Allspring Study: Retirement Confidence Slips for Near-Retirees

Retirement confidence can feel like a simple question: “Do you feel ready?” But survey data often reveals something more nuanced—especially when economic conditions change. Allspring’s 2025 retirement study findings highlight that fewer retirees and near-retirees feel financially secure about retirement, with certain groups reporting sharper declines in confidence.

Confidence Can Drop Even When Retirement Is Close

Near-retirees are often in the most sensitive planning window: income decisions become more permanent, and the consequences of market volatility can feel more immediate. When confidence slips late in the timeline, it’s often not because a single event occurred, but because planning assumptions feel less reliable.

This is where clarity matters: what income is dependable, what income is variable, and how spending will be supported over time.

Withdrawal Expectations Don’t Always Match Reality

One of the common themes across retirement research is that many people underestimate how long retirement can last—and overestimate what a portfolio can sustainably deliver year after year, particularly through market cycles.

When withdrawal expectations are unrealistic, even strong savings habits can lead to stress later, because the plan may rely on assumptions that are difficult to maintain.

Social Security Timing Is a Major Planning Lever

Allspring’s research also highlights how misunderstood Social Security timing can be. Claiming decisions affect lifetime income, and the tradeoffs are not always intuitive. For households building an income strategy, Social Security timing is often one of the most important “foundation” decisions.

Coordinating that decision with other income sources can help the overall plan stay consistent.

Why These Findings Matter

Retirement confidence isn’t just a feeling—it’s often a reflection of whether the plan is coordinated. When income sources, withdrawal strategy, and timing decisions are aligned, households tend to feel more stable even in uncertain conditions.

The goal is not perfection. The goal is a strategy designed to hold up through a long retirement.

Source: Allspring Global Investments. Original press release published November 3, 2025.
Read the original release.