Retirement is one thing. Making ends meet while you’re gainfully employed is another entirely. Just ask middle-class workers, who, according to a new report by the Transamerica Institute, have an annual household income between $50,000 and $199,999. Per the August 28 report, which was conducted by Harris Poll and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, just one in five (21%) of those 10,000 respondents said they’re “very confident” in their ability to one day fully retire.
Worse: 40% of middle-class workers say their greatest fear is outliving their savings and investments. They’re equally concerned about having a decline in their health that would necessitate long-term care—and that Social Security protections will cease to exist by the time they need them.
In a gut punch to traditional expectations, fewer than a quarter of respondents said they actually believe their retirement nest egg is sizable enough to cover their expenses for the remainder of their lives. Middle-class respondents currently in the workforce have a median $66,000 saved for retirement, the survey found.
That’s mainly because they’re overtaxed with financial obligations today that hamstring their ability to adequately save up. Most of all, they’re stuck paying off debt (59% of respondents said this is their biggest obstacle), beefing up their emergency savings account (42%), saving for a major purchase like a house or childcare (31%), or simply making ends meet as prices continue to skyrocket (31%).
Middle-class Americans are attempting to prioritize their health and financial well-being amid a punishing economy, Transamerica Institute CEO Catherine Collinson wrote, but that makes them unlikely to enjoy long-term financial security.
Almost half of respondents expect they’ll work long beyond age 65; 15% say they don’t expect to retire at all. To be sure, the outlook is rosier for some than for others. The median retirement age among middle-class workers is 62, and per Transamerica, half the people in that bucket actually retired before that.
This group’s concerns and needs epitomize the dire straits that many workers will be facing as the human life span continues extending—and the workforce ages rapidly along with it. More Americans will turn 65 this year than ever before in history. In 2023, per Pew Research, nearly one in five Americans 65 and older were working—double the amount that were working in the 1990s. And the trend is only set to gain more steam: Adults 55 and over will make up one-fourth of the global workforce by 2031, Fortune’s Alexa Mikhail wrote.
That can be a good thing for everyone. “Older workers are bringing a whole different layer of experience—a savvy ability to problem-solve—that when you mix it with younger brackets, it produces a high amount of output,” Gary A. Officer, CEO of the Center for Workforce Inclusion, told Fortune’s Mikhail.
But that may be cold comfort to those currently in the thick of their careers who don’t see the exit ramp they’ve always envisioned—and planned for. Better awareness of options, long-term planning, and alternative investments could no doubt be helpful in rewriting their narrative, Collinson said. But it’s no substitute for “better, stronger societal support.”
