80% working Indians have no retirement plans: MetLife

The surveys further point out that while 80 per cent employees in India and 81 per cent in Mexico have no retirement plans other than the mandatory ones, the number was low in developed countries like Australia (58 per cent), the US (46 per cent) and the UK (31 per cent).

“The very concept of retirement savings is new or distant to workers in many developing economies such as Mexico and India”, said MetLife International president William J Toppeta.

In case of India, the MetLife surveys pointed out while almost three out of four employees (71 per cent) say they are ‘concerned’ about outliving retirement money, only one out of three (35 per cent) say they have taken steps to determine retirement needs.

Only 20 per cent Indians, the surveys said, “Have done actual planning for retirement.”

The surveys also noted that nearly half of the Indian employees (48 per cent) whose employers do not offer retirement benefits would be interested in purchasing retirement planning products through their employer, even if they had to pay 100 per cent of the cost.

Commenting on the findings of the studies, Toppeta said, “By tradition, typically a family would take care of its older members, but with the geographic mobility among more young people to locations far away from their family home base, the traditional family ‘safety net’ is becoming frayed in many fast growing countries.”

The widespread lack of independent retirement preparedness is especially worrisome in both developing and mature economies as life expectancies around the globe continue to rise and pension reforms puts more responsibility on employees to fund their own retirements, the studies said.

In terms of retirement preparedness, the surveys said, the UK was ‘most financially fit’ and ahead of the other countries.

About 71 per cent of UK workers surveyed say they have taken steps to determine their households’ retirement needs and 69 per cent have actually started to plan, the surveys added.