A recent poll found that 33% of respondents expect to rely primarily on personal savings and investments for retirement income, compared to 28% who expect to rely primarily on Social Security benefits, 16% who expect to rely primarily on defined-benefit plans, and 15% who expect to rely primarily on defined-contribution plans. If given a choice, 79% of the respondents preferred a defined-contribution plan over a defined-benefit plan (Source: The Wall Street Journal, 2007).
Of those 401(k) participants who have access to plan management advice, only 7% actually asked for and acted on that advice (Source: Journal of Financial Planning, December 2006).
Workers are rolling over approximately $200 billion per year from employer-sponsored retirement plans to individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Annual contributions to IRAs only amount to $40 billion per year (Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2007).
The wealthiest 3% of families accounted for approximately two-thirds of all charitable giving by individuals in the United States in 2005 (Source: The Nonprofit Times, 2007).