Monthly Musings on Retirement Confidence, White House Correspondents’ Association

The Pursuit of Truth

President Jimmy Carter held a town hall-style re-election campaign rally at the Dayton (Ohio) Convention Center on Oct. 2, 1980, and I was there. 

So was John W. Hinckley Jr.

I was covering the event at the Dayton Convention Center as a staff writer for the Dayton Daily News. Hinckley, as outlined in a copyrighted story by the Dayton Daily News and recounted by The Washington Post, registered at the Sheraton Dayton Hotel under his own name and stayed in an eighth-floor room overlooking the convention center.

Daily News columnist Dale Huffman subsequently wrote that investigators found a videotape that showed Hinckley in the crowd outside the convention center that day.  

I  was within yards of Carter when he was outside and just before he headed inside for about an hourlong question-and-answer town hall session.

Hinckley didn’t act then. But months later he would, attempting to assassinate President Reagan in Washington, D.C. 

I bring this up because the recent attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington – at the same hotel where Hinckley shot Reagan in 1981 – conjured up memories of what could have been. 

It also reminded me of how important and valuable men and women are who report and write for a living.

You might dislike journalists for what you believe they are. But make no mistake, the ones I’ve known and worked with in five decades of journalism are responsible, dedicated to their craft, and as fair and objective as just about anyone you’ll meet.

And sometimes, potentially, in harm’s way. 

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2026 EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey

Fewer Americans feel confident about having enough money to live comfortably in retirement, with only three in five workers and three in four retirees reporting confidence, according to the 36th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), the longest-running survey of its kind, measuring worker and retiree confidence about retirement, and conducted jointly by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Research.

All respondents were ages 25 or older.

According to the survey:

Perceptions of savings adequacy are the most cited reason for confidence or lack thereof. However, a quarter of workers with lower confidence attribute their feeling to inflation and the cost of living. 

Worker confidence in having enough money to take care of their basic expenses in retirement and being able to keep up with the cost of living/inflation are also down from 2025. At the same time, fewer workers feel they are financially well enough to handle an emergency expense, and a larger share report that debt is a major problem for their household.

Retiree confidence is also down, though perhaps for slightly different reasons. Like last year, seven in 10 retirees are concerned that the government will make changes to the retirement system, similar to the share of workers. 

Retiree confidence in Social Security providing future benefits is down from 2025, while workers’ share remains the same. Fewer retirees believe that Medicare will continue to provide benefits equal to those received by retirees today than last year. Worker confidence in future Medicare benefits remains low.

The share of workers and retirees reporting their financial well-being as very good declined this year. Fewer than two in five workers and half of retirees consider their household’s financial well-being to be at least very good. 

Up from last year, debt is a problem for 65 percent of workers and a major problem for a quarter of workers. Half of workers have credit card debt, and nearly four in 10 have more than $25,000 in non-mortgage debt. 

Retirees are not as plagued by debt as workers, but two in five retirees still report debt as a problem; unlike workers, more than half of retirees have less than $1,000 in non-mortgage debt.

Americans can be prevented from saving for retirement or living comfortably in retirement due to debt, with around three in five workers and three in 10 retirees negatively impacted by debt. Against this backdrop, understanding where Americans expect to rely on income in retirement becomes even more critical. Social Security remains the top source of income for nine in 10 retirees and the top expected source for workers, followed closely by workplace retirement savings plans.

While the median expected retirement age for workers has held steady at age 65, a growing share report they don’t plan to retire. Close to a quarter of workers also adjusted their target retirement age in 2025, with a majority of them now planning to retire later. 

Retirees, on the other hand, report retiring at a younger age than workers anticipate. Most retirees — three in five — report retiring earlier than age 65, with a median retirement age of 62. There is also a difference between how workers think they will stop working and how it actually pans out. 

While almost half of workers think they will have a gradual transition to retirement, three in four retirees fully stopped working. Higher than in 2025, nearly half of retirees say they retired earlier than planned.

Two in five retirees who retired early say they did so because they had a health problem or disability. Overall, three in four retirees indicate the reason was something out of their control, including having a health problem or disability, as well as changes at their workplace.

The share of Americans who think they have the right educational and support resources to help with major financial events has fallen from 2025. Three in four retirees and about seven in 10 workers are confident about having the right educational sources (down from 83 percent for retirees and 75 percent for workers). 

They are also not sure where to go for guidance: Over two in five workers and a quarter of retirees say they do not know where to go for financial or retirement planning advice. This leads to a lack of confidence in retirement planning overall. About four in 10 Americans currently work with professional financial advisers, and of those who don’t, almost half of workers and two in 10 retirees expect to work with one in the future. 

Workers continue to turn most often to family and friends for financial advice, followed by online resources and research. Interestingly, half of workers (48 percent) believe technology/AI will help manage their finances in the future. 

On the other hand, around four in 10 retirees cite a financial adviser as their most used source for retirement planning. While this remains their top source of financial advice, its use is significantly down from 45 percent in 2025.

Over eight in 10 workers are satisfied with their workplace retirement savings plan overall and with the options available to help them save. However, plan satisfaction doesn’t translate to feeling like they’ve saved enough. 

Compared with 2025, fewer retirees feel like they will have enough money to last their entire life (69 percent vs. 74 percent). Workers are even less optimistic: Only 57 percent believe their savings will last their lifetime. 

Perhaps to address this concern, among workers who are offered a workplace retirement savings plan, over a third believe having investment options that provide guaranteed lifetime income would be a valuable improvement to their plan. 

Over four in five workers are interested in purchasing a guaranteed monthly income product with retirement savings. Nearly as many find purchasing annuities over time in a target-date fund appealing, and two-thirds of workers are interested in a Social Security “bridge annuity” that would provide income until age 70 and maximize Social Security benefits.

Interestingly, over half of workers say they expect a guaranteed income product to be a source of income in retirement. However, a significantly smaller share of retirees, about one-third overall, indicate it is a source of income.

A majority of retirees say their standard of living is at least good, with half reporting their standard of living in retirement is excellent/very good. Retirees continue to show similar confidence about their finances in retirement compared with 2025. Three in four say they are able to spend money how they want, within reason. 

Over half of retirees disagree that they spend less than they could because they are worried about running out of money. Additionally, two in three retirees agree they are having the retirement lifestyle they envisioned. A quarter of retirees strongly agree with this statement. 

Still, two in five retirees say their expenses in retirement are higher than they expected when they first retired. In addition to their own expenses, retirees are also planning for the next generation, as over six in 10 retirees are confident they will have enough money to leave an inheritance.