Small Business Owners More Prepared and Confident About Retirement Than Most Americans

GLENVIEW, Ill. — March 19, 2008 - While many Americans feel less than secure about funding their retirement years, a recent survey conducted by online payroll service SurePayroll indicates that small business owners aren't sweating it. The survey found that 83 percent of small business owners have a plan in place for funding their retirement, and that 62 percent are confident they can achieve their retirement goals even if they cannot sell their business.

According to the survey results, the majority of small business owners recognize that selling their business for as much as they would like is no guarantee, and have taken steps to avoid gambling their future on the hope of scoring a hefty price.

Additionally, many more small business owners than Americans in general have calculated their specific retirement needs. While a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute determined that 40 percent of American workers have calculated how much they will need for retirement, 64 percent of small business owners said they have it figured out.

According to a 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, only 60 percent of workers say they are currently saving for retirement - 23 percent less than small business owners.

So why are small business owners more prepared than everyone else? SurePayroll President Michael Alter believes experience handling difficult financial matters plays a large part in small business confidence and preparedness.

"It's not necessarily that small business owners are making much more money than other American workers, but most of them have learned a lot from struggling through significant financial challenges involved in making their businesses work," says Alter. "It's no wonder most of them have a solid plan for retirement in place - their business ventures have taught them how to overcome financial challenges and use money to their best advantage so they can avoid a struggle of survival in later years."

Small Business Owners Pass Knowledge on to Employees, But Don't Offer 401(k)

Most small business owners care about their employees' futures and actively promote saving for retirement. 84 percent of respondents said they have encouraged one or more employees to save more money, and almost three fourths thought a greater number of their employees would put away money for retirement if they were automatically enrolled into a 401(k) program at their place of employment. However, less than 15 percent of small businesses offer a 401(k) plan.

SurePayroll President Michael Alter says that small business owners have traditionally faced challenges in providing employees with affordable 401(k) programs.

"It's ironic that most small business owners encourage their employees to save and are in favor of automatic enrollment programs, but very few actually offer a 401(k) plan. It just goes to show that providers have not been offering plans that meet the needs of the small business market," says Alter. "It's exactly why SurePayroll introduced Sure401k. It was our intention to offer an extremely easy-to-manage and easy-to-afford solution that still offered top-rated mutual funds. We hope that taking away the administration hassles by integrating the plan into the customers' online payroll account, the intimidation factor will disappear and business owners will be open to offering Sure401(k) to employees who want to save for retirement."

Small Business Owners Split on Government's Role in Retirement Planning

While the majority of small business owners placed great importance on planning for the future, they were split on whether they believed the main responsibility for providing a comfortable retirement was on individual workers or the government.

"We face great challenges - it is hard enough to make ends meet on a day to day basis," replied one respondent. "Therefore, many Americans overlook retirement, and the government is not doing anything to help working people plan or save for their retirement."

According to a small business owner with a different opinion, "Too many people think the government should take care of them rather than them being responsible for their lives and retirement."

"Our culture needs a paradigm shift," stated another respondent. "As a country, we currently live paycheck to paycheck and overspend our money using credit, all in the pursuit of instant gratification and get-rich-quick schemes. Americans need an education in how to properly manage their money to save for rainy days and retirement. If this were the case, the credit crunch we are in right now could have been avoided."

About SurePayroll:

Voted Editor's Choice for best payroll service by PC Magazine, SurePayroll is America's largest full-service online payroll service. In addition to its payroll and ClickFREE™ tax file and pay service – which allows a user to complete the entire payroll process in minutes – SurePayroll provides HR and compliance resources, workers' compensation products and 401(k) retirement solutions designed specifically for small businesses.

SurePayroll also offers a private-label and co-branded payroll service to accounting and banking partners to offer payroll processing to their small business clients.

SurePayroll is passionate about small businesses and their payroll. The company is dedicated to providing an extremely friendly and simple payroll experience - at a price small business owners can afford. For more information, visit www.surepayroll.com.

For Media Inquiries Contact:

Frank Krolicki
Walker Sands Communications
www.walkersands.com
Phone: (312) 546-4127
Email: surepayroll-inquiries@walkersands.com