.

The agency says that the survey results will go toward developing a retirement readiness profile index that would help feds with retirement planning. Dubbed “Retirement Readiness: NOW,” it will also compare financial states with those of fellow federal workers in the same age bracket.

“The results of the Federal Employee Retirement Readiness Survey will be used to help current Federal employees improve their own retirement planning efforts, and will assist agencies in evaluating internal retirement education programs to more effectively help employees prepare for retirement,” said Robert Danbeck, associate director of OPM’s Human Resources Products and Services Division, in a statement.