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NATIONAL SAVE FOR YOUR FUTURE CAMPAIGN
What it is:
- The National "Save for Your Future" education campaign is a partnership between the
Social Security Administration (SSA) and the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) committed to informing Americans about the need to save and plan for retirement and other
life stages. This annual campaign, launching in fall, 2002, will be a schedule of events
and activities throughout the country devoted to educating and motivating Americans to take
charge of their financial future.
- The campaign's objectives are:
- To increase public knowledge of SSA's programs.
- To increase public awareness of the Social Security Statement.
- To increase awareness of the importance of savings.
- To increase the number of individuals who save.
- To increase the amount of money people save.
- The campaign will convey the following messages:
- Social Security alone will not ensure your financial security.
- Use your Social Security Statement as a financial planning tool.
- Your savings will play a key role in assuring your financial future.
- The sooner you start, the more you'll have so...Choose to Save.
- The primary audience for the campaign are families with young children across all
socio-economic and cultural/ethnic groups.
What we’re doing...
- The national "Save For Your Future" education campaign will focus on promoting local, state and
national-level events that will bring together the community and personalize the savings issue for
everyone involved.
- There will be a national kick-off event in Washington, DC as well as in the
ten SSA Regional Office cities (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver,
Kansas City, San Francisco and Seattle). In addition, all of SSA’s
1,300 field office managers and 125 public affairs specialists will hold at least one local event.
- For the months leading up to the fall 2002 launch, SSA and ASEC will leverage their resources to:
- Generate ownership and commitments from potential campaign partners
- Work with an ad agency to develop a campaign theme, logo, media outreach
Plan, ideas for events, and informational/educational material.
- Build momentum for the White House/Congressional National Summit on
savings education.
Why we’re doing it.
- In the past year, SSA and ASEC have unveiled a number of initiatives aimed at educating Americans
about the importance of retirement planning.
The Social Security Administration
- In October 1999, SSA began sending Social Security Statements to almost 135 million workers over the
age of 25, who are not already receiving Social Security benefits. The Statement provides individual
estimates of future Social Security benefits, along with a clear message that Social Security is only the
foundation of a comfortable retirement. The only way to ensure a comfortable retirement is to save.
- Yet, a survey conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2000 shows that only half of those who were sent
the Statement are aware that they received it.
- Of those who were aware that they received the Statement, over 28 million individuals said they would
now be likely to contact a financial consultant to help them better prepare for their retirement.
- Over 36 million individuals said they would need to change their retirment plans because they would
not be financially prepared for retirement at the age they thought they could retire.
The American Savings Education Council
- ASEC, a coalition of public-and private-sector organizations, works through its partners to educate
Americans on all aspects of personal finance and wealth development, including credit management,
college savings, home purchases and retirement planning. Together, these organizations and their
partners can help Americans of all ages make informed financial decisions.
- Financial planners say that a person needs about 70-80 percent of their retirement income (and quite possibly more) to live a
comfortable retirement. For the average individual, Social Security replaces only about 40 percent
of pre-retirement income, the balance must come from pensions, savings and investments.
- However, results from the 2001 Retirement Confidence Survey show that:
- After years of steady growth, the number of American workers who say they have personally saved for retirement decreased from 75 percent in 2000 to 71 percent in 2001 (compared with 61 percent in 1994 and 59 percent in 1998).
- The percentage of workers who feel confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement dropped from 72 percent in 2000 to 63 percent in 2001 (the percentage of workers who do not feel confident at all about having enough money for a comfortable retirement jumped from 10 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2001).
- Fifty-eight percent of American workers have not tried to calculate how much money they need to save for a comfortable retirement. This is a problem as many are saving blindly - without a specific dollar amount in mind, often underestimating how much money they will need and for how long.
- Though most workers know they can’t rely strictly on Social Security for their retirement, many also show a lack of knowledge about the basics of 401(k)s and similar retirement savings plans and that knowledge deficit could be potentially disastrous in their efforts to save for the future.
- In addition, more than half of all workers (55 percent) do not know that the retirement age for full Social Security benefits is gradually rising from 65 to 67. Many believe they will start collecting benefits before they are actually eligible.
The campaign will reach out to the broadest segment of the population through a strong network of highly involved and enthusiastic campaign partners and supporters from both pubic and private sector institutions.
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Social Security Administration
| American Savings Education Council 
