Employee financial anxiety hits new high heading into 2026

Forty-eight percent of Americans say they are more stressed heading into the new year than they were at the start of 2025, up from 43% last year, according to a recent survey from Allianz Life.

Among participants who said they are more stressed financially than they were last year, 54% cite costs of day-to-day expenses, followed by these factors:

• Income is too low — 46%
• Not saving enough for an emergency fund — 39%
• Too much debt — 35%
• High healthcare costs — 34%
• Lack of job security — 33%

Allianz Life noted that healthcare costs and lack of job security, in particular, rose significantly from last year.

Fifty-six percent of survey participants said they will start or continue to look for a new job in 2026, up from 47% a year ago. Still, many plan to stay put and take part in “job hugging.”

Seven in 10 respondents who are not likely to look for a job said this is because it seems safer to stay where they are in the current economic environment.

Twenty-seven percent reported that they have less confidence in their ability to meet their retirement goals than they had last year. Gen Xers and Generation Z were more likely than millennials and baby boomers to say this.

Twenty-one percent of respondents said they are further from reaching their retirement goals than they were a year ago.

“When feeling financially stressed, long-term goals like retirement can be the easiest to sideline because you don’t feel it in your day-to-day life,” Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life, said in a statement.

“But achieving long-term financial security takes time and you may be better off consistently working toward retirement incrementally than trying to wait until you can devote a larger part of your budget to the goal.”

Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement conducted the online survey in November with a nationally representative sample of 1,038 adult respondents in the contiguous United States.

Struggle with financial discipline

Sixty-three percent of millennials surveyed and 56% of Gen Zers said they are likely to make and keep a resolution in 2026 to manage money better or save more. This contrasts with 43% of Gen Xers and 23% of boomers.

Overall, 46% of respondents said they were likely to make and keep a resolution to manage money better or save more. This was the second most popular resolution after exercise and diet.

Many of those surveyed reported that they have established good financial habits in 2025, with 34% having reduced their spending.

Still, 32% said their worst financial habit is spending too much money on things they don’t need, 25% said it is not saving as much as they could, 23% not saving any money and 22% not paying down debt fast enough. Half of Gen Zers said they spend too much on things they don’t need and 32% do not save any money.

LaVigne said it is important at every stage of life to consider a written financial strategy to outline financial goals.

“Without a documented strategy for your finances, it can be tempting to spend now instead of saving for later,” he said. “If you know why you are saving and what goals you are working toward, making those decisions can be simpler.”

This article was originally published on BenefitsPRO, a sister site of HR Executive. For more content like this delivered to your inbox, sign up for BenefitsPRO newsletters here.