When it comes to saving money, state and local government employees most often take their cues from professionals, make retirement their top financial goal, and are overwhelmingly confident their strategy will lead to a secure retirement. Paying for health care in retirement is the most serious threat to their plans.

That's according to the results of a new poll commissioned by ICMA-RC as part of National Save for Retirement Week (Oct. 21-27). Nine out of 10 of those responding to the survey say they are confident that their strategy for saving will lead to a secure retirement.

Ninety percent of 500 ICMA-RC plan participants polled said that retirement saving is their top financial priority. Three-quarters of them believe they can maintain their standard of living in retirement with the financial resources they will have at hand. Almost one in five believe they will have a higher standard of living in retirement. Nearly half, however, plan to keep working, at least part-time. Just one in 20 feels their standard of living in retirement will be worse than it is now.

"It is gratifying to see such a commitment to building retirement security among public employees," said Joan McCallen, President and CEO of ICMA-RC. "National Save for Retirement Week is a time when every employee can take measure of his or her retirement plan."

Twenty-four percent said financial planning and investment professionals were their first choice for help in retirement planning decisions. Employers and plan administrators were the top choice of 22 percent of the respondents. And one in five said they made the decision without help from other sources. Friends, family and co-workers were the next choice. Magazines, newspapers and the Internet were the top picks of 13 percent of respondents.

Highlighting the importance of planning, the poll asked respondents if they had attempted to figure what monthly income they would need to live in retirement. Fifty-six percent said they had, and of those, 88 percent believed the results showed they were on track to reach their monthly income goal. Three-quarters of those polled said contributing to a 457 plan was extremely or very important.

Paying for health care in retirement is the most serious threat to their plans. That concern - 59 percent of those surveyed said they were worried about health care costs - is well placed. An Employee Benefit Research Institute study in 2006 estimated that a couple aged 65 retiring today may spend nearly $300,000 of their resources on health care in retirement. That's because Americans are living longer in retirement and shouldering more of their health care costs.

They also worry about the stock market. Forty-three percent said a drop in stock prices would seriously impact their retirement savings.