May 13, 2026
We may hope to live a long, rich, and happy life, but achieving financial security in old age, or even having enough money to get by in retirement, is far from guaranteed without disciplined financial planning.
Most people, at least in the abstract, know retirement could last a long time. But few have worked out how long their retirement might last or whether their savings will keep up.
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A survey by Western & Southern Financial Group of 975 Americans (1) aged 30 and older, while not nationally representative, highlights the numbers behind that disconnect. Respondents said they expected to live to age 85 on average, but thought their savings would run out at 79.
That leaves a six-year hole between how long people expect to live and how long they think their money will last. The survey calls this the "longevity gap." It suggests many people haven't aligned their retirement savings with their expected lifespan.
The gap is widest for the generation closest to it
Baby boomers are the generation you'd most expect to have this figured out, since many are either approaching retirement now or already there. But the Western & Southern data suggests otherwise.
More than a third of all respondents expect to live to 90 or older. Among boomers, that figure rises to 41% (1). Yet, only 15% of boomers are planning for a retirement lasting more than 30 years, the lowest rate in the survey. In other words, the generation most likely to live a long is the least likely to be planning for one.
Part of what makes this easy to miss is that boomers, on paper, appear to be the best-prepared generation. According to Fidelity's retirement analysis, boomers had the highest average 401(k) balance of any generation, at about $249,300 (2). But averages can be misleading. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances found the median retirement balance for Americans ages 65 to 74 was about $200,000, meaning half of them had less (3).
That may sound like a decent nest egg, but over a retirement that could last 20 years or more, it does not go very far once you factor in everyday living costs, healthcare and inflation. Fidelity estimates a 65‑year‑old retiring today will spend an average of about $172,500 on healthcare and medical expenses throughout retirement (4).
Subtract that from $200,000, and there's almost nothing left. And 20% of Americans age 50 and older in the Western & Southern survey said they have no retirement savings at all (5).
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The Medicare myth making this worse
Nearly half of all survey respondents, 47%, either believe or aren't sure whether Medicare covers long-term care costs like nursing home stays or in-home aides.
Medicare does not cover long-term care (6). It covers short-term skilled nursing facility stays up to 100 days following a qualifying hospital stay, and only when skilled care is medically necessary. It does not pay for the ongoing help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, meal preparation and mobility (7).
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Medicaid, on the other hand, can cover long-term care (8), but only for people with limited income and assets. In most cases, a person must spend down much of their savings and investments to qualify, and the rules vary by state (9).
Despite this, 30% of respondents said they have no plan at all for how they'd pay for full-time care in their 80s (1).
Other factors most people ignore
Healthcare isn't the only challenge retirees face. Inflation is another major obstacle.
Only 18% of respondents told Western & Southern they had modeled inflation or rising healthcare costs into their retirement plans. Another 38% said they'd thought about it but hadn't run the numbers. And 30% had taken no action at all (1).
At a 3% annual inflation rate, the purchasing power of $1 is cut in half in about 24 years.
That means someone who retires today at 65 on a fixed income could find their money buys roughly about half as much by 89. Many people got a taste of that recently, when inflation hit 3.3% in March 2026, and about 8% in 2022 (10).
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Social Security Administration rules also demand an important decision. Claiming benefits at 62 instead of 70 can permanently reduce monthly payments by as much as 30%. Waiting until 70 can increase monthly benefits by about 24% compared with claiming (11) at full retirement age.
Even so, 21% of boomer respondents said they plan to claim at 62, while only 12% plan to wait until 70.
Read More: Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
What the options look like from here
The survey shows that about 37% of respondents, and 48% of boomers, would do nothing at all if they discovered they had not saved enough. That may reflect how limited the options can feel once you are already in your 60s. But for anyone still a decade or more from retirement, there's still time to make adjustments.
For example, the Internal Revenue Service allows people in their 50s to make catch‑up contributions that can raise total 401(k) savings to $30,000, above the standard $24,500 limit in 2026 (12). For workers ages 60 to 63, enhanced catch-up rules under the SECURE 2.0 Act can push the total as high as $35,750. Over a decade, that extra saving can make a meaningful difference.
The most common steps respondents said they would take are saving more, delaying Social Security and seeking professional advice. Those strategies can reinforce one another.
Even without hiring an advisor, anyone can sit down with a pen and paper, or a simple spreadsheet, and estimate three things:
- How many years of retirement they expect to fund.
- How much they'll need each year.
- How far Social Security and savings will take them.
That basic math makes the gap visible. From there, you can decide whether to cut expenses, delay benefits or save more before leaving work.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Western & Southern Financial Group (1),(5); Fidelity Investments (2),(4); Investopedia (3),(11); Medicare.gov (6); WebMD (7); Medicaid.gov (8); Medicaid Planning Assistance (9); US Inflation Calculator (10); Internal Revenue Service (12)
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Godwin Oluponmile is a content specialist, SEO strategist and copywriter with seven years of expertise in finance, Web 3.0, B2B SaaS and technology. His work has been featured in publications such as Entrepreneur, HackerNoon, Blocktelegraph and Benzinga.
