WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans are becoming increasingly less confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years, according to the 33rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research.
The report also finds both workers and retirees are greatly concerned about inflation and its impact on their savings and spending.
The Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) is the longest-running survey of its kind measuring worker and retiree confidence.
“The confidence both workers and retirees have in their ability to finance their retirements dropped significantly in 2023,” says Craig Copeland, director, Wealth Benefits Research, EBRI. “The last time a decline in confidence of this magnitude occurred was in 2008 during the global financial crisis. This shows that the current economic climate, in particular inflation, is eroding the confidence that Americans had in their retirement preparations going into the pandemic.”
The 2023 survey of 2,537 Americans was conducted online from Jan. 5 through Feb. 2, 2023. All respondents were ages 25 or older. The survey included 1,320 workers and 1,217 retirees and this year included an oversample of roughly 944 completed surveys among caregivers (598 workers and 346 retirees). A report on the findings among caregivers will be released this summer.
“Workers worry that their salaries won’t keep up with inflation and report more debt, while retirees worry about cost of living and expenses,” says Lisa Greenwald, CEO, Greenwald Research. “Half of retirees report that their overall spending is higher than expected, an increase over last year’s one-third, and the share of retirees who feel their retirement lifestyle is worse than they expected is slowly growing.”
To read the report, click here.