Only 18 percent of those polled feel confident about retirement, announced the Employee Benefit Research Institute this week. Sounds pretty grim. Last year, 27 percent of those polled felt very confident.

It’s the biggest one year drop in the 18-year history of the survey. Apparently younger workers and those with low incomes feel the most concerned.

But, there’s always a silver lining, right?

“If there is a silver lining, it’s that Americans finally may be waking up to the realities of being able to afford retirement,” said Dallas Salisbury, EBRI president.

EBRI conducted the survey in January by interviewing 1,057 workers and 265 retirees (1,322 total).

I love it how every time a survey is put out it’s said to be indicative of the American population as a whole. Never mind the fact that we have a population of 300 million.

If you want to see more of the survey results straight from the source go here:
www.ebri.org/pdf/PR_796a_09Apr08.pdf

April 11, 2008.