Retiree Life in the Post-Pandemic Economy

Retirement brings freedom, fresh opportunities, and free time for focusing on life priorities. At the same time, retirement also brings financial realities such as living on a fixed income and finite resources.

Today’s retirees have saved and prepared for older age amid an evolving retirement landscape. Specifically, over the course of their working years, they encountered the shift away from employer-funded defined benefit plans toward employee-funded defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s, and they experienced the increasing societal expectation that workers self-fund a greater portion of their retirement income. Many retirees have become concerned about Social Security’s projected funding shortfalls and the program’s ability to pay its promised benefits.

Retirees are now coping with the post-pandemic economy. They have been especially vulnerable to inflation, interest rate fluctuations, and volatility in the financial markets. Because retirees are no longer employed, they have fewer options and less ability than people in the workforce to recover from financial setbacks.

Retiree Life in the Post-Pandemic Economy, a collaboration between nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) and Transamerica Institute, examines the health and well-being, personal finances, and retirement security of U.S. residents who are retired and no longer working. The report also yields insights for future generations and offers recommendations for policymakers.

The report is based on findings from the 24th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey conducted in 2023, including more than 2,000 U.S. residents who are retired and no longer working.