New Jerseyans Express Cost Concerns, Survey Shows [AUDIO]

A new survey of New Jersey residents, who have a fair amount of assets, shows the future of healthcare costs and working later in life are very much on their minds.

Merrill Edge did the survey of those with $50,000 to $250,000 in assets in Monmouth and Union counties, which they dub the, "mass affluent."

Merrill's Ray Tenpenny says 27 percent have saved just $20,000 or less for their child's education, compared to 51 percent nationally. Tenpenny tells us what's on the minds of this group.

"They're focused on healthcare costs, they're focused on what their desired lifestyle will look like, they're focused in on eliminating debt, and also for paying for college costs in the future."

The Merrill Edge survey also show New Jerseyans in the survey anticipate needing close to a million dollars for retirement, much more that the National average of $863,000.

"More than half, or 55 percent of the respondents believe that they will have less debt over the next 10 years. That's pretty good. 25 percent believe they'll have the same."

And that coincides with some of the business reports that you have seen recently based out of the Federal Reserve about credit contracting, especially credit cards.