United States
2023 U.S. Retirement Market Outlook
Three Themes Shaping the U.S. Retirement Landscape
In our second annual Retirement Market Outlook, we look at helping Americans get and stay on track with their retirement savings, providing the holistic help savers need, and navigating market uncertainty and volatility.
- There is an increased focus on savings adequacy to close a widening savings gap, particularly among women and underrepresented communities.
- Financial wellness is becoming more holistic. A broader view of retirement, wealth, and health needs illuminates the road from working years into retirement.
- Volatile markets create complex challenges for those saving for, and spending in, retirement. Professionally managed portfolios can help navigate uncertainty.
Access and Adequacy: Getting Investors on Track and Helping Them Stay There
Many investors are under-saving for retirement, and it’s an issue that is only compounding in a challenging economic climate.
Key Insights
- More than 40% of the U.S. private sector workforce does not have access to a retirement savings plan at work, and lack of access is particularly acute for racial and ethnic minorities.
- Day-to-day living expenses and debt are common barriers to saving. This particularly impacts savings for Black, Hispanic, and female workers.
- When people start to save for retirement is also key, as it can make a big difference in whether they get on track toward achieving their retirement objectives.
Solving this problem is a business imperative for employers.
- In a tight labor market, a strong retirement plan can attract and retain talent
- A well-designed plan can help address financial disparities and align with diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies
Financial Wellness: The Need to Offer Holistic, Personalized Help to Savers
Employers are offering holistic help that goes beyond saving and investing for retirement.
Key Insights
- The demand for holistic financial wellness programs is being driven by young employees with different expectations for benefits, appreciation for the role benefits play in talent acquisition and retention, and new technology that makes solutions easier to deliver.
- Employers increasingly are offering personalized and targeted financial solutions that go beyond saving and investing to address employees’ competing financial priorities.
The Investment Landscape: Weathering Challenges to Keep Portfolios on Track
Moving into 2023, working and retired participants both face economic uncertainty and high levels of market volatility.
Key Insights
- Individualized investment advice and professional portfolio management—throughout the journey to and through retirement—potentially can help set up participants for successful outcomes.
- It is critically important for investors to build well-diversified portfolios with fixed income allocations that go beyond investment-grade bonds to include a broader range of sectors.
- T. Rowe Price believes that active management—including tactical allocation within multi-asset strategies—could offer significant diversification and return enhancement benefits.
Diversification cannot assure a profit or protect against loss in a declining market.
Source Information: T. Rowe Price research shared throughout this report as “our research” was compiled from the sources listed on pages 17–18 of the full article.
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