Gen X is falling behind on retirement, and it is not particularly close.
Per Goldman Sachs, just 49% of Gen Xers say they are on track for retirement, making Gen X the only generation where fewer than half feel prepared.
The Generational Scoreboard
The numbers show a clear pattern across age groups, per Goldman Sachs.
Gen Z leads the pack, with 66% saying they are on track for retirement. Millennials follow at 61%, and even Boomers, many of whom are already retired or on the doorstep, come in at 60%.
Gen X, born roughly between 1965 and 1980, trails everyone at 49%.
The gap is striking because Gen X is the generation with the least time left to fix it. Gen Z workers who feel behind have four decades of compounding ahead of them. Gen X workers are looking at retirement in the next 10 to 20 years.
The Sandwich Generation Squeeze
Gen X is often called the sandwich generation, and the label explains a lot of the strain.
Many Gen Xers are simultaneously raising children, helping adult kids with housing and education costs, and supporting aging parents. Money that might have gone into a 401(k) is going out the door in both directions.
The generation also hit its prime earning years during two major market shocks, the dot-com bust and the 2008 financial crisis, which set back savings and home equity at exactly the wrong time.
Gen X was also the first generation for whom the 401(k) fully replaced the traditional pension, but without the auto-enrollment features that became standard later. Many workers started late as a result.
What It Means for Markets
A generation that feels behind on retirement is a generation likely to change its financial behavior, and that has real implications for brokerages and asset managers.
Expect continued demand for catch-up contributions, advisory services, and higher-yielding retirement products as Gen X savers try to close the gap in their final working years. Firms positioned to capture those flows include Charles Schwab, the largest retail brokerage platform, and BlackRock, whose target-date and retirement income funds sit inside millions of workplace plans.
Younger generations' higher confidence is also a flow story. Robinhood has built its business on the Gen Z and Millennial investors who report feeling the most on track, and their steady contributions support the self-directed trading and retirement account growth that drives the platform.
For options traders, retirement-driven flows tend to be steady rather than spiky, but the brokers and asset managers above can see event-driven volume around earnings and product launches. Watching options flow and positioning in SCHW, BLK, and HOOD can show whether institutions are betting on the retirement savings industry to keep growing.
The Bottom Line
Gen X has the least time and the most obligations, and Goldman's numbers show it. Whether that gap closes through higher savings, later retirement, or both will shape demand across the entire retirement industry for years.
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