Workers Feel Ready for Retirement. Their Employers Disagree

A new survey from Goldman Sachs Asset Management captures a tension that sits at the heart of the American retirement system: workers feel more confident about their retirement readiness than their employers do. The gap between those two perspectives is wide — and the data behind each tells a different story about what is actually happening.

The inaugural 2025 Goldman Sachs Asset Management Plan Sponsor Retirement Survey drew on responses from 250 plan sponsors managing 401(k) or 403(b) plans with at least $300 million in assets, alongside data from a broader retirement survey of more than 5,000 working and retired individuals. The findings point to a retirement landscape where optimism and anxiety coexist, and where the tools currently available to workers are increasingly seen as insufficient.

The Confidence Gap

The central finding is stark. Plan sponsors — the employers responsible for designing and administering workplace retirement plans — estimate that only 33% of their employees are on track for retirement. Workers see it differently: 68% describe themselves as optimistic about their retirement preparedness.

That gap is not simply a matter of perspective. It reflects a genuine disconnect in how retirement readiness is being measured and communicated. Employers, who have visibility into participation rates, contribution levels, and savings balances across their workforce, are drawing a more sober conclusion than workers who may be gauging readiness by whether they contribute something rather than whether they are contributing enough.

What makes the gap more striking is what workers say when pressed further. Despite their overall optimism, 58% of those same workers believe they will outlive their savings. Confidence and concern are operating simultaneously — a combination that suggests many workers sense a problem but have not yet translated that awareness into action.

The Financial Vortex

The survey identifies what Goldman Sachs calls the “Financial Vortex” — a constellation of competing financial priorities that is pulling workers away from consistent retirement saving. In a separate Goldman Sachs retirement survey conducted in October 2025, 42% of younger workers across Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X reported living paycheck to paycheck, and nearly three-quarters said competing priorities were making it difficult to save for retirement.

Workers identified the specific pressures with clarity. Too many everyday expenses topped the list at 67%, followed by financial hardship at 64%, caring for family at 62%, credit card debt at 58%, paying down loans at 57%, time away from the workforce at 55%, and saving for college at 49%.

Plan sponsors recognize these pressures. The survey found that 58% of sponsors cite competing priorities as the top barrier preventing employees from keeping their retirement savings on track, followed by a lack of investment confidence at 52%. Ninety percent of plan sponsors said there are demographic trends or unmet needs within their retirement plan that deserve more attention — a near-universal acknowledgment that current plan design is not fully serving the workforce it is meant to support.

What Plan Sponsors Are Prioritizing

Despite the challenges, the survey reveals that plan sponsors are not standing still. A significant share are actively considering changes to their plans over the next twelve months, and the direction of those changes reflects the evolving demands of a workforce that is more financially stressed and more diverse in its needs than prior generations.

On investment menu changes, 45% of sponsors are looking at enhancing inflation protection options, 43% are considering adding personalized investment solutions such as managed accounts, and 42% are exploring the integration of private market strategies including private credit and private equity.

The desire for plan innovation also reflects what employees themselves are asking for. In Goldman’s broader retirement survey, workers identified personalized investment portfolios as the most beneficial enhancement a plan could offer, cited by 71%. A professionally managed option seeking higher long-term returns came in at 65%, followed by a broader range of asset classes at 61%, and investment options designed to help manage income for life at 52%.

Guaranteed Income Is Moving Up the Agenda

One of the more significant findings involves lifetime income. The survey found that 74% of plan sponsors actively encourage participants to stay in the plan through retirement rather than rolling assets out — and the top strategies they are considering to make that possible include enhancing tools for managing retirement finances at 51%, adding lifetime income options at 48%, and broadening investment lineups at 48%.

When asked about the primary goal for offering retirement income within their plans, the top answer was providing income that is guaranteed for life, cited by 29% of sponsors. Growth that can be withdrawn as needed came in second at 20%, and stable income that grows with inflation third at 18%.

Among the investment menu innovations sponsors most want to see from the industry, 53% cited integrating guaranteed income options into multi-asset investment options — second only to adding private market strategies at 54%. The message is consistent: guaranteed income is no longer a niche request. It is becoming a mainstream consideration in how large employers think about plan design.

Plan Sponsor Priority	Share Citing It
Improving financial stability and retirement readiness	72%
Helping employees understand and maximize benefits	70%
Enhancing inflation protection in investment menu	45%
Adding personalized solutions like managed accounts	43%
Integrating guaranteed income into investment options	53%
Adding lifetime income options to retain retirees in-plan	48%

The Retirement Readiness Gap Older Workers Face

The survey also surfaces a concern that goes beyond contribution rates and investment menus. Plan sponsors were asked which demographic trends they feel are not being adequately addressed by their current plans. The retirement readiness of older employees topped the list at 57%, followed by employees’ ability to save given competing financial needs at 53%, and participation rates of younger employees at 47%.

The focus on older workers is notable. As more employees approach retirement age without adequate savings, the question of how to support them in the final years of their working life — and through the transition into retirement — becomes more urgent. Plans designed primarily around accumulation may not be well equipped to serve workers who need decumulation guidance, income planning support, and help navigating the decision of when and how to claim Social Security.

A System Under Pressure to Evolve

The Goldman Sachs survey does not describe a system that is failing in a single dramatic way. It describes one that is straining under accumulated pressure — from financial stress, from demographic complexity, from a mismatch between what workers need and what plans currently provide. The confidence gap between employers and employees is one symptom of that strain. The near-universal acknowledgment among plan sponsors that their plans need improvement is another.

The direction of change, however, is visible in the data. More personalization, more guaranteed income, more tools to help workers transition from saving to spending — these are not marginal requests. They represent a broad rethinking of what a workplace retirement plan is supposed to do, and for whom.

Source: Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Read the original release.