A new survey from the Oath Money & Meaning Institute puts real numbers behind a big part of why Live Great Days exists: retirees report struggling to actually *live* the retirement they had hoped for.

Only 15% say their days always reflect what actually matters to them, and nearly two-thirds say rising prices or market swings have made them feel less free to enjoy retirement at least sometimes over the past year. The most telling number in the whole report might be this one: just 16% of respondents did any extensive, structured planning for how they’d spend their time, relationships, health and sense of purpose — separate from their financial plan.

Most people plan hard for the money and wing the rest.

It doesn’t even matter if you are financially secure in that retirement. By most conventional measures, this is a financially stable survey group. Fewer than half of respondents cut back on spending in the last year, and when people did trim their budgets, it was almost entirely discretionary — dining out, non-essentials, travel, entertainment – they didn’t have to cut back on essentials. Nearly a quarter of respondents say they have no major financial worries at all.

And yet, the gap to feeling like you’re living great days remains.  

That gap is not a personal failing. It’s a planning-industry blind spot. Traditional financial planning is built to answer “will I run out of money?” (Live Great Days will help you with that too, but with better tools than the industry-standard templates.) Traditional financial planning was never built to answer “will I actually like my life?” More than half of respondents say structured support — coaching, peer community, guided reflection — would be valuable in helping them stay intentional, and self-paced resources are the format people want most. The gap between financially secure and actually fulfilled is exactly the space we’re building for. Looking forward to the journey together.