Think a high salary is a ticket out of living paycheck to paycheck? Think again. <\/p>\n
Roughly 4 in 10 workers earning above $300,000 say they’re doing just that, according to\u00a0 Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s 2026 retirement report.<\/a> <\/p>\n “One of the more remarkable findings is whether or not financial security improves linearly with income,” Chris Ceder, a senior retirement strategist at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance. <\/p>\n You’d think financial security would improve as someone makes more money, with income tracking in a straight path with each extra dollar of earnings.\u00a0 <\/p>\n “It does for a while, but it’s a U-shape pattern,” Ceder said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Those making between $100,000 and $300,000 aren’t so stretched, according to the findings, but the number who say they are living paycheck to paycheck shoots back up among those earning above $300,000 annually. <\/p>\n “We can see a similar pattern as it relates to delaying financial goals, delaying retirement savings, and also paying the minimum of their credit card balances,” Ceder added. <\/p>\n For example, the survey found that the people making only minimum credit card payments or less are clustered at the lowest and highest income brackets. <\/p>\n About 4 in 10 workers making under $100,000 are skating by on the minimum credit card payment. That drops to 35% for those in the $100,000 to $300,000 income bracket and pops up again to 42% for those who earn above that threshold.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Nearly half of those bringing in a half-million dollars made minimum payments this year, up from 39% last year.\u00a0 <\/p>\n “Obviously, there’s a big difference between what it means to have an income of $50,000 and below versus $300,000-plus, but in terms of how it is manifesting in \u2026 financial strain, there certainly are some parallels,” Ceder said. <\/p>\n Less surprisingly, a substantial number of Americans who make below $100,000 also report living paycheck to paycheck. <\/p>\n They struggle to save at all or make any progress toward long-term goals, Ceder said. <\/p>\n Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including “Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,<\/a>” “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work<\/a>,” and “Never Too Old to Get Rich.” Follow her on Bluesky<\/a> and X.<\/a> <\/p>\n