04/27/2026
Why 64% of Retirees Fear Running Out of Money More Than Death
(And the $1.3M Number Nobody Shows You)
The Retirement Blueprint Series · Day 3 · 6-minute read
I want you to sit with a statistic for a minute.
64% of Americans are more afraid of running out of money in retirement than they are of dying.
Not nervous. Not concerned. More afraid.
That’s not a marketing line. It’s the headline finding from the 2025 Annual Retirement Study by the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement (part of Allianz Life). The survey covered 1,000 Americans with real incomes and savings. The number jumped from 57% in 2022. The fear isn’t just real — it’s growing.
And here’s what makes it worse: Only 23% of those people have actually talked to a financial professional about it. That number dropped from 28% the year before.
Read that twice. The fear is climbing. The action is dropping.
That’s the exact gap I want to talk about today — and by the end of this post, I’m going to walk you through a 5-minute exercise that closes a piece of it.
The Number Nobody Shows You
Whenever this fear comes up, someone eventually asks me the same question:
“Travis — how much do I actually need?”
There’s a number floating around right now. According to Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study, Americans believe they need $1.26 million to retire comfortably. Round it up to $1.3 million, and you’ve got the figure most people quietly carry around in their heads as the bar they think they’re supposed to clear.
Now here’s the gut-punch from that same study:
The median amount Americans actually have saved in retirement accounts is about $87,000.
$1.3 million is the goal. $87,000 is the reality.
That’s a roughly $1.2 million gap between what people think they need and what they actually have.
No wonder 64% are scared.
But Here’s What That Number Gets Wrong
I’m going to tell you something most retirement articles won’t:
$1.3 million is the wrong question.
It’s not the wrong question because it’s too high. It’s the wrong question because it doesn’t account for you. It treats retirement like one mountain everybody has to climb, when really, every retiree is climbing a different mountain.
A couple in New Braunfels with a paid-off house, no debt, $2,400/month in Social Security, and modest spending habits might be perfectly fine on $400,000. A couple with a mortgage, car payments, expensive medications, and a desire to travel might struggle even on $1.5 million.
The right question isn’t “How much do I need to retire?”
The right question is:
“What’s my monthly income gap — and how am I going to fill it?”
That’s a question you can actually answer. In about 5 minutes. Today.
Your First Retirement Blueprint Exercise: Calculate Your Income Gap in 5 Minutes
Grab a piece of paper or open Notes on your phone. We’re going to work through four numbers — and at the end, you’ll know more about your retirement than 77% of Americans who never have this conversation.
Step 1: What does your retirement actually cost?
Write down what you’ll spend per month in retirement. Most people don’t know this number, so here’s a quick starting point: Take 80% of what you spend now.
Why 80%? In retirement, most people drop work-related costs (commuting, business clothes, lunches), and many have paid-off mortgages. Some categories rise (healthcare, travel), but 80% is a solid first-pass estimate.
• If you currently spend $5,000/month → use $4,000.
• If you currently spend $7,500/month → use $6,000.
Write that number down. This is your monthly retirement need.
Step 2: What’s your guaranteed monthly income?
This is income you’ll get for sure — every month — regardless of what the stock market does. Add up:
• Social Security (check your estimate at ssa.gov — takes 2 minutes)
• Pension (if you have one)
• Annuity income (if you already own one)
• Reliable rental income
• Part-time work (if you plan to keep working)
For most retirees, this list is short — usually just Social Security. On average, it replaces about 40% of pre-retirement income, leaving a 60% gap for most people.
Write down your total guaranteed monthly income.
Step 3: Subtract.
Step 1 minus Step 2 = Your Monthly Income Gap
Example:
Monthly need: $5,000
Social Security: $2,400
Pension: $0
→ Income gap: $2,600/month
That $2,600/month is what your savings have to cover — every month, for 25–30 years, adjusted for inflation, regardless of market crashes or how long you live.
Sit with that number. That’s the real fear behind the 64% statistic. Not “Do I have $1.3 million?” but “How does my $87,000 turn into $2,600 a month for the rest of my life?”
Step 4: How long does your savings need to last?
If you retire at 65 and live to 90, your savings may need to fund that gap for 25 years. Multiply your monthly gap by 12, then by 25.
Example: $2,600 × 12 × 25 = $780,000
That’s roughly what you’d need in savings to cover the gap — before inflation, market losses, taxes, or unexpected costs.
This is why the $1.3 million number isn’t crazy
