Reality Bites for Gen Xers doing retirement math: just 49% say they’re on track, the worst of any generation

Thirty-two years after Reality Bites turned Gen X slackerdom into a movie poster, the generation’s retirement math has caught up with the title.

Just 49% of Gen X savers say they’re on track or ahead for retirement, down from 58% a year ago, according to the 2026 Goldman Sachs Asset Management Retirement Survey & Insights Report, released Sept. 30. That makes Gen X the only generation in the survey where fewer than half feel on track. Gen Z sits at 66%, millennials at 61% and boomers at 60%.

Other generations also lost ground this year, but they started higher. Millennials actually fell furthest, 13 points, from 74%. Gen X, however, started lower than the rest and fell further behind.

The survey of 5,106 people, fielded in July, describes a generation that is working more and feeling less secure about it. Only 57% of Gen X respondents describe their primary job as financially stable, the lowest of the four generations. Millennials are at 71%. And 57% of Gen Xers have taken on work outside their main job, and 72% of them said they needed the income.

“While workers may look financially stable externally, underneath, they’re working more, delaying major goals, and supplementing their income,” Greg Wilson, head of retirement and co-head of Americas third-party wealth at Goldman Sachs Asset........

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