When it comes to having enough money saved for retirement, the Fidelity 2026 State of Retirement Planning study offered reasons for optimism. Nearly three out of four respondents — 72% — expect to retire on their own terms, up five percentage points from 2025.
However, it wasn’t all roses. While it’s good news that Americans are contributing an average of $9,000 to their retirement funds per year (per Fidelity), boomers shouldn’t rest easy if they maintained the average or even contributed more.
Boomers are less likely than millennials and Gen Zers to be confident that they can retire how and when they want — and for good reason. Here’s why $9,000 a year in retirement savings may not be enough anymore.
Explore Next: How Much You Need To Save Monthly To Retire Comfortably in Every State
Trending Now: 5 Clever Ways Retirees Are Earning Up To $1K per Month From Home
The optimism of youth and the wisdom of age were on display in the Fidelity study, which found that 75% and 78% of Gen Z and millennials, respectively, were confident in their ability to retire on their own terms.
By comparison, just 63% of Gen X and 68% of boomers expressed such optimism.
Check Out: Warren Buffett’s Advice To Prepare for a Recession Is S-Tier
Boomers joined all age groups in citing rising prices as the single biggest obstacle to saving money. Exactly 50% of both the oldest generation and Gen Z, the youngest, cited rising living costs as the biggest impediment to banking money, along with 49% of millennials and 56% of Gen X.
Economic reports can be misleadingly encouraging because a decrease in the inflation rate does not mean that daily life is getting cheaper.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan government data aggregator USAFacts noted that while inflation has fallen from a 40-year high of over 9% in 2022 to less than 2.5% in 2026, prices haven’t dropped by 6.5 percentage points in that time. They’ve just risen 6.5 percentage points more slowly, which means that year’s peak prices were largely locked in as the new floor and have been rising ever since.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed the general inflation rate is 2.4%, but seniors typically experience faster cost-of-living increases. The CPI-E index weights the CPI differently to more accurately reflect the expenses that disproportionately impact individuals ages 62 — the youngest boomers — and older, namely housing, healthcare, apparel, transportation and food.