The Norman Transcript

Editorials

Discussion

March 21, 2013

Confidence doesn’t swell with market

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — If there’s one good thing to come out of the most recent recession, it’s that workers have figured out they need to increase their levels of retirement savings.

That’s not to say that they are actually putting more money away for future use. A new report suggests workers are nusy meeting short-term financial needs and are not really thinking about long-term retirement plans.

They have little faith in the economic recovery and the stock market’s most recent gains, according to a report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The group has conducted similar studies over the past 23 years. Nearly half of all workers surveyed this year had little or no confidence that they’ll have a financially secure retirement. Twenty-eight percent were not at all confident, the highest level recorded since the survey began in 1991.

The Associated Press reports retirement confidence numbers were substantially higher before the economy tanked. Seventy percent of the workers surveyed in 2007 were either somewhat confident or very confident of their future.

Fewer than half of all workers appear to be taking basic steps needed to prepare for retirement. Most of us have not even estimated how much they’ll need to save to live comfortably in retirement.

More than half of the workers surveyed reported having a problem with debt levels. Thirty-nine percent of the retirees surveyed reported the same thing.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • New faces on the bench

    Cleveland County is one step closer to getting another district judge. House members overwhelmingly approved the legislation moving a vacant seat from Seminole County in eastern Oklahoma to Cleveland County....

    May 24, 2013

  • The randomness of it all

    A drive through the fringe streets of the damaged areas in Moore and south Oklahoma City this week shows the randomness of Monday’s tornado. Homes that appear to have little or no damage stand next to ones that are ready to be pushed over....

    May 24, 2013

  • The Oklahoma standard

    The sight of hundreds of young student volunteers walking across Moore’s Fourth Street interstate overpass had to be uplifting to the city’s tornado victims. They carried rakes, brooms and trash bags. A few had children’s red wagons. There ...

    May 23, 2013

  • There’s no answer for ‘Why?’

    Just hours before, there was breakfast and laughter. Pictures were on the walls and memories were in every room. But in seconds, those joys of life were reduced to a concrete slab by a rage of nature that man will never fully understand....

    May 22, 2013

  • Moore’s amazing resilience

    Our hearts, already heavy from Sunday’s deadly tornado in far eastern Cleveland County, sunk even further Monday afternoon as we watched the tornado rip through Moore. The monster storm that hit Monday followed nearly the same path as the ...

    May 22, 2013

  • Relying on private prisons

    Oklahoma began contracting to place inmates in private prisons during Gov. Frank Keating’s administration in 1995. Today, more than 5,000, or 23 percent, of our inmates are in the custody of three private prisons....

    May 21, 2013

  • Thanks for warnings

    We can’t say there wasn’t enough warning this time around....

    May 21, 2013

  • Airline changes coming

    In the airlines business, time is money. American Airlines wants to try and speed up its boarding process. Passengers who travel with only a personal item such as a purse or a brief case can now get on first....

    May 19, 2013

  • SEC should act on conflicts

    Money talks. In the continuing dispute over the all-too-cozy relationship between the people who create and sell financial products and the people who rate their risk, the money says: Shut up and let us do what we want....

    May 19, 2013

  • We all deserve better

    The tough treatment of the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) party and other conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service is being assailed by leaders of both political parties....

    May 19, 2013