Americans tend to be more confident about their ability to retire because they are forced to take control of their financial destinies more than in comparable countries, said Nigel Aston, head of European defined contribution at State Street Global Advisors. ‘There is a continuum, or a journey, from paternalism to self-reliance in all these countries we studied,’ said Aston. ‘I think confidence seems to be higher depending on how far along that journey the different countries are.’ State Street Global Advisors’ 2015 Global Retirement Survey of more than 3,500 retirement savers in the U.S., U.K., Ireland and Australia showed that employees’ confidence about the sufficiency of their retirement savings is affected more by each country’s culture, the state of its economy and individual circumstances among other factors than the amount they have actually saved. For example, SSGA found an ‘Australian Paradox’ while comparing the confidence levels of U.S. workers to Australian workers. Despite having saved 41% more than U.S. workers, Australian workers were less confident about meeting their retirement goals. On average, Australian workers reported a household income of $66,000 and $349,000 in retirement savings. Meanwhile, U.S. employees said they had an average household income of $107,000 but only $247,000 in investable assets. Investing appropriately is the top reason given for retirement confidence, according to the SSgA survey.
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