Despite pandemic, retirement savings are still ticking along: report

As the brutal financial impacts of the pandemic washed over us – businesses forced to close, workers laid off, and so on – many observers expected that retirement savings might have to be raided so people could keep afloat.

New research from the U.S. suggests otherwise, reports Yahoo! Finance.

Recent research carried out by the Investment Company Institute found that “most Americans have not taken any withdrawals from their defined contribution (DC) retirement plans,” Yahoo! Finance reports. As well, “the vast majority of U.S. savers have continued to make contributions to their plans through the pandemic,” the article notes.

“Despite the economic challenges over the past year and a half, retirement savers show deep commitment to preserving their retirement nest eggs,” Sarah Holden, ICI senior director of retirement and investor research, states in the article. “The combination of ongoing contributions and few participants taking withdrawals reflects DC plan participants’ long-term mindset and preference to keep this money earmarked for retirement and avoid dipping into it.”

Paradoxically, the pandemic – a period where many thought money would be very tight – has turned out to be a period of higher rates of savings, the article notes.

“Though many households have been faced with financial constraints over the past year and a half, the aggregate personal savings rate has increased since COVID-19 first reared its head in the beginning of 2020,” the article states.

Indeed, here in Canada, the CBC reports that the average Canadian has saved $5,000 during the pandemic, thanks to “the combined impact of reduced spending and collecting more money from government support programs,” the broadcaster reports.

With less to spend on, Canadians attacked their debt loads and were still able to stash away “$5,574 per Canadian on average in 2020, compared to $479 in the previous year,” the CBC notes.

Back in the U.S., the ICI report found that only “1.1 per cent of all DC plan participants stopped contributing to their plans in the first half of 2021,” reports Yahoo! Finance.

It’s good to hear that people generally are leaving their retirement savings alone, despite the strange economy and overall odd spending era the pandemic has brought us. No matter what’s going on today, eventually all of us will reach an age where the income we get from working declines, and the income we need from our savings escalates.

Workplace pensions certainly help with retirement income; if you are in a program at work, be sure to maximize your participation if you can. If you don’t have a workplace pension plan, the Saskatchewan Pension Plan is a voluntary DC plan that professionally invests your savings and can help you turn it into an income stream when you hang up your working hat for the last time. They’ve been doing it for 35 years – check out SPP today!

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