Retirement Planning Gaps by Generation in Arkansas
What Happened
Fidelity Investments released its 2025 retirement confidence study, examining how four generations of Americans — baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, and Generation Z — approach and prepare for retirement. The findings reveal significant variation in confidence levels, savings strategies, and financial obstacles across age groups. Overall, 67 percent of Americans surveyed expressed confidence in their retirement prospects, a notable drop of seven percentage points from the previous year's study.
The study also captured perspectives from current retirees, most of whom are baby boomers. More than 70 percent of recent retirees reported that retirement is proceeding as planned, though many expressed surprise at stock market volatility and rising healthcare costs. Among the four generations studied, Generation X recorded the lowest retirement confidence at just 53 percent, while Generation Z posted the highest at 75 percent — a figure researchers attribute largely to the optimism that comes with being early in one's career rather than demonstrated financial readiness.
The McClelland Law Firm, an Arkansas estate planning and elder law practice, published an analysis of the Fidelity findings in August 2026, connecting the generational data to practical planning steps. Their analysis highlights that retirement readiness remains a moving target across all age groups, shaped by economic downturns, shifting employer benefit structures, student debt, healthcare inflation, and changing expectations about what retirement itself looks like. The firm recommends working with both a qualified financial planner and an estate planning attorney to build a retirement-ready plan.
What It Means
For Arkansas residents, the generational retirement gap carries direct implications for estate planning — a discipline that intersects deeply with how families accumulate, protect, and eventually transfer wealth. Each generation faces a distinct set of challenges that shapes not only how much they save, but how their assets pass to the next generation when they die. Understanding those differences helps families in Arkansas make more informed decisions about the documents and structures they put in place today.
Baby boomers currently rely on Social Security (77 percent), pensions (48 percent), and personal savings (41 percent) as their primary retirement income sources. For Arkansas boomers without a comprehensive estate plan, the absence of a revocable trust means retirement assets and real property may pass through the state's formal probate process. Arkansas probate typically runs 9 monthsArk. Code §§ 28-48-108(a) (executor compensation — just and reasonableVerified Jul 14, 2026View source to 12 monthsArk. Code §§ 28-48-108(a) (executor compensation — just and reasonableVerified Jul 14, 2026View source, with attorney fees governed by a statutory schedule and a court filing fee of $165Ark. Code Ann. §§ 21-6-403(b)(1), 21-6-416(b)(2)Verified Jul 14, 2026View source. Estates with significant retirement savings, real property, and personal assets can face meaningful costs before a single dollar reaches a beneficiary. A trust-centered plan — funded with the accounts and property a boomer has spent decades accumulating — allows those assets to transfer directly to beneficiaries without court involvement. Families navigating these questions can explore the connection between trusts and probate avoidance to understand the practical difference.
Generation X faces the most acute savings pressure of any cohort in the study. Forty-five percent of Gen Xers identified saving enough for retirement as their single biggest challenge — the highest rate among all four generations. Many in this group simultaneously carry mortgage debt, support children's education, and provide care for aging parents. From an estate planning standpoint, Gen X families in Arkansas often hold mixed asset portfolios: employer retirement accounts, real estate, and personal savings accumulated across multiple jobs. Arkansas does not impose a state estate or inheritance tax, which removes one layer of complexity. Arkansas levies no state estate or inheritance tax, meaning assets pass to heirs without a state-level death tax deduction. However, federal estate tax exposure exists for larger estates above $15,000,00026 USC 2001(c), 2010; P.L. 119-21 §70106Verified Jul 13, 2026View source per individual. For Gen X families not yet near that threshold, the more immediate concern is ensuring retirement accounts carry current beneficiary designations and that real property transfers efficiently. Arkansas recognizes transfer-on-death deeds, giving property owners a direct mechanism to name a beneficiary for real estate without probate. Millennials and Gen Z, meanwhile, face a different planning horizon. Millennials carry heavy student debt and entered the workforce during the Great Recession, yet 71 percent express retirement confidence. That optimism is meaningful, but confidence alone does not build an estate plan. Many millennials work in non-traditional roles without employer-sponsored retirement plans, making personal savings vehicles and individually structured estate documents more important. Arkansas recognizes holographic wills — meaning a handwritten, unwitnessed will can be accepted under state law — but a formal will or trust provides far greater clarity and protection for beneficiaries. A will executed in Arkansas requires 2Ark. Code Ann. § 28-25-103Verified Jul 15, 2026View source witnesses and no notarization, while a self-proving affidavit is available to simplify the probate process later. Gen Z, just entering the workforce, benefits most from early action: even a basic set of documents — a will, a healthcare proxy, and a financial power of attorney — establishes a foundation that grows with them. Arkansas healthcare proxies require 2Act 1264 of 2013 § 2; Ark. Code Ann. § 20-6-103Verified Jul 15, 2026View source witnesses, though a notary may substitute for witnesses. Arkansas has adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, giving financial powers of attorney broad recognition and standardized agent duties. For younger Arkansans beginning to think about these documents, the free healthcare proxy builder and financial power of attorney builder provide accessible starting points.
The retirement confidence gap also highlights a broader estate planning reality: the assets people accumulate during their working years — retirement accounts, real property, personal savings — do not automatically transfer to the people they intend to benefit. Arkansas intestate succession law distributes assets according to a fixed statutory formula when someone dies without a will or trust. For a surviving spouse with children, that formula grants the spouse a life estate in one-third of real property and one-third of other assets outright, with children receiving the remainder. For a spouse married fewer than three years with no children, the outcome differs further. These default outcomes frequently conflict with what families actually want. The Fidelity study's finding that retirement planning confidence is declining — down seven points in a single year — suggests that more families are recognizing the uncertainty ahead. That recognition creates an opening for estate planning conversations that connect retirement preparedness with asset transfer planning. Resources like the comprehensive estate planning guide and the overview of why estate planning applies to everyone help frame those conversations for families at any income level.
Context from SimplyTrust
SimplyTrust provides tools that address the estate planning dimension of retirement readiness directly. For Arkansas families looking to avoid the state's formal probate process — which runs 9 monthsArk. Code §§ 28-48-108(a) (executor compensation — just and reasonableVerified Jul 14, 2026View source to 12 monthsArk. Code §§ 28-48-108(a) (executor compensation — just and reasonableVerified Jul 14, 2026View source on average — a funded revocable living trust keeps assets out of court and in the hands of the people the grantor intended to benefit. The revocable trust builder walks Arkansas residents through the process of creating a trust document that reflects their specific family structure, beneficiary choices, and distribution preferences. For those with real property, Arkansas's recognition of transfer-on-death deeds provides an additional tool; the TOD deed builder makes that option accessible without professional fees.
Retirement planning and estate planning share the same underlying goal: making sure the resources a person builds over a lifetime reach the people and purposes they care about most. The Fidelity study's generational data makes clear that no single generation has fully solved this challenge. Whether a family is a boomer managing Social Security timing, a Gen Xer balancing competing financial demands, or a millennial building a plan from scratch, the estate planning steps remain consistent — create the documents, fund the assets, and revisit the plan as life changes. SimplyTrust is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice; for complex situations involving blended families, business interests, or special needs beneficiaries, an estate planning attorney can provide guidance specific to your circumstances. Readers can also explore the estate planning guide for millennials and the retirement-focused estate planning overview for generation-specific context.
Source: Generation Gaps Among Americans in Retirement Planning - McClelland Law Firm, P.A.