5 Greatest Fears the Middle Class Has About Retirement — and What You Can Do About Them

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It’s easy to worry about the future in general — and retirement more specifically — during times of economic uncertainty such as these, and especially during an election year that brings with it many questions about the sustainability of Social Security.

Indeed, there are many issues to be concerned about, something made quite clear in a recent survey by the TransAmerican Center for Retirement Studies. “The Retirement Outlook of the American Middle Class” is an annual survey held by the Center for the last 24 years, and the 2024 iteration of the survey revealed the five greatest retirement fears of the American middle class.

Survey Results, Condensed

  • 40% of middle class respondents polled noted that their greatest retirement fear is “outliving their savings and investments.”
  • 40% also expressed their worry about declining health that would require long-term care.
  • 39% of those surveyed noted their concern that Social Security will be reduced or cease to exist in the future.
  • 33% of the polled middle class stated they were afraid of developing “cognitive decline, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease” in their retirement years.
  • 32%, in conjunction with those worries about cognitive decline, were also fearful of the potential long-term care costs that would come with such debilitating medical and mental issues.

While certain issues driving the fears of the middle class — specifically, cognitive decline and certain health issues — cannot be predicted or prevented, there are things that future retirees can do to create a financial safety net for themselves going forward.

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As the TransAmerican Center for Retirement Studies noted, that safety can be created by meshing together “Social Security, employer-sponsored retirement benefits, personal savings and continued work.”

There is no single effort to be made to ensure a comfortable retirement (such as relying solely upon Social Security). Rather, building together that web of financial interdependencies as outlined above is what will create that safety net for you to gently land upon come retirement age.

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