43% of Americans Expect to Work Until Death as Inflation and Debt Deepen Retirement Fears
Updated
Updated · Fortune · Sep 13
43% of Americans Expect to Work Until Death as Inflation and Debt Deepen Retirement Fears
3 articles · Updated · Fortune · Sep 13
Summary
43% of Americans say they expect to work until they die, a late-August WalletHub survey found, while 39% feel anxious about retirement and 29% expect family support once they stop working.
Inflation and debt are driving that insecurity: NIRS found 73% of worried Americans cite inflation, 74% call debt a problem, and 77% say debt keeps them from saving enough for retirement.
Everyday costs have sharpened the pressure, with regular gasoline averaging $4.27 a gallon this week and ground beef at $6.89 a pound in July, up 9.4% from a year earlier.
Retirement confidence has weakened alongside those strains, with EBRI saying worker confidence fell 6 points to 61%, while 80% of Americans now believe the country faces a retirement crisis.
Even so, 75% of workers still rank retirement benefits as very or extremely important in a job, underscoring how a long-running U.S. savings gap is colliding with a new affordability squeeze.