This post is the third in a series exploring the post-pandemic consumer landscape. For more, click here.
By 2030, the number of Americans aged 65 or older will increase to 73 million. By 2034, this population will outnumber children under 18 for the first time in history, according to the Census Bureau.
The growth of the older population is a 20th century story, with the over-65 population booming from 3.1 million in 1900 to 35 million in 2000. But even as the pandemic accelerated the rate of retirement, many soon-to-be and recent retirees are heading into their retirement without the funds they need to live comfortably.
- Nearly half of working households are at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement lifestyle, according to the National Retirement Risk Index.
- Only 22% of Americans aged 60 to 67 believe they have enough savings to retire.
- This represents a 4% decrease from just a year ago according to Schroder’s, which also noted inflation, high healthcare costs, and potential market volatility as exacerbating concerns.
For younger generations, retirement may seem like a concept in crisis.
- Over a third of Americans believe they will never have enough money to retire, according to the Natixis Global Retirement Index.
- Despite saving higher percentages for retirement and rising incomes, the Urban Institute reports that more Millennials expected to have insufficient retirement savings than their Gen X parents.
Digging deeper into the #retirement conversation on social
From 2019 to 2022, the visibility of retirement hashtags more than quadrupled on TikTok, according to Storyful’s research, which uncovered a broad range of topics and audiences participating in the conversation.
40 is the new 65: Younger generations are ignoring the traditional goal of retirement at 65, with the pandemic sparking a fresh resurgence of interest in the F.I.R.E. movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early). A quarter of Gen Z wants to retire at 50, according to a Goldman Sachs study—a statistic that Storful analysis confirmed.
FinTok’s new class of DIY investors: The tendency to turn to social for advice is even more pronounced among the youngest workers— with nearly 40% of Gen Z receiving most of their financial education from social media, according to GoBankingRates. The motivation? Becoming a millionaire—with audiences often engaging with aspirational content around high net worth lifestyles.
New tech alternatives: Across retirement conversations on TikTok, Bitcoin generated as many online mentions as Fidelity, Vanguard and Schwab combined, Storyful found. Users flocked to the nascent investment vehicle as a way to retire earlier, though individual investments in retail stocks and real estate were also popular as alternatives to traditional retirement plans.
Despair for the future: Many users wrote openly on TikTok about the challenges they have in saving enough to make ends meet, expressing despair that they would never be able to retire based on their current activities.
Customers turn to companies: Customers interested in retirement also discussed the brand landscape, mentioning asset management companies as options to build wealth for retirement, alongside others like Walmart, Toyota, Costco and Aldi in the context of saving money for or during retirement.
Source: TikTok – top viewed videos on TikTok using the hashtags #Retirement #RetirementPlanning and #Retire from Oct 2018 – Apr 2022
How brands can connect with retirement-focused savers across the spectrum:
Users across ages are thinking hard about their financial futures and frequently turning to online communities to find help. Many are looking for advice on what to do in their specific situations, while others are hoping to explore their options and understand more fully how they can take the right actions to reach their goals. Brands have an opportunity to connect more meaningfully with these customers, specifically:
- Help manage expectations: While many users expressed their desire to maintain their lifestyle post-retirement while also having the pre-retirement lifestyle they want in the present, some seem less educated on the funds they’ll need to do both. Enabling consumers to set goals and laying out the path to achieve those goals is a partnership consumers will need for their financial journey.
- Understand their emotional state and needs: Market volatility, inflation headwinds and other economic uncertainty has left many unclear as to what, if anything, they need to do to protect their savings. A number of savers are actively looking for reassurance, or at least better information, about what the headlines mean for their portfolios. Gaining a comprehensive view of the psychographic personas across the retirement-ready cohort is key to reaching out to consumers at the right moment and in the right manner.
- Get them started young: Contrary to any who might believe that younger workers are less concerned with retirement than those closer to their target age, it’s clear that many young workers are interested in getting started early to ensure that they can hit the ambitious goals they’ve started to build. Brands that understand the kinds of questions younger generations want answered and the influencers they are currently engaging with will be able to help fill this need.
