Are Americans ready for retirement?

Although people all over the world are living longer, the extra years aren’t necessarily good years. Getting older can bring declining health, mobility, care, and social opportunities. Increased longevity requires more money to fund more years and more planning to address all the aspects of living longer. That’s why we’re widening our lens on how to help people plan and broadening our focus beyond just money. 

We’re proud to introduce the first-of-its-kind Longevity Preparedness Index¹ (LPI) as part of our five-year research partnership with the MIT AgeLab. Together, we’re working to help improve the quality of life for an aging population and explore the future of longevity innovation.

The LPI was created to help us understand what it takes to be prepared for a longer life. It measures how ready American adults are on a scale of 0–100. Instead of focusing on just health and wealth, we looked more deeply at the eight domains of behavior that are critical to aging well:

The study revealed that many Americans are underprepared for a longer life, falling short in critical areas such as care, housing, and health:

• The average score across all domains was 60 out of 100
• Women outperformed men by two to three points in care, social connection, daily activities, and life transitions
• Men scored higher than women in finance
• Care shows the biggest gap—people are unprepared to either provide or receive care

These findings underscore that we need to open the aperture beyond finances in our retirement planning discussions. We need to help people think about the whole picture, including:

• Where they’ll live and whether their home is equipped to age in place.
• How they’ll spend their time so they can continue to learn, maintain social connections, and feel like a part of the community—because all contribute to mental and physical health.
• How they’ll adapt to lifestyle changes and life stages such as retirement, losing a loved one, and leaving a legacy.
• Who will take care of them if they need short- or long-term care? And how would they be able to manage if they needed to care for a loved one? 

How can we help participants plan for retirement?

As an industry, we have an incredible opportunity to reach millions of retirement plan participants and help them not only save and invest but to truly thrive in all the domains of aging well. At Manulife John Hancock, we’re opening up our view beyond the numbers—savings, investments, withdrawal rates, estimated expenses, and taxes—to help prepare people for the bigger picture. 

Our longevity study identified some great places to start expanding our conversations with participants:

• Offer holistic resources—Share resources that go beyond finances, plus offer tools and support on how to prepare their social connections and home for a long, fulfilling, and independent life.
• Tailor solutions by gender—Men and women face different challenges and have different gaps in preparedness. Create content that speaks to each gender. 
• Care about care—The potential need to give or receive care is often overlooked, and both can leave a person’s finances and health vulnerable. Raise awareness and help participants plan for short- and long-term care needs.
• Don’t forget about location, location, location—Homes are a tricky area, financially and functionally. Provide checklists and tips on downsizing, aging in place, tax rates, quality of healthcare, and available services to help participants imagine their future living situation.

How can we help retirees improve financial wellness?

Getting ready for a better retirement takes a lot of preparation. Things that seem easy now—such as driving to the store, changing lightbulbs, tying shoes, or opening a jar—may not be so easy someday. Our partnership with MIT AgeLab and insight from the LPI report are helping us understand that much more goes into aging well than just money. Join us in shaping our conversations to help participants create a plan for all eight domains so they can enjoy a longer and better life.

Prepare for a better retirement

Visit our prepare for a better retirement hub for more results from the LPI and how we're widening our lens to help participants thrive in retirement. 

1 Longevity Preparedness Index methodology: Data for the Longevity Preparedness Index were collected by NORC at the University of Chicago from their AmeriSpeak Panel, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. household population. Surveys were conducted online and by phone in English between May 14 and June 5, 2025; median survey completion time was approximately 25 minutes. The final sample comprised 1,307 Americans, aged 18 and up, with oversamples of non-Hispanic Black panelists, Hispanic panelists, and non-Hispanic Asian American and Pacific Islander panelists to ensure adequate sample size for subgroup analysis. During analysis, survey responses were weighted to represent the U.S. population. LPI scores can range from 0 (not at all prepared for longevity) to 100 (completely prepared for longevity). The overall LPI is composed of eight domains. Each domain captures positive behaviors toward longevity preparedness and awareness of the importance of a domain. Domain scores are each calculated independently and can range from 0 to 100. All eight domain scores are averaged to calculate an overall LPI score.