In 2026, the people most likely to be living paycheck to paycheck are those earning less than $50,000 or more than $500,000 a year, according to new research from Goldman Sachs.
This K-shaped divide has a pronounced impact on their long-term savings at both ends of the income spectrum, the Wall Street giant says.
Of the 5,106 respondents in Goldman’s “New Economics of Retirement” study, a little over 60% of those earning less than $50,000 a year were living from one pay slip to the next. That was followed by those in the $500,000 and upwards income bracket, of which approximately 38% said they were living one check to the next.
