ING Releases Findings from Retirement Number Study

What's in a number? According to ING (NYSE: ING), the answer is your retirement.

ING today released the results of its recent Retirement Number Study. The survey, conducted with Ipsos Public Affairs in January 2008, polled more than 1,000 U.S. adults to learn what numbers are most important in their life. Participants also responded to a series of questions to see how -- if at all -- they consider their retirement number. This number is the dollar amount an individual or couple needs to have saved by the time they retire and is unique to their personal retirement goals.

The ING Retirement Number Study was undertaken in conjunction with ING's new 'Your Number' marketing campaign, which launched this past week to create awareness for planning one's retirement number. Results from the study show that most people don't consider their retirement number to be an "important" number.

According to those polled, Americans view numbers relating to their sense of identity and their closest personal relationships as most important to them. The numbers frequently mentioned as significant are their own birthday (cited by 26% of respondents) or someone else's birthday (22%). Other important numbers include a Social Security number (16%), a wedding anniversary (16%), a phone number (13%) and the number of children or siblings in one's family (12%).

Only a small fraction (5%) consider a financial number, such as their retirement nest egg, as being among those most important to them.

"It's ironic that birthdays top the list of most important numbers," noted Kathleen Murphy, CEO of U.S. Wealth Management for ING. "As people live longer and celebrate more birthdays, they also face a greater risk of outliving their retirement savings. We hope identifying and working towards one's retirement number will be as important as achieving each additional birthday."

The survey also revealed the following information on how people view their retirement number:

  -- Two thirds of Americans (67%) say they think at least sometimes about
     how much they need to save and invest for retirement.
  -- Yet nearly one in two (49%) say calculating that number is not easy and
     they wouldn't know where to start.
  -- While more than half agree they've calculated the money needed for
     retirement, over a third (36%) say all they could do is guess.
  -- Four in ten adults (42%) say they do not like thinking about their
     retirement number, and nearly as many (39%) say it's boring.

When asked what they should consider in order to calculate the amount they'll need for retirement, over a third (37%) mentioned living expenses. However, no other factor is cited by more than 7% of all survey participants. These include:

  -- Life expectancy (cited by only 7%)
  -- Assets/owning one's own home (6%)
  -- Health (5%)
  -- Healthcare costs (5%)
  -- Age of retirement (5%)

Although they were probed for multiple answers, only one third (33%) identified more than one factor that should be considered. One in four (25%) could not mention even one.

"ING -- with its new 'Your Number' campaign -- is in a great position to help Americans better understand their retirement needs," added Murphy. "By visiting www.INGyournumber.com, they can work with a user-friendly tool to calculate their number, learn about ING's products and services, and get connected to a qualified financial professional."

Commissioned by ING and conducted by Ipsos in January 2008, the ING Retirement Number Study included a representative randomly selected sample of 1,008 adult Americans. The margin of error for the overall sample is +/-3.1%. Data was weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual American population according to Census data. For a complete overview of the ING Retirement Number Study, visit http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=3823

  Press inquiries:
  Joe Loparco                        Deborah Pont
  ING Americas                       ING Americas
  Office: 860.580.2677               Office: 860.580.2678
  Cell: 860.462.6525                 Cell: 860.984.1173
  joseph.loparco@us.ing.com          deborah.pont@us.ing.com


  About ING

ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, insurance and asset management to more than 75 million private, corporate and institutional clients in more than 50 countries. With a diverse workforce of over 120,000 people, ING comprises a broad spectrum of prominent companies that increasingly serve their clients under the ING brand.

In the U.S., the ING (NYSE: ING) family of companies offers a comprehensive array of financial services to retail and institutional clients which include life insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, managed accounts, alternative investments, direct banking, institutional investment management, annuities, employee benefits, financial planning, and reinsurance. ING holds top-tier rankings in key U.S. markets and serves over 14 million customers across the nation. For more information, visit www.ing.com.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: joseph.loparco@us.ing.com

SOURCE: ING

CONTACT: Joe Loparco, office, +1-860-580-2677, cell, +1-860-462-6525,
joseph.loparco@us.ing.com, or Deborah Pont, office, +1-860-580-2678, cell,
+1-860-984-1173, deborah.pont@us.ing.com, both of ING Americas

Web site: http://www.ing.com/
http://www.ingyournumber.com/
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/pressrelease.cfm?id=3823