The Biggest Financial Challenge for Gen X
Generation X is finally hitting retirement age, and most of them feel completely unprepared for it. That's not just a feeling either. Rising cost of living has eaten into savings for years now, groceries, healthcare, housing, all climbing faster than paychecks. But Gen X is dealing with something else too, something most other generations didn't have to handle at this scale, and it's why people started calling them the "sandwich generation."
The name comes from the fact that a huge number of Gen Xers are financially supporting their aging parents and their own kids at the same time. Maybe it's helping mom and dad with medical bills while also paying for a kid's braces, or covering part of a parent's assisted living costs while still funding a 529 plan. Two generations leaning on one household income. Something has to give, and for most people, what gives is retirement savings. It's the line item that feels the most postponable, until suddenly it's not.
The numbers back this up. Only 16% of Gen Xers believe they've saved enough to retire. 47% expect to delay retirement because they're behind where they thought they'd be. That's nearly half a generation pushing their retirement date back, not because they want to keep working, but because the math doesn't add up yet.
BUT there is still a light at the end of the tunnel, because behind doesn't mean done. Gen X still has time, earning power, and options. Here are five things to start doing now.
1. Increase retirement contributions
If you're 50 or older, you get access to catch-up contributions, an extra $8,000 a year in 2026 on top of the standard 401k or IRA limit. That's not a small bump. Maxing that out for even five or six years can meaningfully change your number at retirement. If you're carrying high-interest debt, credit cards especially, pay that off first. Once it's gone, take whatever you were putting toward those payments and redirect it straight into your retirement accounts. You won't miss money you were already spending somewhere else.
2. Review your spending and cut what you don't need
Pull up your last three bank statements and actually read through them line by line. Most people find subscriptions they forgot they had, streaming services nobody watches, a gym membership that's been dead weight since 2023. This isn't about giving up your morning coffee. It's about finding the $200-400 a month that's leaking out without adding any real value to your life, and putting it to work instead.
3. Shop around for better rates
Insurance companies and lenders count on you not shopping around. Auto insurance, homeowners insurance, even your mortgage if rates have shifted since you locked in, all of these are worth a phone call. People routinely save hundreds a year just by getting a few competing quotes. It takes an afternoon. The savings can run for years.
4. Reassess your investment allocations
The portfolio that made sense when you were 35 and decades from retirement probably doesn't make sense now. If your risk tolerance and your actual timeline haven't been compared in a while, that's worth fixing. Too conservative this close to retirement and you might not have the growth you still need. Too aggressive and a bad market year right before you retire could do real damage you don't have time to recover from. This isn't a "set it and forget it" thing at this stage. It needs an actual look, ideally once a year.
5. Work with a financial advisor
Only 26% of Gen Xers currently work with one. That number is low for a generation dealing with this much at once: aging parents, kids still at home or in college, catch-up contributions, Social Security timing decisions, and a retirement runway that's shorter than it used to be. An advisor isn't a luxury reserved for people who already have everything figured out. It's for anyone who wants a second set of eyes on decisions that are hard to undo once you've made them.
Gen X has been called the forgotten generation more than once. But forgotten and finished aren't the same thing. This generation is sitting in its peak earning years right now, with more experience and more leverage to make changes than most of them give themselves credit for. The goal was never a perfect number. It's consistent progress, made starting now, while there's still time for it to actually compound.
Thank you for reading today's article.
If you are new here, welcome! My name is Trey Cochran.
I am the founder of Cochran Wealth Management, a financial planning firm dedicated to helping individuals and families age 45 and older navigate the transition into and through retirement
This article is part of a personal challenge I've taken on this summer: writing and publishing one blog post every day for 100 consecutive days. My goal is to provide practical insights, educational content, and retirement planning perspectives that can help you make more informed financial decisions.
Whether this is the first article you've read or you've been following along since day one, I invite you to subscribe to our newsletter. Subscribers receive new articles, retirement planning insights, and updates delivered directly to their inbox.
Thank you for being part of the journey, and I look forward to seeing you in tomorrow's article.
Day 2 of 100
