We've experienced a lot of financial turmoil in the last five years.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating international tensions and historic levels of inflation, you may feel less confident about your finances than you did in the past.
If so, you're not alone.
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Financial confidence measures have fallen in every year since 2020 in the Annual Retirement Study* from the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement, part of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz).
The Kiplinger Building Wealth program handpicks financial advisers and business owners from around the world to share retirement, estate planning and tax strategies to preserve and grow your wealth. These experts, who never pay for inclusion on the site, include professional wealth managers, fiduciary financial planners, CPAs and lawyers. Most of them have certifications including CFP®, ChFC®, IAR, AIF®, CDFA® and more, and their stellar records can be checked through the SEC or FINRA.
In 2025, 70% of Americans said they feel confident about their ability to financially support everything they want to do in life. This is down from 83% in January 2020.
Building confidence in your long-term financial security is achievable if you take control. A few proactive steps can help you ensure that your financial journey is successful. Here are three steps to take to boost your financial confidence.
1. Start working with a financial professional
Working with a financial professional can be a key step toward long-term financial security. A financial professional can help you outline your goals and action steps to achieve them — ultimately increasing your confidence in your finances. A financial professional will also help you avoid making financial mistakes out of emotion or fear.
Even though the vast majority of Americans say financial professionals are a top source for financial guidance, few work with one. Just 38% of Americans are currently working with a financial professional.
One hurdle is finding the right financial professional for you. It takes time and you may need to interview a few before finding one who is ready to help you with your specific needs — whether it's budgeting, investment advice, retirement planning or tax strategies.
Treat those initial meetings with financial professionals like a job interview to help find a good fit for both personality and your financial situation.
You will want to ask about their approach to financial planning, their typical clients and compensation structure. The right financial professional can help you achieve your long-term goals and build your confidence along the way.
As you create a strategy, it's important to choose to work with strong and stable financial institutions. Knowing that your partners are taking a long-term view and will be here for you in the years to come will help bolster your confidence in your strategy.
2. Create a written long-term financial plan
With the guidance of a financial professional on your side, it's time to get down to work. One key way to bolster your confidence is to document your long-term financial strategy. You need to know where you are going in order to feel confident in your ability to get there.
Nearly half of Americans (47%) said they do not have any written financial plans. Yet, Americans know that creating a detailed plan would benefit them.
Nearly all (96%) said setting financial goals and developing a plan to reach them would help ensure they could financially support all of the things they want to do in life.
Identifying financial goals and laying out a plan to achieve them requires getting specific about what you want from life.
It means breaking down large, abstract goals like "save enough for a comfortable retirement" into what a comfortable retirement looks like for you and the funds you will need to make it a reality.
Writing down these concrete goals and steps will help cut through the clutter and prioritize your finances.
3. Incorporate protection to guard against risks
Inflation, the 2033 insolvency of the Social Security trust fund and the possibility of rising taxes are among the risks contributing to Americans' concerns about their financial futures.
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While you cannot control these risks, you can incorporate a level of protection into your financial plan to address them.
A strong financial strategy with a level of protection can help mitigate these risks and ensure that your retirement savings will last throughout your lifetime.
A financial professional will be well-equipped to help identify smart ways for you to incorporate protection into your overall financial strategy. A few ideas to consider:
- Adding an annuity to your portfolio that can offer guaranteed, and potentially increasing, income
- Investing in dividend-paying stocks, U.S. Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) or I-bonds
- Strategizing to maximize Social Security benefits around when to claim and spousal benefits
- Using health savings accounts (HSAs) for tax advantages on health care expenses
- Converting pre-tax money in a retirement plan or IRA into a Roth IRA and paying income taxes now to attempt to control how much you pay later
These types of risk management strategies, as part of a holistic retirement strategy, can help improve confidence and alleviate concerns about depleting funds during retirement.
Even with ongoing challenges in recent years, you still have opportunities to build back financial confidence. By working with a financial professional, creating a written financial plan and incorporating risk management, you can put in the work to improve your financial confidence.
Taking action can help you navigate uncertainties and secure your financial journey.
* Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement conducted an online survey, the 2025 Annual Retirement Study in January/February 2025 with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 respondents age 25+ in the contiguous U.S. with an annual household income of $50k+ (single) / $75k+ (married/partnered) OR investable assets of $150k+.
The Allianz Center for the Future for Retirement produces insights and research as a part of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.
Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America does not provide financial planning services.
This content is for general educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide fiduciary, tax or legal advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties or to promote, market or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Please note that Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, its affiliated companies and their representatives and employees do not give fiduciary, tax or legal advice or advice related to Social Security or Medicare. Clients are encouraged to consult their tax adviser or attorney, or Social Security Administration (SSA) office, for their particular situation.
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