When retirement finally rolls around, will you be ready? For more than half of Americans — 52% — the answer is “yes.”
Recently, Northwestern Mutual surveyed 2,740 adults for its 2023 Planning & Progress Study and found that, overall, Americans feel pretty optimistic about amassing a nest egg that will see them through their golden years.
However, some Americans are more worried about the state of their savings. In fact, more than half of the members of one generation feel like they will come up short when the time to quit working arrives.
Take a look at how the following four generations feel about their retirement prospects and see if your concerns match those of your peers.
Generation Z
Respondents in this generation who said they expect to be financially prepared for retirement when the time comes: 65%
Age to which respondents in this generation plan to work: 60, on average
Youth is a time for optimism, and members of Generation Z are the most confident that they will be financially ready for retirement. They also expect to retire younger, on average, than members of any other generation.
Perhaps Generation Z is feeling good about its retirement prospects because it is doing such a great job of managing money, as we report in “Which Generation Has the Most Super Savers?”
Millennials
Respondents in this generation who said they expect to be financially prepared for retirement when the time comes: 54%
Age to which respondents in this generation plan to work: 63, on average
Millennials are a bit less optimistic about their retirement prospects than members of Generation Z. But they still feel pretty good about their ability to save enough for a comfortable retirement.
In fact, millennials are probably more worried about their parents’ financial status than their own, as we note in “8 Tips Millennials Wish Their Parents Would Follow.”
Generation X
Respondents in this generation who said they expect to be financially prepared for retirement when the time comes: 45%
Age to which respondents in this generation plan to work: 65, on average
Maybe Generation X should be renamed “Generation Gloom.” Less than half of people surveyed in this generation expect they will be financially ready for retirement when it arrives in the not-so-distant future.
Unfortunately, 38% of these worrywarts have chosen a “deer in headlights” approach to their fears — they admit they haven’t taken any steps to address the anxiety that they might outlive their savings.
Baby boomers (and older)
Respondents in this generation who said they expect to be financially prepared for retirement when the time comes: 52%
Age to which respondents in this generation plan to work: 71, on average
Older workers fall somewhere between millennials and members of Generation X in terms of their optimism about retirement savings. (Northwestern Mutual notes that this category only includes people in this age group who have not yet retired.)
Many already are in their 60s and beyond so it is no surprise that people in this age cohort expect to work later into life than members of any other generation.
For more about the retirement prospects for this group of Americans, check out:
