Retiree confidence is up. Will it stay that way?

Are things looking up for America's retirees? A new survey on retirement confidence suggests so.

The report, which surveyed over 1,000 retirees, was conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a nonpartisan research organization. This year, 78% of respondents said they felt very or somewhat confident about having enough money for retirement. That figure represents a significant jump compared to last year, up four percentage points from 2024.

The boost in confidence among retirees is at odds with a broader rise in negative sentiment among investors and advisors about the state of the economy. Financial Planning's monthly Financial Advisor Confidence Outlook survey saw advisor confidence in the economy drop to an all-time low in April as tariff-driven sell-offs sent the market into a correction.

EBRI Director of Wealth Benefits Research Craig Copeland said that the survey was conducted from Jan. 2 through Feb. 3, which explains much of the divergence in sentiment between retirees in the study and current investor attitudes.

READ MORE: Advisors' overall confidence sinks to new lows as volatility reigns

"If you did look from January 2024 to January 2025, you did see that inflation was coming down," Copeland said. "You did see a steady growth in the economy. You did see the stock market going up. So [based on] all those indicators for what was going on, we're in a better state in January 2025 than we were in January of 2024."

That said, if Copeland and his team were to survey retirees now, he said confidence levels would "probably be lower." But even sharp downturns in the market are not a driving force in determining long-term retiree confidence, Copeland said.

"The core reasons why people were less confident or not confident still held true," he said. "When we did see confidence go down, it was when the inflation rate was up in double digits. That's where we saw confidence going down, when we saw people actually have a direct hit on their ability to spend."

Market corrections like the tariff-driven downturn seen over recent weeks can certainly dampen retiree confidence. But broader circumstances — like double-digit inflation during the pandemic — tend to have longer-lasting impacts, Copeland said.

Lessons from the past

The report, now in its 35th year, encountered a similar issue when evaluating retiree confidence in 2020. Researchers from EBRI fielded the survey in January, just weeks before markets crashed from the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

READ MORE: Retirement readiness score points to troubling gaps

"We actually did go back in the field, and what we saw is that there was a small decrease in confidence of that top line number. But what was interesting is that many of the [same] reasons for the confidence … still came through," Copeland said.

The immediate impact of the pandemic caused some retirees to be less confident in their financial situation. But by the following January, retiree confidence actually increased.

"The problem is, when there is such a huge change in the market, you don't really know the long-term effects of it until you actually see that," Copeland said.

Financial advisors working with retirees say that clients can be sensitive to market headlines. 

"Retiree confidence is fragile and often short-term," said Daniel Milks, co-founder and operations officer of Woodmark Wealth Management in Greenville, South Carolina. "Advisors need to stay proactive with communication and reinforce the long-term plan. If someone feels confident, it's a great time to stress-test their plan again — because that confidence can fade quickly when the next headline hits."

Confidence is up, but concerns remain

Amid a multi-year high in retiree confidence, concerns about funding for entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, persist.

Nearly all retiree respondents — 94% — reported Social Security as a source of income, according to the 2025 EBRI survey. The share of retirees who reported Social Security as a major source of income, some 66%, is also up from a year before.

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"Americans are concerned about changes to the retirement system, specifically reduction of Social Security and Medicare benefits," EBRI wrote in a statement. "Despite high confidence, Americans are concerned about the U.S. government making significant changes to the American retirement system, with 79% of workers and 71% of retirees being at least somewhat concerned. 60% of workers and 80% of the retirees who are concerned worry that changes could reduce their Social Security benefits. Almost 8 out of 10 concerned retirees report worry about a reduction to their Medicare benefits."

Addressing those concerns goes beyond the purview of financial advisors, but research shows that even simple retirement planning can go a long way toward boosting retirement confidence. In this year's survey, researchers found that workers who have money in a retirement account are more than twice as likely as those without any such plan to be at least somewhat confident in their financial security in retirement.