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A Tumultuous Year Tests Retirement Optimism Among American Savers
PensionBee’s 2025 Happy Retirement Report captured the impact of the year’s events on retirement outlook, which dropped from 55% in March to just 44% in the last months of the year. The broader findings reflect the outlook and behaviors of approximately approximately 3,000 American retirement savers, drawing from surveys conducted in each quarter of the year, with special focus paid to the actions and attitudes that underpin retirement sentiment.
The action and sentiment connection
40% of Americans actively saving for retirement have less than one year of living expenses stashed away, while one in three (30%) can not last six months if they had to stop working tomorrow.
While Americans consistently report low savings, retirement outlook may have less to do with how much you have stashed and instead, hinges on your approach to saving. The findings revealed a correlation between action and sentiment, highlighting the specific habits behind positive and negative sentiment.
“Thoughtful saving practices appear linked to higher levels of retirement optimism,” said Romi Savova, Founder and CEO of PensionBee. “It’s great to see that connection because it means that a positive outlook could be accessible to most, regardless of other financial factors.”
Here is how those who reported feeling ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ positive about their retirement are saving:
- Have a plan: Having a plan – any plan may be enough to make you feel good about your future retirement security. More than half (53%) of those who feel positive have a solid plan for their retirement, working with either a financial advisor or online tools to understand their goals.
- Take the money: Nearly 1 in 3 (32%) contribute enough to receive a full match from their employer, essentially free money to put toward retirement.
- Choose an IRA home: Americans job hop often, and scattered accounts are increasingly becoming the norm. Those who feel positive about their retirement are more than twice as likely as those who feel negative (20% vs. 7%) to roll over old 401(k)s and IRAs into a single account.
Those who feel negative are joined by a single common habit: saving without a clearly defined plan. The vast majority of this group—91%—are approaching retirement with only a loose plan or no clearly defined goal in mind.
This group is twice as likely as those who feel positive to report having delayed starting a retirement account until the age of 30, and half as likely to contribute enough to ensure employer matches.
Both groups took hardship withdrawals at similar levels (12% with a negative outlook vs. 16% of those with a positive outlook), suggesting that financial situation alone does not determine outlook.
