As affordability pressures squeeze household budgets, Americans increasingly fear they will not be financially secure in retirement, while also expressing caution about artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency in retirement planning, according to new research from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS).

The new report, Retirement Insecurity 2026: Americans’ Views of Retirement, finds that 80 percent of Americans say the nation faces a retirement crisis, up sharply from 67 percent in 2020. Additionally, more than six in ten Americans (61 percent) are concerned they will not achieve financial security in retirement.

This nationwide survey also finds that Americans are navigating a rapidly changing financial landscape. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) have used an AI tool, but 45 percent are uncomfortable with AI playing a role in delivering financial advice. And as policymakers debate expanding access to alternative investments in workplace retirement plans, 77 percent of Americans say cryptocurrency in retirement plans is risky, while 53 percent oppose employers offering it as an investment option.

“Americans are telling us that retirement security is becoming harder to achieve as they struggle with the affordability of everyday life,” said Dan Doonan, NIRS executive director and report co-author. “Housing, healthcare, debt and other expenses are competing with the need to save for retirement. At the same time, Americans are confronting new questions about AI and cryptocurrency as the retirement landscape becomes increasingly complex.”

The affordability squeeze is evident throughout the research. Nearly seven in ten Americans (68 percent) say preparing for retirement is becoming harder, up from 58 percent in 2020, and 45 percent say it will be much harder, compared with 31 percent in 2020. Among the factors making retirement preparation more difficult, Americans point to the rising cost of healthcare in retirement (91 percent), inflation (91 percent), long-term care costs (89 percent), wages not keeping pace with expenses (88 percent), and increasing debt (87 percent).

Those pressures are affecting Americans’ ability to save today. Seventy-nine percent say the average worker cannot save enough on their own for a secure retirement. Among the obstacles preventing Americans from saving more are paying down debt (41 percent), high housing costs (39 percent), emergency expenses (30 percent), healthcare and medical expenses (25 percent), lack of access to a workplace retirement plan (13 percent), and childcare costs (12 percent).

“If savings-based plans are going to produce good outcomes, retirement security ultimately begins with affordability,” Doonan said. “It is difficult to save for a retirement that may be decades away when families are struggling today to afford housing, healthcare and other necessities. That is the fundamental challenge policymakers and employers must confront if we want to improve retirement outcomes.”

Americans also want policymakers to pay greater attention to the issue. Eighty-four percent say leaders in Washington do not understand the retirement savings challenges facing Americans, while 85 percent say policymakers should make retirement security a higher national priority, up from 76 percent in 2020.

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