Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey 2025: Retirement Could Cost $2.5 Million by 2043, and Most Americans Are Not Saving Fast Enough to Keep Up
Key takeaways
- SmartAsset s free tool can match you with a financial advisor in minutes to help you answer that today.
- The Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey & Insights Report 2025 puts a hard number on what many workers already sense: the bar for retirement keeps moving higher.
- The report also shows how the annual spending side has evolved.
Goldman Sachs Retirement Survey 2025: Retirement Could Cost $2.5 Million by 2043, and Most Americans Are Not Saving Fast Enough to Keep Up David Beren Sun, May 10, 2026 at 10:43 PM GMT+7 6 min read GS PG MO JNJ KO Quick Read Goldman Sachs estimates the total cost of retirement will reach $2.57M by 2043, up from $1.75M in 2033, driven by 4% annual spending growth and retirement duration expanding to 21 years as households age 65+ now spend ~$122K annually versus $60K in 2000. Essential costs like housing (21% to 36% of income), childcare (10% to 25%), college (9% to 33% for private), and healthcare (12% to 33%) have squeezed savings capacity, with 67% of workers reporting too many monthly expenses and 64% facing unexpected financial hardship.
Retirees using personalized retirement plans with protected lifetime income can generate 23% more income from the same savings pool than portfolio-only strategies, while those with formal plans report 27% higher savings-to-income ratios and show 49% higher retirement savings when demonstrating financial resilience through volatile markets.
Are you ahead, or behind on retirement? SmartAsset s free tool can match you with a financial advisor in minutes to help you answer that today. Each advisor has been carefully vetted, and must act in your best interests. Don t waste another minute; learn more here.(Sponsor)