5 minEconomy
43% of Americans Expect to Work Until They Die as Retirement Fears Mount
A new WalletHub survey finds that 43% of Americans expect to work until they die, with inflation, debt, and rising costs driving retirement anxiety to new heights.
More than two in five Americans now believe they will never be able to stop working, according to a WalletHub survey released at the end of August. The finding — that 43% of respondents expect to work until they die — captures a deepening sense of pessimism about retirement that has been building for years but has sharpened amid a fresh bout of inflation.
The survey also found that 39% of respondents feel anxious when they think about retirement, and 29% said they are counting on family members to support them financially once they stop working. Half of those surveyed said it is not realistic for the average American to retire comfortably.
Those individual fears track with a broader national mood. A report released in August by the National Institute on Retirement Security found that 80% of Americans believe the country is facing a retirement crisis, up from 67% in 2020. Among the 61% of Americans concerned they will not achieve financial security in retirement, 73% pointed to inflation as a contributing factor, with market volatility close behind at 62%.
The strain is visible in everyday expenses. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline hit $4.27 this week, up 13 cents in just seven days, according to AAA. The average price of ground beef reached $6.89 a pound in July, up 9.4% from a year earlier, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Rising prices for essentials like gas and groceries have pushed inflation back to the center of Americans' financial worries.
Debt is compounding the problem and eating into savings. In the NIRS report, 74% of respondents said debt is a problem, and 77% said it prevents them from saving adequately for retirement. WalletHub's survey pointed in the same direction: 53% of respondents said paying off debt is more important than making retirement contributions. The picture helps explain why nearly four in 10 Americans nearing their 60s do not have a retirement account at all.
Retirement doubt is not new in the United States. A majority of Americans have told Gallup they are worried about not having enough money for retirement every year since 2001, making it the country's top financial worry for more than two decades, ahead of medical costs and every other money concern Gallup tracks. The Employee Benefit Research Institute's 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey found that worker confidence in having enough to retire comfortably had slipped six points to 61%.
Despite the strain, Americans still value retirement benefits highly. Among current workers, 75% say retirement benefits are a very or extremely important factor when weighing a job opportunity, and 41% say those benefits have become more important to them over the past year, according to the NIRS report.
For some older Americans, working indefinitely is a choice rather than a necessity. Nearly 20% of those 65 and older are now employed, almost double the share of 35 years ago. But for millions more, the prospect of never clocking out is a source of dread, not fulfillment.
Newer wrinkles are complicating the picture. The NIRS report found that 53% of Americans oppose employers offering cryptocurrency as an option in workplace retirement plans, and 77% consider crypto in those plans risky. Attitudes toward artificial intelligence are similarly wary: nearly half, 45%, said they are uncomfortable with AI playing a role in delivering financial advice, even as a majority have used the technology.
"Americans are telling us that retirement security is becoming harder to achieve as they struggle with the affordability of everyday life. Housing, healthcare, debt and other expenses are competing with the need to save for retirement," Dan Doonan, executive director of NIRS, said in the report. "At the same time, Americans are confronting new questions about AI and cryptocurrency as the retirement landscape becomes increasingly complex."
The anxiety has also drawn attention from the top of the financial industry. TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett recently called America's $4 trillion retirement shortfall "a real crisis," warning that roughly 40% of Americans risk running out of money.
While retirement anxiety is nothing new, it has taken a sharper form amid a bleak economic outlook and an uncertain road ahead. The combination of persistent inflation, mounting debt, and a widening savings gap has left many Americans doubtful that a traditional retirement will ever be within reach.
