Retirement confidence has held up better than the numbers behind it. According to Thrivent’s 2026 Retirement Expectations Survey, 58% of non-retirees say they are confident they will have enough money to retire from their primary career on schedule, a figure that has stayed steady from 2025. Yet the same survey found 47% of non-retirees are skeptical they will ever be able to fully retire, and the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey shows fewer than half of workers and retirees have calculated how much they will need to save for health care in retirement. Reported confidence sits ahead of the underlying figures.
Confidence Without Calculation
The gap starts with attention, as Thrivent’s data indicate that nearly two-thirds (64%) of non-retirees say they are more focused on their current financial situation than on planning for retirement. That is a defensible position when household budgets are tight, but it is also the mechanism that produces confidence without attaching a target number. The EBRI survey found that workers’ confidence in having enough money to live comfortably in retirement fell 6 percentage points from 2025 to 61%, while retirees’ confidence fell 5 percentage points to 73%. The direction of travel is downward even before the calculator comes out.
Northwestern Mutual’s 2026 Planning & Progress Study put a dollar figure on what Americans believe they need: $1.46 million. Whether that number is right for any individual household depends entirely on spending, longevity, and inflation assumptions that the average saver has not run. When people say they feel confident about retirement without running those inputs, they are generally reporting a feeling about their income rather than a projection of their nest egg.
The Savings Rate Is Moving the Wrong Way
Household savings have weakened rather than strengthened. Bureau of Economic Analysis data shows the personal savings rate has declined from 6.2% in the first quarter of 2024 to 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026. Per capita disposable income rose to $68,391 over the same period, but Americans spent 92.3% of their disposable income on personal consumption, leaving only $915.6 billion for savings nationwide. Rising income has been absorbed by rising costs rather than converted into retirement balances.
Median usual weekly earnings for full-time workers reached $1,235 in the first quarter of 2026, up from $1,139 in the first quarter of 2024. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey put average annual household spending at $78,535 in 2024, up from $72,973 in 2022. Wages are up, but so is what those wages have to cover before anything reaches a 401(k).
Inflation Is the Variable Most Plans Ignore
The calculation problem gets harder because inflation has re-accelerated. Headline PCE inflation ran at 4.07% year-over-year in May 2026, up from 2.87% in February 2026. Services inflation, which drives most retiree spending, held at 3.76%, and energy prices ran 24.26% higher year-over-year. The 2026 Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment came in at 2.8%, below current headline inflation, meaning benefits are losing ground in real terms for retirees already collecting.
Healthcare is where the miscalculation compounds. Total healthcare spending across the economy reached $3.7 trillion in May 2026, up from $3.4 trillion in January 2025. Housing services spending followed a similar path, rising to $3,950.3 billion and remaining the single largest service category. A retirement plan that assumes today’s healthcare and housing costs will still apply in twenty years is understating the target.
What the Data Actually Shows
Confidence in retirement has held near 58% while the inputs that would justify that confidence have weakened. The savings rate is lower, inflation is higher, and Thrivent found 35% of non-retirees say they feel behind their peers on retirement planning, with 53% citing the high cost of living and 47% citing insufficient earnings. Consumer sentiment reinforces the strain: the University of Michigan index was 44.8 in May 2026, well within recessionary territory and down from 61.7 in July 2025. Credit card delinquencies at 2.92% as of January 2026 remain within the normalizing range, but pressure on household cash flow is evident.
There is a gap between how Americans feel about retirement and what the arithmetic supports. A confident answer to a survey question reflects sentiment rather than a funded plan. The data documents the disconnect: rising costs, a shrinking savings rate, and roughly half of workers who have never put a specific dollar figure on what retirement will require.
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