Life Beyond Teaching

The following statistics are taken from the TIAA-CREF Institute's Retirement Confidence Survey of College and University Faculty, a study conducted in 2005 to examine the retirement preparation and saving behaviors of faculty. The telephone survey included 1,307 full-time and part-time tenure track and non tenure-track faculty at two-year and four-year public and independent institutions. The study was conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc., and the TIAA-CREF Institute.

Financial readiness:

• Ninety-five percent of college and university faculty have begun saving for retirement, but one third have no idea how much they need to accumulate for a comfortable retirement.
• Forty-six percent of male faculty are very confident that they will have enough money in retirement compared to 24 percent of female faculty; 17 percent of female faculty are not too confident or not at all confident compared with 9 percent of male faculty.
• Sixty-five percent of faculty age 65 and older are very confident that they will have enough money in retirement compared with 43 percent of faculty age 55 to 64, 30 percent of faculty age 45 to 54, and 22 percent of faculty under 45.
• Forty-two percent of tenure-track faculty are very confident they will have enough money in retirement versus 26 percent of non-tenure track faculty.

Retirement age expectations:

• Eleven percent of faculty expect to retire before reaching age 62; 13 percent expect to retire between 62 and 64; 27 percent expect to retire at age 65; 18 percent expect to retire in their later 60s; 24 percent expect to retire at age 70 or later; and 4 percent of faculty expect to never retire.
• Forty-nine percent of male faculty expect to retire after age 65 versus 35 percent of female faculty.
• Forty-two percent of faculty at two-year institutions expect to retire prior to age 65 compared to 20 percent of faculty at four-year institutions.
• Twenty-eight percent of public institution faculty expect to retire prior to age 65 versus 13 percent of private institution faculty.

Reasons to retire:

• Sixty-two percent of faculty who expect to work past age 65 cite enjoying work as the reason to stay; 29 percent said they will need employment income; 16 percent indicated the need for employer-sponsored health insurance coverage for themselves and 9 percent need coverage for their spouses; 13 percent report not being eligible for full Social Security benefits until age 66 or 67.
• Thirty-eight percent of female faculty who expect to work past age 65 say they will need the income while 20 percent will need the employer-sponsored health insurance, compared to 23 percent and 13 percent, respectively, for male faculty.

Anticipated health benefits:

• Sixty percent of faculty expect to receive health insurance in retirement from an employer; 33 percent do not expect to receive retiree health insurance.
• Forty percent of those who expect to receive employer-sponsored health insurance in retirement expect insurance to be employer-paid; 20 percent expect insurance to be retiree-paid; 32 percent expect to share the cost; and 8 percent are uncertain who will pay.
• Twenty-three percent of faculty said they would be very likely to use a tax-deferred savings account earmarked for retiree health expenditures if such a vehicle were available; 41 percent reported being somewhat likely.

Phased and semi-retirement:

• Forty-eight percent of faculty said they would be very likely to take advantage of a phased retirement program if it were available when they retire; 30 percent said they would be somewhat likely.
• Seventy-four percent of faculty think they will work for pay after retiring; of these, 32 percent think they will work as a teacher, 34 percent think they will work in some other role within the education field, and 34 percent think they will do something completely different.

Expected income sources:

• Forty-nine percent of faculty expect an employer-sponsored defined benefit pension plan to be a major source of income, and 35 percent expect it to be their largest source of income; 49 percent expect a defined contribution plan to be a major income source, with 30 percent expecting it to be their largest source.
• Three percent of faculty expect Social Security to be their largest source of retirement income; 9 percent expect employment to be largest.

Receptivity to financial advice:

• Sixty-one percent of faculty report using the advice of a financial professional and 37 percent cite such advice as the most helpful source compared to input from a spouse (15%), print material from a retirement plan (12%), and seminars by a retirement plan or plan provider (7%).
• Thirty-three percent of faculty attended a retirement planning seminar sponsored by their college or university or retirement plan provider within a recent three-year period; of these, 42 percent reported making planning and saving changes as a result of the seminar, including investment allocation changes (36%), increasing tax-deferred savings levels (32%), switching savings to a tax-deferred vehicle (24%), and saving more money in addition to their retirement savings (9%).
• Seventy-six percent of faculty said they would be very likely or somewhat likely to take advantage at retirement of employer-provided professional advice regarding withdrawal strategies if offered in person; 60 percent would be likely to use this advice if provided online; and 28 percent would use it if provided by phone.