There’s a certain kind of financial anxiety that doesn’t always show up on a statement.

Your 401(k) balance might still look decent. Your Social Security estimate might still be sitting in the drawer. Your retirement date might still be circled somewhere in your mind.

But then, groceries cost more. Insurance premiums go up. The market has a bad month. The news starts talking about Social Security and Medicare funding gaps again. And suddenly, retirement feels less like a finish line and more akin to a moving target.

That feeling is showing up in the data.

According to the 2026 Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research, confidence has fallen among both workers and retirees. Only 61% of workers say they feel confident they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement, down six percentage points from last year. Retiree confidence also dropped, falling to 73%.

And honestly, it makes sense.

For many retirees, the past few years have been a reminder that “fixed income” does not mean fixed expenses. Inflation has been especially hard on households that no longer have a paycheck rising with the cost of living. A volatile market only adds to the unease, because retirees are not just watching numbers move on a screen. They are wondering what those numbers mean for next month’s income, next year’s taxes, and the next ten years of health care.

The survey also found that concern about the broader retirement system remains high. Seven in 10 retirees and four in five workers said they worry the government will make changes to the U.S. retirement system. Confidence in the future value of Social Security and Medicare benefits also declined, with only about half of workers and six in 10 retirees confident those programs will continue providing benefits of equal value in the future.

That last point matters because Social Security and Medicare are not side dishes in most retirement plans. For many Americans, they could be the meat and potatoes, unfortunately.

Meanwhile, government projections continue to raise questions about the long-term health of these programs. The Social Security Administration’s 2025 Trustees summary projected depletion dates of 2033 for both the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, while newer Congressional Budget Office estimates have put Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund depletion as early as fiscal year 2032.

That does not mean Social Security disappears. That’s an important distinction we want to ensure we point out. But it does mean that, absent action from Congress, the system may not be able to pay full scheduled benefits.

Health care is its own source of stress. CMS reported increases in 2026 Medicare Part A and Part B premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts, and Medicare costs continue to vary widely depending on coverage choices, income, prescriptions, and whether someone uses Original Medicare, Medigap, Medicare Advantage, or Part D coverage.

Then there’s debt.

EBRI found that 65% of workers said debt is a problem for their household, and about three in five workers said debt negatively affects their ability to save for retirement. Half of workers reported credit card debt, and nearly one in three had more than $25,000 in non-mortgage debt.

That’s a heavy backpack to carry into retirement planning.

This is where people can get discouraged. The numbers feel big. The systems feel complicated. The headlines feel like they were written by someone whose only job is to ruin your coffee.

Let’s bring you to the other side of it: confidence is not the same thing as certainty.

Nobody gets certainty. Not retirees. Not advisors. Not economists. Not the guy on TV with three monitors and a pocket square.

However, what you can do – for certain – is build a plan that accounts for uncertainty.

That means knowing what income sources you can count on, what expenses may rise, how much market risk you are taking, and where your withdrawals will come from in different environments. It means understanding how Social Security fits into your income picture rather than treating it like a mystery check that shows up someday. It means reviewing Medicare choices carefully, because health care costs can quietly become one of the biggest line items in retirement.

It also means dealing honestly with debt. Sometimes the most powerful retirement move is not chasing a higher return. It is reducing the financial drag that keeps future dollars spoken for before they even arrive.

One encouraging piece from the survey is that planning still matters. EBRI noted that many Americans are looking for guidance, tools, and support as retirement becomes more complex. More than two in five workers said they do not know where to go for financial or retirement planning advice, which tells us the issue is not always a lack of concern. Often, it is a lack of clarity.

People can actually work on that.

Retirement confidence does not come from pretending inflation will calm down, markets will cooperate, or Washington will solve every funding issue on schedule. It comes from building a plan that can bend without breaking.

A good retirement plan should answer practical questions:

• What happens if costs keep rising?
• What happens if the market has a rough year early in retirement?
• What happens if health care expenses are higher than expected?
• What happens if one spouse lives much longer than the other?
• What happens if part-time work is helpful, necessary, or simply desired?

These are not cheerful questions, but they are useful ones. And in financial planning, useful beats cheerful most days of the week.

Americans may be feeling less confident about retirement, and they have plenty of reasons for that. But lower confidence does not have to mean lower control.

Remember: the goal is not to predict every turn in the road, it’s to stop driving through the fog without headlights.

And sometimes, getting a clearer view is the first real step toward feeling confident again.

We are an independent firm helping individuals create retirement strategies using a variety of insurance and investment products to custom suit their needs and objectives. This material is intended to provide general information to help you understand basic financial planning strategies and should not be construed as financial or investment advice. All investments are subject to risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values.