This is a survey of only 240 people, but still, the results are not optimistic.
Key Stats
- Pension preference: 7 in 10 people believe a pension is better than a 401(k). For most workers this is not practical because you need to be a participant in a pension plan (generally one employer) for decades to generate a significant retirement income and the average tenure with one employer is only 4-6 years +-
- Americans worry about retirement: More than 1 in 3 Americans are not confident that they will have enough money to retire.
- Benefit trade-off: More than half of Americans say they would prefer to pay a 12.4% Social Security tax to get double the benefits rather than a 6.2% tax and current benefits. The thing is that won’t work. Even doubling the entire current 12.4% rate (to 24.8%) would still leave a large gap relative to doubled costs.
- Retirement doubt: 43% of people believe it is not realistic for the average American to expect to retire comfortably.
- Many people may never retire: 40% of people say they expect to work until they die.
- Debt takes precedence: More than 2 in 5 Americans think paying off debt is more important than making retirement contributions.
Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Source: WalletHub Retirement Savings Survey 240 respondents August 2026
One really scary response-36% say they are counting on family support to help them in retirement. I wonder if the family they are counting on knows that?
Full Survey & Responses
Are you confident that you will have enough money to retire?
Yes
66%
No
34%
How does thinking about retirement make you feel?
Anxious
35%
Empowered
24%
Motivated
18%
Pessimistic
15%
Scared
9%
Do you have a retirement plan?
Yes
77%
No
23%
What threatens your ability to retire the most?
Inflation
27%
My financial decisions
24%
Job market
20%
Stock market
17%
Social Security benefits
12%
Are you counting on family members to support you financially when you retire?
No
64%
Yes
36%
Do you expect to work until you die?
No
60%
Yes
40%
Is it more important to make retirement contributions or pay off debt?
Make retirement contributions
55%
Pay off debt
45%
Is it realistic for the average American to expect to retire comfortably?
Yes
57%
No
43%
Would you prefer to pay a 12.4% Social Security tax to get double the benefits, or pay 6.2% with the current benefits?
12.4% tax and double benefits
53%
6.2% tax and current benefits
47%
Is a pension better than a 401(k)?
Yes
70%
No
30%
Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
Every American worker can have a “pension” – defined as a guaranteed, monthly income. They call it an annuity. The other guaranteed, inflation indexed annuity is called Social Security.
What people prefer is for someone else to pay – even if they don’t realize that an employer that provides a pension plan is simply deferring wages that would have been paid to the worker today.
That is, if you asked 100 workers age 25 if they would forego 8% of pay for the next 40 years, to fund a defined benefit pension commencing 40 years from now that would be sufficient, combined with Social Security, to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living, unsurprisingly, most would not.
Now, ask them if they would be willing to contribute to a 401k plan with an employer match (which is also deferred wages), and many would – because that plan offers liquidity.
Of course, no reason why a defined benefit pension plan couldn’t offer liquidity as well. Unfortunately, most don’t.
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I wouldn’t worry about what a few young people think about retirement. The road is too long from that day for them to comprehend. The rules change anyway. When I was 25, the index fund was just an idea and Bogle was still years away from bringing it to the public. There were pensions with various employers yes but a lot of them weren’t worth a damn. All of that has changed and who is to say there won’t be major changes in the years ahead. Even those people who think they are taken care of because they work for state or local governments may get a future surprise when the well runs dry.
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