Sun Life Financial Inc. recently released in the United States the latest edition of its UnretirementSM Index, which reveals that more than 8 in 10 American workers believe they will need at least three years to rebuild their retirement savings as a result of the economic crisis — up from 64% a year ago. In addition, more than half the working Americans that responded (52%) expect to work at least three years longer than originally planned — with just as many believing they will retire at 70 as those who believe they will retire at 65.
The Unretirement Index shows that the state of the economy and Americans’ pessimism about their finances may also have a significant impact on voting habits in the upcoming mid-term elections. Over half of those polled (51%) said that due to the economic climate and their own financial insecurity, they plan to vote against the incumbent in the upcoming elections regardless of the incumbent’s political party.
Sun Life also has now created a Personal Unretirement Index feature on www.unretirementindex.com that allows consumers to take the survey to find out what their Unretirement Index number is and what it means, while getting resources intended to help them start the retirement conversation with their advisors. As part of the feature, people can easily share their Unretirement Index number with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, as well as see how they compare to other people in their age group and geographic range