Building Financial Grit: How to Help Savers Grow

What drives engagement and retirement saving success? As the path to retirement has grown more complex, the common response has been to focus on education and financial knowledge. Our latest analysis suggests that retirement engagement and outcomes are heavily shaped by ‘Financial Grit’ - a person's willingness to maintain a growth mindset and persevere toward long-term goals despite external pressures or personal setbacks.

Key Takeaways

1

Retirement success may be driven more by behavior than by income or financial knowledge.

Sustained retirement progress is strongly linked to behavioral factors—such as perseverance, optimism, and adaptability—rather than solely traditional drivers like income level or financial literacy alone. Individuals with higher Financial Grit demonstrate greater engagement, confidence, and resilience, which translates into better planning behaviors and outcomes.

2

Financial Grit is learnable—and may be linked to greater engagement.

Financial Grit is not a fixed trait; it can be developed through education, reflection, and positive reinforcement. The segmentation analysis shows meaningful differences in savings behavior, retirement readiness, and stress across Low, Mid, and High Grit groups—underscoring that strengthening grit could contribute to more engaged saving behavior.

3

Tailored interventions matter—different savers need different support.

The outcomes here highlight that Low, Mid, and High Financial Grit individuals face distinct challenges and require different strategies—from automation and simplified guidance for Low Grit savers, to confidence-building and risk education for Mid Grit, to habit reinforcement for High Grit. A one size fits all approach is less effective than targeted, behaviorally informed support.

Ready to rethink your engagement strategy?

We encourage you to download the full publication to understand how levels of Financial Grit can impact savers and the actionable strategies that can influence retirement savings success.

Connect with your Goldman Sachs Asset Management DC Specialist to learn more about how we can create stronger retirement outcomes together.

Author(s)

Chris Ceder

Senior Retirement Strategist

Building Financial Grit: How to Help Savers Grow, Persist, and Progress

Explore how Financial Grit may help drive retirement engagement, resilience and long-term savings success.

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Date of first use: July 24, 2026