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Retirement Readiness: How Do You Stack Up?
The early results of our federal employee Retirement Readiness Assessment are in.
Last week marked the debut of our Retirement Readiness Assessment, a new tool aimed at helping federal managers and employees get a better handle on where they are in the retirement planning process.
The assessment poses a series of questions on topics ranging from the Thrift Savings Plan to paperwork issues and Social Security. It then issues a rating of the taker’s retirement readiness.
Since we launched the tool, more than 10,000 people have taken the assessment in either its desktop or mobile version. Now the preliminary results are in. Here’s how those who have completed the assessment stack up:
- Just Getting Started (those needing some help understanding the basics of benefits available to them): 4 percent
- Beyond the Beginning (those who have started to do their homework, but need some additional guidance): 18 percent
- On Your Way (those who are on a path to a secure retirement, and just need to take some key steps before they leave): 38 percent
- Retirement Ready (those who have their ducks in a row and just need to set a date): 40 percent
The early returns show that a significant percentage of the initial assessment takers are paying attention to their financial future (hopefully in part by reading this column regularly) and are in the process of setting themselves up for a secure retirement. If those results hold up over time, that’s good news.
Where do you stand? If you haven’t taken the assessment yet, now’s your chance.