If you are an affluent resident of Fairfield County, rising health care costs or expenses are among your highest financial concerns, according to a new survey.
Bank of America released results from The Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly which measured retirement trends among the affluent in Fairfield County, specifically Westport, Greenwich and Stamford, and across America.
The study found that 22 percent of affluent residents in Fairfield County are planning to retire later than expected, with 68 percent citing that the recession has taken a toll on their finances.
In alignment with the national results, the survey revealed that local Fairfield County and affluent Americans shared similar perspectives on retirement trends.
Rising health care costs or expenses ranked as the highest financial concern for both retired (46 percent locally and 59 percent nationally) and non-retired (60 percent locally and 53 percent nationally) survey respondents. This was followed by ensuring retirement assets will last throughout their lifetime.
Given the opportunity to do it all again, more Fairfield County retired respondents (57 percent locally and 51 percent nationally) said they would have focused less on “the numbers” and more on their “life goals” such as determining exactly how they wanted to live in their retirement years (38 percent locally and 38 percent nationally).
Sixty-one percent of Fairfield County respondents, whether retired or not, found some “silver lining” in how the economic recession has affected their retirement.
This included an enhanced focus on things that will matter most in retirement, such as family and friends (36 percent locally and 33 percent nationally), and a realization that there may have to be trade-offs in retirement or a scaling back of their current lifestyle (23 percent locally and 23 percent nationally).
Retirees recommended those within 10 to 15 years of retirement focus their attention on building a plan around what is most important to them in retirement (43 percent locally and 51 percent nationally) and having a plan to manage income throughout retirement (38 percent locally and 47 percent nationally.)
Reflecting on 2009, retired and non-retired respondents indicated specific lifestyle changes made during the last 12 months, including:
• Cutting energy costs (46 percent locally) (48 percent nationally)
• Spending less on personal luxuries, e.g. spa visits, gym and country club memberships, etc. (44 percent locally) (43 percent nationally)
• Becoming more aware of day-to-day/short-term cash flow (39 percent locally) (38 percent nationally)
• Vacationing less (38 percent locally) (30 percent nationally) or closer to home (24 percent locally) (20 percent nationally)
• Scaling back on recreational activities such as golf, skiing, tennis, etc. (33 percent locally) (29 percent nationally)
• Giving less to charities than in previous years (25 percent locally) (21 percent nationally)
• Delaying capital expenditures, e.g. home improvements or automobile expenses (17 percent locally) (16 percent nationally)
More than half (54 percent) of local non-retired respondents made some adjustments to their lifestyle last year and expressed concern about the impact of the economy on their ability to meet their financial goals (50 percent).
Braun Research conducted the Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly survey by phone between Dec. 1 and Dec. 16, 2009 on behalf of Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.
Braun contacted a nationally representative sample of 1,000 affluent Americans with investable assets in excess of $250,000, and oversampled 300 affluent Americans in each of 14 target markets including Atlanta, Ga.; Boston, Mass.; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago, Ill.; Dallas, Texas; Miami, Fla.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Philadelphia, Pa.; San Francisco, Calif.; Los Angeles, Calif.; Fairfield County, Conn. (Stamford, Greenwich and Westport); Washington, D.C.; Orange County, Calif. (Irvine, Laguna Hills and Newport Beach). The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent for the national sample and +/- 5.7 percent for the oversample markets, with both reported at a 95 percent confidence level.
