By Catherine Thurtle

Open a retirement statement today, and the numbers look a little better than in 2020. Open the news, and the ground looks a lot less steady.

That gap sums up where retirement security stands in 2026. Fewer than six in 10 US residents (59%) agree they’re currently building, or have already built, a big enough retirement nest egg. That’s according to Life and Money: Retirement Security in the USA, new research fielded by The Harris Poll on behalf of nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® (TCRS) and Transamerica Institute®. It’s up from 55% in 2020, when large parts of the economy were shut down by the pandemic.

A five-year trend with nowhere to go
The report tracks 10 indicators of retirement security from 2020 to 2026, drawing on more than 60,000 Americans surveyed across that period. Most of those indicators tell the same story: small gains that haven’t built any real momentum.

Confidence in having a comfortable retirement sits at 66%, unchanged since 2020 – 22% very confident, 44% somewhat confident, and neither figure has shifted. Among people who aren’t yet retired, the share saving for retirement rose from 65% to 69%, and estimated median household retirement savings climbed from $44,000 to $56,000.

Those are real gains. They’re just not enough to change the bigger picture.

“Retirement is a core tenet of the American dream,” said Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Institute and TCRS. “It is a chapter in life that brings time and freedom for travel, family and friends, hobbies, and giving back to our communities. Today, a secure retirement may be out of reach for many Americans.”

Why the needle won’t move
Call it exhaustion as much as economics. Only 15% of Americans say they’re very optimistic about their future given today’s pace of change, and 46% say they often feel exhausted and burnt out. Day-to-day life has been hurt by the economy for 56% of respondents, by health care costs for 44%, by housing prices for 43%, and by extreme weather and natural disasters for 28%.

On top of that sits a specific set of fears. Americans worry most about declining health that requires long-term care (39%), Social Security being reduced or disappearing (38%), outliving their savings (36%), cognitive decline and dementia (32%), losing their independence (30%), long-term care costs (30%), and not being able to meet their family’s basic financial needs (30%).

Six in 10 Americans (62%) agree they could work right up to retirement and still not save enough, or that they didn’t save enough before retiring. And saving for retirement has to compete with saving for everything else: 44% name retirement as a top financial priority, but 38% are focused on building emergency savings, 34% are just trying to cover basic living expenses, and 33% are working to pay off credit card debt.

A newer worry has entered the mix, too. Among Americans who aren’t retired, 46% are concerned that AI and robotics will make their job skills obsolete – a direct threat to the years of earning that retirement planning depends on.

“Americans are navigating a turbulent economy, the high cost of living, the impacts of AI and robotics on the future of work, and the nerve-wracking countdown to the depletion of the Social Security trust funds,” Collinson said. “These megatrends are driving the doldrums in Americans’ retirement outlook.”

What’s within Americans’ control
Megatrends aside, the survey points to specific gaps people can close themselves.

Financial knowledge is thin. Only one in five Americans (20%) say they have “a lot” of working knowledge about personal finance – managing money, investing, debt, risk, and taxes. Regular financial habits are similarly patchy: 49% budget regularly, but fewer manage their savings and investments (37%), secure their online accounts (33%), do financial planning (32%), build their financial knowledge (30%), or plan around taxes (22%).

Formal planning lags further behind. Fewer than one in four Americans (23%) have a written retirement strategy. Only 16% frequently talk about retirement savings with family and close friends, though 55% do so occasionally. And three in 10 (31%) work with a professional financial advisor.

None of these gaps close on their own. But each is a lever people can actually pull, unlike the wider forces working against them.

“Strengthening the U.S. retirement system requires addressing the ever-changing realities Americans are facing, so that they can afford everyday life, have income to save and invest, gain continued access to meaningful employment, and build resilience to adapt to change,” Collinson said. “Americans also need policymakers and public-private partnerships to ensure the sustainability of safety nets, such as Social Security and Medicare, and future-proof our retirement system.”

Life and Money: Retirement Security in the USA is the lead release from the 26th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey, one of the largest and longest-running studies of its kind.

Source @Theharrispoll