Retirees are less satisfied—make 2 key moves now to be happy later, says researcher: ‘It all comes back to preparation'

Retirees report lower levels of well-being than they did four years ago, according to a recent survey from the Employee Benefits Research Institute. Under half of retired Americans, 48%, between the ages of 62 and 75 report being very satisfied with life in retirement, down from 62% in 2020 and 53% in 2022.

Digging into the data, it's not hard to see why.

Some factors are out of their control. As rampant inflation has eaten into retirees' spending power, for instance, a much larger portion of them, 68%, report having outstanding credit card debt. That's up from 43% in 2020.

But in many cases, retirees are realizing that they didn't plan as well as they could have. Half say they saved less than what was needed. One in three say they saved the right amount, and just 17% say they over-saved.

The numbers indicate that many of them are indeed grossly underprepared. For four in 10 retirees, Social Security benefits make up more than 80% of retirement income. That's despite the program's stated goal of replacing just 40% of preretirement pay.

To avoid getting caught with your guard down in retirement, there are a couple key moves you can make now that are all highly correlated with satisfaction down the line, says Bridget Bearden, a research and development strategist at EBRI and the study's author.

"It all comes back to preparation," she says.

1. Enroll in your workplace retirement account and stay there

High standard of living and satisfaction in retirement are both highly correlated with participation in workplace retirement plans, EBRI's data shows.

Enrolling in a plan such as a 401(k) allows you to invest consistently and in a tax-advantaged way over the long term. It lets you reap the rewards of compounding interest and possibly even earn "free money" in the form of a matching contribution from your employer.

Another highly correlated factor: job tenure. Those who stayed at a company longer and switched positions fewer times tend to have accumulated more assets. People who hop around a lot may cash out an old workplace retirement plan, or be tempted to pull cash out of the previous one and enroll in a new one at a much lower default contribution rate.

If you've worked at a job for a few years, for instance, you may have upped your 401(k) contributions from the default 6% to 10%. A common mistake among job-switchers is to take a step back when starting a new gig, Jack VanDerhei, director of retirement studies at Morningstar Retirement, recently told CNBC Make It.

"When you change jobs, they might default you back to that 6%," he said. "So to the extent that you can keep in mind what you were contributing when you left the previous job and at least continue at that level, that's going to be very advantageous — especially for younger people."   

None of which is to say that changing jobs will hurt your chances at a happy retirement. But make sure you stay on top of, and keep contributing to, retirement accounts.

"If you have multiple employers over your career and there's high job turnover, and you're using whatever you accumulated to make ends meet, we see what means in terms of outcomes. And it's not pretty," says Bearden.

2. Make a plan

Over and over, EBRI's data reveals that retirees encounter surprises. They leave the workforce earlier than they meant to. They spend more than they intend to. Their lifestyle doesn't align with what they thought it would be.

It's not surprising, then, that retirees who have someone helping them plan for various eventualities report a high degree of well-being in retirement, says Bearden. "The presence of a financial advisor, which is correlated to household income, is a good indicator of retirement satisfaction and the ability to spend," Bearden says.

It makes sense that those who can afford to pay a financial planner are likelier to have more money, and therefore higher levels of satisfaction, than those who have to figure everything out themselves.

Nevertheless, the relationship between a engaging a planner and overall satisfaction points to the fact that people who have a plan — professionally done or not — can spend more comfortably knowing that they've accounted for the twists and turns that take place during retirement, Bearden says.

After all, it's one thing to accumulate enough money to live the way you want to in retirement. It's quite another to put your funds to use in ways that make you happy without running the risk that you'll accidentally blow through your savings.

"Fewer people [than in years before] are using a budget," Bearden says — a trend that is no doubt related to an uptick in retiree credit card debt. "You have this big pile of money. But if you don't make a plan for it, you're going to overspend."

Want to make extra money outside of your day job? Sign up for CNBC's online course How to Earn Passive Income Online to learn about common passive income streams, tips to get started and real-life success stories.

Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It's newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.