Americans’ retirement confidence level hits lowest point since 2008

A new survey has found Americans’ confidence in their ability to save for retirement has dropped by the largest rate since 2008’s financial crisis. The 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), is the longest-running survey of its kind measuring worker and retiree confidence and was conducted earlier this year.

The survey results show that although a majority of both workers and retirees have confidence that they will have enough money to live comfortably through retirement, that confidence has slipped nine percentage points for workers, and four percentage points for retirees.

“The confidence both workers and retirees have in their ability to finance their retirements dropped significantly in 2023. The last time a decline in confidence of this magnitude occurred was in 2008 during the global financial crisis. This shows that the current economic climate, in particular inflation, is eroding the confidence that Americans had in their retirement preparations going into the pandemic,” said Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI.