Retirement planning in Ireland continues to shift, shaped by different generational pressures, financial demands and social expectations. Standard Life’s Bringing Retirement into Focus 2025 report tracks how each generation is preparing for what it calls a Second Life, drawing on year-on-year comparisons back to 2023. The picture that emerges is one of growing awareness paired with persistent uncertainty. On average, adults now expect to need €2,958 a month to cover essentials and discretionary spending in retirement. How each generation approaches that goal varies widely.
The report also broadens the lens beyond money alone, measuring readiness across three dimensions: financial readiness, social readiness and mindset readiness. Below, we look at where each generation stands in 2025 and how the trends have moved since 2023.
Generation Z
Gen Z’s priorities still reflect early adult life. In 2025, establishing independence, funding education, travel and saving for a first home deposit remain front of mind. Even so, this is not a generation switched off from pensions. Three in five (60%) agreed that having a pension is essential, and 53% described themselves as frequent savers. One in five had used AI for personal financial advice, while 13% had met a financial adviser in the past 12 months.
Looking across the three years to 2025, cost of living remained their dominant concern, easing from 39% in 2023 to 37% in 2025. Travel slipped from 38% to 33% over the same period, while focus on their own education fell from 37% in 2023 to 32% in 2025, having dipped to 24% in 2024. Saving for a house deposit stayed broadly flat, at 22% in both 2023 and 2025. The willingness to seek information early is clearly there. The challenge is turning that early information-seeking into clearer financial action. On social readiness, Gen Z scores 38%, the lowest of any generation, which is consistent with a life stage still focused on building foundations.
Millennials
For Millennials, retirement is moving closer, but it is arriving on top of everything else life is asking of them. Cost-of-living pressure, debt repayment, childcare, children’s education and housing costs all compete for the same income. In 2025, 71% agreed a pension is essential and 52% described themselves as frequent savers, yet only two in five (40%) felt confident they were making the most of their pension.
The mid-life squeeze has persisted across the three years to 2025. Cost of living rose from 40% in 2023 to 42% in 2025, overtaking every other concern, while children’s education eased from 35% to 30%, debt edged down from 29% to 28%, and the pull of an existing mortgage fell from 24% in 2023 to 19% in 2025. Millennials also gave the highest estimate of any generation for the monthly income they expect to need to live comfortably in retirement, at around €3,155. This is a generation open to planning. The task is converting intent into confident, sustainable action. Their social readiness sits at 37%.
Generation X
Retirement planning has moved firmly up the agenda for Gen X. The share prioritising maximising a pension rose from 17% in 2023 to 24% in 2025. Use of advice is rising too, with those seeking a one-off consultation about retirement planning up from 26% in 2024 to 31% in 2025, and those taking advice from time to time up from 21% to 24% over the same period.
This shift is happening before other pressures have fully eased. Cost of living held firm at 43% in both 2023 and 2025, while debt eased from 34% in 2023 to 27% and children’s education fell from 38% in 2023 to 27%, remaining a priority for 27% in both 2024 and 2025. For many the nest is not emptying as expected. CSO Census data shows the share of 25 to 34-year-olds living at home reached 23% in 2022, up from 17% in 2011. With adult children still to support, Gen X anticipates one of the highest monthly living costs in retirement, estimating just over €3,070 a month to live comfortably. Social readiness climbs to 44% for this group.
Baby Boomers
For Baby Boomers, retirement is becoming, or has already become, their lived experience. In 2025, 47% described themselves as financially ready, ahead of every other generation. That still leaves more than half who do not feel ready, including 27% who actively say they feel unprepared.
Engagement is strong: 78% say a pension is essential and 62% feel confident they are making the most of it. However, being engaged is not the same as feeling fully ready, and less than two in five (39%) say they know how much they will need in retirement. Across the three years to 2025, cost of living remained their leading concern, easing from 46% in 2023 to 43%, while travel stayed broadly level at 32% (33% in 2023), inheritance eased from 20% to 19%, and maximising a pension fell from 20% in 2023 to 15%. With a social readiness score of 59%, the highest of any generation, the Boomer task is less about building pension wealth and more about turning it into an income that feels sustainable and flexible.
Readiness is about more than money
One of the clearest themes in the 2025 research is that readiness strengthens as life pressures ease. Social readiness, the sense of belonging, connection and support, rises steadily with age: 38% for Gen Z, 37% for Millennials, 44% for Gen X and 59% for Baby Boomers. Financial confidence and mindset are closely linked as well. Adults who feel positive about their financial position are far more likely to look forward to retirement, and those who receive regular advice are more likely to feel positive about their finances in the first place.
Across every generation, the same pattern holds. Belief in pensions is high, but confidence about what enough looks like remains the gap. Only a minority of adults feel financially ready, and only around a third know how much they will need to live comfortably.
What this means for your plan
The 2025 findings point to a consistent conclusion. Saving matters, but readiness comes from clarity: knowing what you have, what you will need, and how your income will support the life you want. That clarity looks different at every life stage, from a Gen Z saver building early habits to a Boomer shaping a sustainable retirement income.
Wherever you are on that journey, personalised advice helps turn intent into a clear, workable plan. Riordan Financial offers guidance tailored to your generation and your goals, built around the life you actually want to live. To start the conversation, get in touch through riordanfinancial.ie.