Affluent Americans now say they need $2.6 million to retire comfortably—a 26% jump from just a year ago—according to newly released HSBC research conducted by Ipsos, which surveyed investors with at least $100,000 in investable assets. But on average, they’ve saved only 52% of that goal, and no generation is fully on track. Baby boomers, closest to retirement, have reached 74% of their target, while millennials lag at just 42%.

Uncertainty about the future of Social Security, persistent inflation, competing financial priorities, and the threat of job disruptions are all making it harder for Americans to save for retirement, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit Transamerica Institute.

“It is a perfect storm,” Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Institute, said in the report.

Meanwhile, retirement continues to get more expensive just as retirees’ safety net weakens. A 65-year-old retiring this year can expect to spend an average of $185,500 on health care over the course of retirement—a 7.5% year-over-year jump—according to a July Fidelity report. With more than 4.1 million Americans turning 65 each year through 2027, according to annuity advocacy group Alliance for Lifetime Income, more retirees will have to lean on a Social Security retirement trust fund that’s projected to run out of reserves by 2032.

That strain isn’t unique to the U.S. Longer life spans and falling birth rates are pressuring pension systems around the world, and costs could land on younger generations. 

“The higher the longevity, the more years the pension funds have to cover, and so that immediately comes in as an additional liability,” Sebastien Betermier, executive director at the International Centre for Pension Management, told CNBC in an interview published Oct. 25.

“Think about the cost that it imposes actually on the next generation,” he continued. “It is a ticking time bomb.” The U.S. retirement system earned a C+ in this year’s Marsh CFA Institute Global Pension Index, ranking 33rd out of 55 retirement income systems.

BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has warned for years that the U.S. is barreling toward a retirement crisis. Americans surveyed by BlackRock said they’d need about $2.1 million to retire comfortably, yet 62% had less than $150,000 saved. 

“That’s a lot. More than I was expecting,” Fink wrote in his 2025 annual shareholders letter. And “almost no one is close.”

HSBC’s findings suggest the bar is even higher for wealthy Americans, and even they can’t clear it. Gen X, the generation Fink warned would see the retirement problem “harder and nastier,” has saved 55% of its goal. Gen Z, at 45%, is barely ahead of millennials.

“A comfortable retirement is becoming more expensive, even for those who have substantial wealth,” Racquel Oden, HSBC’s U.S. head of international wealth and premier banking, said in the release

Retirement isn’t the only goal anymore

Part of the problem is that retirement is no longer the only thing affluent Americans are saving for. Seven in 10 respondents said they’re planning for a life that doesn’t follow a neat, step-by-step path. Funding retirement is still the most common goal (43%), but it’s closely followed by personal or professional reinvention (39%), such as switching careers, launching a business, or taking a planned career break. 

Supporting both children and aging parents comes in third (37%), which is a growing financial burden for some. As Americans live longer, more people are reaching retirement age while their parents still need care, and those costs can quickly eat into a fixed income. 

“When you’re retired, you’re basically living on a fixed income,” Rita Choula, senior director of caregiving with the AARP Public Policy Institute, previously told Fortune. “If you have not factored in an additional $7,000, $8,000, $9,000 a year for your fixed income, that can have a big impact.”

Longer life spans are also reshaping what affluent Americans plan to leave behind for their heirs. More than half (59%) said living longer has already changed their legacy plans, HSBC found, and 31% said they’re putting more toward their own future costs, like long-term care, even if it shrinks their heirs’ inheritance.

That shift comes as many wealthy parents are already uneasy about handing off their money. Fewer than half (47%) of Americans with at least $3 million in investable assets said they believe the next generation is ready to take on their family’s philanthropic causes, down from 55% in 2024, according to Bank of America Private Bank research. 

And nearly half (48%) of HSBC’s respondents said their main goal is for their children or grandchildren to become fully financially independent, even if that means struggling along the way.