Retirement has taken on a new meaning. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, stopping work entirely was already starting to look like a thing of the past. Post-COVID, stopping work entirely may be even harder for many workers in the U.S. and around the world. People worry about having enough money for retirement – and, indeed, are more stressed about money than anything else in their lives. Some American workers, now in the prime of their earning lives, were caught up in the transition from defined benefit pensions to defined contribution (DC) plans and had new retirement responsibilities thrust upon them. Others have never heard of an old-school pension, but according to new research they desire the certainty such plans provided.

In short, retirement is a moving target for workers today, as revealed in People & Money 2020, a survey of nearly 27,000 people in 18 countries, conducted by BlackRock. The good news is that the DC industry isn’t just sitting back and doing nothing. The challenge, now identified, is accepted, and the quest for solutions is well underway. The findings, takeaways, and applications of the sentiments and data derived from the research are the subject of this report.

Big Numbers*: Participants in the People & Money 2020 survey say…

*All data in this report is from People & Money 2020 (BlackRock)