High hopes, risky moves: Why retirement confidence can be misleading.

Retirement savers are feeling good about their future finances, but there are signs of concern. Notably, many reacted to this year’s market volatility by making emotional decisions with their retirement savings.

Nationwide’s annual retirement planning survey polled 2,200 plan participants and 600 plan sponsors to get a up-to-date picture of Americans’ retirement readiness and understand how they’re managing market volatility. Despite higher confidence, participants are anxious about their financial future and looking for a way to protect their retirement savings from market uncertainty.

Confidence is up over last year...

In our 2025 survey, more retirement plan participants feel they are optimistic about their financial outlook.

Financial outlook on retirement: Very or somewhat positive

Chart showing financial outlook on retirement: Very or somewhat positive. 2024 = 65%. 2025 = 79%

...but market volatility remains a worry.

Around 3 in 5 retirement plan participants are worried they will have to delay retirement because of market volatility.

Roughly three in five are worried that market volatility will cause them to outlive their retirement savings.

Over a third of private-sector plan participants and one-half of public-sector plan participants say a big market dip or increase has influenced their investment decisions in the past six months.

Despite confidence, retirement savers react emotionally to volatility.

Over half of retirement plan participants say emotions often or sometimes influence their investment decisions. One common move they made was to shift savings to more conservative investments. Those who did risk giving up long-term growth potential for short-term reassurance.

Chart of 3 people indicating nearly one-third (30%).

Nearly one-third (30%) of retirement plan participants regret an emotional investment decision they have made. The most common regretted decisions include:

Buying too high
Investing too much in one investment
Selling at the market bottom
Stopping retirement plan contributions

Participants are looking for solutions to help stay the course...

Participants are seeking ways to guard against market volatility. When asked what’s most important when it comes to retirement savings, many participants value protection features over generating returns.

43%

Generating retirement income for life

20%

Protecting savings from a market drop right before retirement

Generating high returns

Generating stable returns

...but adoption among employers lags behind.

As an industry professional, you have an opportunity to help meet the growing need among retirement plan participants for solutions that offer protection. Many employers are open to considering these options but concerns such as fee compression remain obstacles to wider adoption.

85%
of private sector workers say they would be willing to pay more today for protected investment options.

Financial professional sitting at a table and looking over documents.

Education and communication are keys to improving retirement confidence.

Nationwide can help you start the conversation with resources and solutions designed to meet the needs of retirement plan participants for greater certainty and confidence.

Learn more about protected retirement solutions from Nationwide.

Edelman Data and Intelligence (DXI) conducted a national online 20-minute survey of n=500 private plan sponsors, n=100 public plan sponsors, and n=2,200 plan participants, on behalf of Nationwide from July 30th – August 13th , 2025.

As a member in good standing with The Insights Association as well as ESOMAR Edelman Data and Intelligence conducts all research in accordance with local, national and international laws as well as in line with all Market Research Standards and Guidelines.

This material is not a recommendation to buy or sell a financial product or to adopt an investment strategy. Investors should discuss their specific situation with their financial professional.

Guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.

Provisions of these options may vary based on plan selection and/or by state regulation. These investment options may not be available in all states.