Concerns over inflation have shattered Americans' confidence in being able to retire comfortably, according to the 33rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey released Thursday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Fewer than 2 in 3 workers (64%) reported being very or somewhat confident in having enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement, down from 73% who said so in 2022. Retirement confidence among retirees also dropped, with 73% feeling very or somewhat confident, down from 77% last year.
"The last time a decline in confidence of this magnitude occurred was in 2008 during the global financial crisis," said Craig Copeland, EBRI's director of wealth benefits research, in a news release.
Americans said their low retirement confidence was due to having little or no savings as well as concerns over inflation.
Inflation was especially worrisome in terms of workers' and retirees' ability to save and spend, with 84% of workers and 67% of retirees saying they feared that the increasing cost of living will make it harder for them to save money. Most respondents — 73% of workers and 58% of retirees — also reported that they were concerned that they will have to make substantial cuts to their spending due to inflation.
"Workers worry that their salaries won't keep up with inflation and report more debt, while retirees worry about cost of living and expenses," said Lisa Greenwald, CEO of Greenwald Research, in the news release.
The survey of 2,537 Americans was conducted online by EBRI and Greenwald Research from Jan. 5 to Feb. 2. It included 1,320 workers and 1,217 retirees. All respondents were ages 25 or older.
