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August 24, 2026 / 3:48 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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Retirement is biting Generation X. Its oldest members will turn 62 next year, the earliest age at which people can claim Social Security benefits, with many Americans having too little saved to stop working even as the program faces its own funding crisis.Chris Branaman, 53, jokes that his retirement will be spent as a Walmart greeter. "That's my funny way of saying I will likely be working in retirement," said Branaman of Bay City, Michigan, who works in IT and says he has about $100,000 saved in his 401(k) plan. He doesn't expect that will be enough to fund his retirement, even if he's able to put more money away over the next decade.Branaman is hardly alone. Gen Xers, who are now 46 to 61 years old, entered the workforce in the 1980s and 1990s, just as employers were shifting away from pensions in favor of 401(k)s. In the 1970s, about half of all private-sector workers had pensions, which are employer-funded and guarantee a payout at retirement. Today, only about 14% of private-sector workers have pensions, a major transformation in the retirement landscape that experts cite as one reason many Americans are woefully short on savings.The fundamental shift toward 401(k)s places the onus on employees to decide how much to save and to plot out their investment strategy. As a result, many Gen Xers are now realizing that Social Security may end up serving as their primary — or even only — source of retirement income. The 401(k) system hasn't worked for them, several workers in the cohort told CBS News.Compounding their concerns is a projected Social Security funding shortfall in 2032, which could trigger benefit cuts just as many Gen Xers are set to retire.
