Gen X Retirement Anxiety Soars as Income Needs Persist

As retirement creeps toward older Generation X workers, anxiety spikes. When the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. surveyed pre-retirees from Generation Z through Baby Boomers about whether they will be financially prepared for retirement, the group with the least confidence was Gen X (49%), according to the company’s “2026 Planning & Progress Study.”

The group with the most confidence was Gen Z, with 58% feeling prepared; 55% of both Millennials and Boomers said they feel prepared.

Gen Xers’ Gloom

The Global Atlantic Financial Group LLC’s separate “2026 Retirement Outlook,” which tracked retirement readiness among U.S. adults aged 55 through 75, found that 28% of Gen Xers aged 55 to 60 said they were extremely or very concerned about having enough income to last their lifetime—double the percentage of Boomers aged 61 through 75 (14%).

As the first wave of Gen X approaches retirement, respondents in that cohort shared the most concerns about retirement income. Global Atlantic found that 48% of Gen Xers surveyed expected to return to work after retirement, compared with 21% of Boomers.

“Compared with Boomers, Gen X consumers reported higher levels of income anxiety, greater concern about Social Security and a stronger likelihood of needing to work longer,” said Jason Bickler, Global Atlantic’s co-head of individual markets, in a statement. “Unlike prior generations that often relied on pension plans, many of today’s near-retirees must create their own reliable income stream from accumulated savings, even while facing rising health care costs and economic uncertainty.”

According to Northwestern Mutual’s study, when current retirees and pre-retirees were asked if they planned to continue working into retirement, the likeliest populations were Gen Xers and Millennials, of whom both 50% agreed, up from 48% of Gen X and 45% of Millennial respondents in 2025.

The ‘Magic Number’

When all U.S. adults surveyed by Northwestern were asked what they considered the “magic number” of savings needed to retire comfortably in 2026, they responded with an average of $1.46 million, up from $1.26 million in 2025.

In years prior, the average estimated “magic number” was $1.46 million in 2024, $1.27 million in 2023 and $1.25 million in 2022.

For high-net-worth respondents, with more than $1 million in investable assets, their estimate of the amount needed to retire comfortably reached $2.67 million in 2026.

“The new ‘magic number’ reflects a convergence of factors, from persistent inflation and longer life expectancies to uncertainty about the future of Social Security,” said John Roberts, Northwestern Mutual’s chief field officer, in a statement. “Retirement is increasingly complex, and Americans are responding by setting higher expectations for what they’ll need.”

The Global Atlantic survey was conducted online by Artemis Strategy Group from November 21 through December 11, 2025. Respondents included 1,011 consumers and 505 financial professionals in the U.S.

Northwestern Mutual’s “2026 Planning & Progress Study” was based on an online survey conducted by the Harris Poll with 4,375 U.S. adults aged 18 or older between January 5 and January 21.