How Millennials are Changing Face of Retirement

Younger generations are taking a more active approach to saving for retirement, even though they may never experience it as it is defined today, said Aron Levine, head of Merrill Edge (BAC) - Get Report . Merrill Edge's survey of more than 1,000 mass affluent Americans revealed that exactly half of younger millennials, ages 18 to 24, believe they need to take on a side job to reach their retirement goals, compared to only 25% of all respondents. According to the survey, millennials (15%) are three times more likely than Gen Xers and baby boomers (5%) to rank an employer's retirement plan as the most important factor when taking a new job. The report found many millennials and Americans overall are unable to articulate their "magic number" - the amount of money they need to live their desired retirement - and those who can, are underestimating the amount. When asked what their magic number for retirement is, more than half (56%) of respondents don't anticipate needing more than $1 million and nearly one in five (19%) simply 'don't know.' Furthermore, nearly the same number of respondents believe they need to win the lottery to reach their financial goals in retirement (17%).