Quick question: what’s something you think literally everyone can agree on? In a polarized world—especially one with access to the internet—it seems like the only thing we can all agree on is that nobody can agree on anything. Plus, maybe, that everyone other than ourselves is a bad driver.
So, imagine our excitement when a recent survey found that roughly 90% of FPPA members (retired and active) feel secure in their retirement, or feel confident that they’ll someday be able to comfortably retire. Sure, it’s not a unanimous, 10/10, “Water is good for you” level of agreement, but we’ll take it!
FPPA’s most recent member satisfaction survey paints an encouraging picture of Colorado’s first responders and their attitudes towards financial wellness and retirement. In this post, we’ll dive into some of the key takeaways from the results and compare them to data from our last survey in 2019. So, without any further delay, let’s get to it.
Who We Surveyed/Who Responded
To get a wide assortment of members, we randomly selected 3,000 geographically diverse active and retired members. We contacted Selected members twice this spring via email to participate in the survey.
All told, we received 389 responses. Respondents skewed older (73% were over the age of 55), retired (64% indicated they were retired/currently receiving a benefit) and more identified as working for a fire department than police or sheriff departments (53%, 45%, and 1% respectively).
Survey Says! Four key takeaways from FPPA’s Recent Member Satisfaction Survey
With almost 400 responses from a wide range of members, there was a lot to go through. Over time, we uncovered many interesting points from all that data, including…
Active members are highly interested in planning for retirement, and are confident that they’ll retire someday
When asked On a scale of 1-100 (100 is the highest), how interested are you in planning for retirement right now?, active members, across all age groups averaged a score of 87. This figure is slightly down from two years ago, when the average was 92.
Similarly, when we asked active members On a scale of 1-100 (100 is the highest), how confident are you that you will be able to retire someday?, respondents averaged a score of 91. In 2019, this number was slightly higher at 93.
Active members trust quality sources for retirement planning advice
Asked about the sources they trust for financial planning advice, active members indicated that they trust FPPA and Financial Advisors far more than other outlets:
Another encouraging note from these responses is that zero members said they trust retirement planning advice from social media. This is great news because contrary to what you might see on the internet, and I can’t believe I’m typing these words, you really shouldn’t trust financial advice from TikTok.
Retirees are feeling the retirement security
One of the topline questions for retirees was simply Do you feel secure in your retirement? To that query, 88% of retirees indicated yes, a slight increase from our 2019 survey (85.5%):
Interestingly, 5% of respondents selected “I don’t know” as their response. If this is you, please consider reaching out to our staff if there are any questions we can answer about your FPPA benefits.
Both actives and retirees see the value in FPPA membership
Based on 368 responses across all respondent groups, just shy of 90% either agree or strongly agree with the statement My FPPA membership is valuable to me. Moreover, asked on a 1-100 scale How satisfied are you with FPPA membership?, the average member score was 87.
These numbers track almost identically with the same question from 2019. And while it shows that there might be some room for improvement, FPPA is consistently proving our worth to stakeholders.
Which is (hopefully) something we can all agree is a good thing.
If you have questions regarding this year’s member survey, get in touch with us!
Ryan Woodhouse is the Content and Publications Manager for the Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado. When not managing content for FPPA, Ryan can be found fly fishing in the Colorado high country or shouting at the TV during University of Wisconsin football and basketball games.