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The 5 Biggest Financial Fears Haunting Retirees Right Now
By Pete Grieve MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
From inflation to medical costs, these financial worries are keeping retirees up at night. We know how to combat them.
From rising medical costs to $5 gas, retirees are facing a slew of new financial fears in 2026. But what are their five biggest money concerns overall?
A new retirement survey from Schroders, a global asset management company, finds that the No. 1 worry among retired Americans is — you may have guessed it — inflation. About 90% of surveyed retirees said they are at least slightly concerned about the effect of inflation on their assets.
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“More than five years after the onset of the worst US inflation outbreak in a generation, the impact of rising prices continues to trouble retirees,” the company said in a news release Tuesday sharing the poll results from 1,500 investors, including 382 retirees.
Here’s what else is keeping retired folks up at night:
Inflation decreasing the value of their assets
The annual inflation rate jumped to 3.8% in April, up from 3.3% in March, according to the consumer price index. That’s the highest level in nearly three years. Given that many live on fixed incomes, retirees are worried about what it means for the value of their savings and investments.
“Retirees are fighting the affordability crisis with a fixed pool of assets and no second chances,” Deb Boyden, head of U.S. defined contribution at Schroders, said in the release.
Financial professionals often recommend retirees include various inflation hedges, such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, in an investment portfolio. Savings rates on I bonds and certificates of deposit (CDs) also tend to rise with inflation, making them potentially attractive options for those in retirement.
Higher-than-expected medical costs
The Schroders survey found that America’s retirees report spending a whopping 16% of their income on medical expenses, while most said that Medicare covers less than they had thought.
Budgeting for healthcare expenses is one of the keys to a happy retirement, and having an adequate emergency fund can take some of the stress off. If you have long-term care insurance or a health savings account, that plays to your advantage. Self-insuring is an alternative option.
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A market downturn hurting their portfolio
The S&P 500 is up about 27% in the past year, but the stock market’s recent performance hasn’t stopped retirees from worrying.
Four out of 5 retirees say they are at least somewhat concerned about a major market downturn wiping out a sizable chunk of the wealth they have accumulated. Investors are typically advised to reduce their stock exposure as they age and their ability to tolerate risk declines. A well-designed financial portfolio in retirement can offer protection even if the economy enters a recession.
“What often gets overlooked is that investing for retirement and investing in retirement are fundamentally different challenges,” Boyden said. “Once you retire, protecting against losses is just as important as capturing gains.”
Not knowing the best way to draw down
Coming in at fourth on the list in the Schroders report, a large share of retirees indicated they are unsure about the best way to use their retirement savings.
Tax laws, distribution strategy and retirement budgeting are all genuinely challenging topics. A financial professional can help, as can personal finance books and blogs and resources like our Retire with Money newsletter.
Outliving their money
Forecasting life expectancy is a notoriously tricky piece of retirement planning. While any number of online calculators can take inputs and give you a sense of how long you might live, most people aim to build a nest egg that will support them even if they live meaningfully longer than average.
According to the survey, 49% of retirees find that their expenses end up exceeding their projections, while over half “don’t know how long their savings will last.”
To avoid running out of money in retirement, experts suggest you pay down high-interest debt, consider increasing your income with a side gig and stick to a budget. Even at an older age, success relies on personal finance 101s.
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Pete Grieve is a New York-based reporter who covers personal finance news. At Money, Pete reports stories that affect Americans’ wallets on topics including insurance, autos, housing, credit cards, retirement and taxes. He studied political science and photography at the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper. Pete began his career as a professional journalist in 2019. Prior to joining Money, he was a health reporter for Spectrum News based in Columbus, Ohio, where he wrote digital stories and appeared on TV to provide coverage to a statewide audience. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and CNN Politics. Pete received extensive journalism training through Report for America, a nonprofit organization that places reporters in newsrooms to cover underreported issues and communities, and has attended journalism conferences from organizations including Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. He has discussed his reporting in interviews with outlets including the Columbia Journalism Review, This Morning With Gordon Deal and WBEZ (Chicago's NPR station). He’s been a panelist at the Chicago Headline Club’s FOIA Fest and he received the Institute on Political Journalism’s $2,500 Award for Excellence in Collegiate Reporting in 2017. An essay he wrote for Grey City magazine was later published in a 2020 book, Remembering J. Z. Smith: A Career and its Consequence.