After decades of saving for retirement, many Americans face a persistent concern: whether their nest egg will last through retirement.
Rising living costs, mounting healthcare expenses, and the risk of outliving accumulated savings heighten that uncertainty.
Allianz Life’s 2026 Annual Retirement Study found 67% of Americans now worry more about running out of money than about dying, a figure that has climbed from 57% in 2022.
A BlackRock survey conducted with Greenwald Research asked more than 1,000 annuity holders aged 60 and older about their financial confidence in retirement.
Nearly all annuity owners report lower financial stress
The survey’s central finding is hard to set aside: 97% of annuity owners said guaranteed lifetime income helps them worry less about exhausting their savings.
On a daily level, 93% said the guaranteed payment reduces their anxiety about covering routine household bills, the BlackRock report found.
Emily LeMay, Co-Head of Individual Markets at Global Atlantic, discussed the gap between accumulation and income planning in findings from the firm’s 2026 Retirement Outlook Survey of more than 1,000 consumers and 500 financial professionals.
Our research shows many consumers have done a strong job building assets, but fewer have translated those assets into a clearly defined income strategy.
Among retired Baby Boomers who already collect annuity income, 85% said the benefit made a bigger difference than they anticipated before leaving the workforce, according to BlackRock’s annuity owner survey.
That positive assessment held across income levels, because even owners receiving less than $10,000 annually from an annuity reported meaningful financial stress relief.
Gen X heads toward retirement without a pension safety net
Approximately three-quarters (76%) of Gen X workers told BlackRock they expect less financial certainty in retirement than previous generations enjoyed, the firm’s Read on Retirement survey found.
The concern has a structural basis, because traditional pensions have largely vanished from the private sector and left most workers funding retirement on their own.
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The U.S. is also experiencing what the Alliance for Lifetime Income’s Retirement Income Institute calls Peak 65, a demographic surge in which more than 4 million Americans turn 65 each year through 2027, LIMRA reported.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of workplace savers worry about exhausting their retirement savings, according to BlackRock’s 2026 Read on Retirement report.
The median savings rate among workers fell from 12% in 2022 to 10% in 2025, even as the projected cost of retirement continues to rise, BlackRock’s 2025 Read on Retirement report found.
Record annuity sales signal broader appetite for guaranteed income
Total U.S. retail annuity sales climbed 4% year-over-year to a record $123.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026, extending the industry’s streak of $100 billion-plus quarters to eleven and lifting first-half sales to an all-time high of $231.3 billion, LIMRA reported.
The trend was already visible in late 2025. Reacting to Q3 2025 sales in Annuity.org, Liza Tyler, head of annuity solutions at Transamerica and chair of the LIMRA Annuity Advisory Board, said: “People are exhausted by volatility, inflation headlines, and questions about Social Security, so guaranteed income feels less like an optional add-on and more like a necessity.”
Related: Choosing an annuity for retirement rests on hidden features, risks
BlackRock’s modeling showed that embedding a guaranteed income component inside a target-date fund could lift average retirement spending power by 22%.
Lower-income workers stood to gain even more from that structure, with the firm projecting a potential spending increase of approximately 25% for the lowest earners.
Annuity owners cite fraud protection and steadier spending as added benefits
Beyond income security, 88% of surveyed annuity owners said guaranteed payments ease their concerns about stock market downturns, the BlackRock survey found.
Financial exploitation is a separate and growing threat for older Americans, with AARP reporting losses of $28.3 billion annually to elder fraud and financial abuse.
Among annuity holders surveyed by BlackRock, 84% said the guaranteed income makes them feel less vulnerable to fraud or poor investment decisions as they age.
Another 92% said their annuity makes it easier to manage finances in later years when cognitive sharpness can decline.
Annuity ownership also appears to unlock spending, because 53% of surveyed owners said they feel more comfortable tapping non-guaranteed assets for discretionary purchases.
Most workplace plans still don’t offer a lifetime income option
A full 80% of the annuity owners surveyed told BlackRock that every workplace retirement plan should include a guaranteed lifetime income option for participants.
In the same BlackRock survey, 89% of retirees agreed that access to guaranteed income through a workplace plan would have improved their own retirement outcomes.
The SECURE Act of 2019 already simplified the process for employers to embed annuity options inside 401(k) plans by creating a fiduciary safe harbor for insurer selection, and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 further expanded lifetime income provisions in retirement plans.
Every plan sponsor in BlackRock’s Read on Retirement survey said they feel responsible for helping employees secure guaranteed income in retirement.
BlackRock’s data shows the gap between demand and access: while every plan sponsor surveyed feels responsible for helping employees generate income, the option itself still sits in only a small share of target-date funds.
Related: Fidelity breaks down IRA rules that catch heirs off guard
