Allspring Study Finds Retirees Torn Between Control and Security
A new Allspring Global Investments study highlights a core retirement trade-off: the tension between personal financial control and guaranteed income security.
Allspring Global Investments, an asset management firm overseeing $642 billion in assets under advisement, has released its 2026 retirement study examining one of the most persistent dilemmas facing American retirees — the conflict between wanting guidance and maintaining control over their own finances.
The study, titled "The Retirement Decisions Defaults Can't Address," signals that standard plan defaults and automated retirement tools may be insufficient to resolve the deeply personal financial choices retirees face. The research underscores a gap between what retirement plan design currently offers and what participants actually need as they approach and enter retirement.
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The findings arrive at a moment of heightened scrutiny over retirement readiness in the United States, with plan sponsors, advisers, and policymakers increasingly debating how to better equip workers for the decumulation phase — the period when savers begin drawing down accumulated assets rather than building them. Allspring's research suggests this phase demands individualized decision-making that automated defaults cannot replicate.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based firm's study adds to a growing body of industry research pressing for more nuanced retirement income solutions, including annuity options and managed payout strategies, that can bridge the divide between flexibility and financial security for plan participants.
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