Many individuals expect to rely increasingly on their own investments and are losing confidence in retirement savings, according to international research by Amundi.
The asset management giant this week published the third edition of its ‘Decoding Investors’ study, which showed that retirement sits at the centre of investors’ concerns. However, many lack the confidence and knowledge needed to turn savings into long-term investment plans.
Conducted in 26 countries among 18,000 people, the analysis found personal savings and investments are now the largest expected source of retirement income, ahead of state provision and workplace pensions.
Despite this, only 36% of investors cited retirement as a key motivation for investing. Of those, less than a quarter (23%) said they felt very confident of achieving long-term financial security, down from 26% in last year’s survey.
Fannie Wurtz, Amundi’s deputy general manager and head of clients group, said: “While funding retirement becomes a central concern for households globally, the third edition of our Decoding Investors study highlights a pressing challenge: helping more savers become investors and enter capital markets.
“For our industry, this means strengthening trust, improving access to investor education – notably through digital channels and offering simple, transparent, and accessible solutions.”
The data found that professional advice makes a significant difference to how confident investors feel about retirement, as half of advised investors revealed they are very confident about funding their retirement, compared with just 14% among those who have never accessed advice.
The study also showed that 43% of savers expect to start investing within the next 12 months – a figure that rises to 62% among those aged 21 to 30 years old. However, 39% are still held back by the fear of losing money.
In practice, this often means staying in cash for longer than necessary rather than participating in capital markets.
The analysis also found that the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) is rising among investors and savers. In just one year, regular use of AI assistants as a source of investment ideas or information grew fourfold in 2026 to reach 19%.
Seven in 10 investors have previously used AI to help them make investment decisions, and 59% have acted on its recommendations, with 90% admitting they were satisfied with the outcome.
