Nationwide survey: 56% of investors anxious about midterms' effect on savings

Fifty-six percent of investors say the 2026 midterm elections are making them more anxious about their retirement savings, according to a Nationwide Retirement Institute survey reported by PLANADVISER. The institute is the research arm of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.

Forty percent of respondents said they had changed their retirement savings or portfolio in anticipation of the midterms, including 15% who moved money into more conservative or lower-risk investments and 13% who increased contributions.

A separate CFP Board report found 71% of CFP professionals said their clients were not making any financial moves ahead of the midterms. The two surveys ask different populations — investors about their own behavior, planners about their clients' — so the results are not directly comparable.

Seventy-three percent of investors said they want their adviser to provide guidance on the midterms' impact on their financial plan. Gloria Garcia, a wealth manager at Los Angeles-based LourdMurray who did not work on the CFP study, told PLANADVISER that clients without a planner beside them are “more reactionary, more impulsive,” and that the goal is helping clients understand when changes are warranted so “every headline doesn't feel like a threat to their retirement.”