Workers making a hash of nest eggs

American workers’ confidence in having enough money for a comfortable retirement dropped to its lowest level in more than 20 years, and an increasing number of employees say they now plan to work past 65.

The percentage of workers who called themselves “not at all” confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement rose from 22% last year to 27% in 2011, according to The Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual survey on retirement.

Workers are apparently managing their retirement plans by bumping up the age at which they plan to retire, and to continue working during retirement. The percentage of workers who expect to work past 65 has increased steadily from 11% in 1991 to 36% in 2011. The percentage of workers who expect to work during retirement increased to 74%, up from 70% last year.

The scaled down plans for a full retirement are likely the result of workers taking a realistic look at what they have saved, which in many cases is not much. Of the survey respondents who answered questions about savings, 29% said they have less than $1,000, and more than half, or 56% said that the total value of their savings and investments, not including their primary home and any pension, is less than $25,000.

Indeed, the percentage of workers who say they and/or their spouses have saved for retirement stayed about the same as last year at 68%. That’s down from 75% in 2009. The percentage of workers who say they are currently saving also stayed steady from 2010 at 59%, but is also well below the 65% of respondents in the 2009 survey who said they were putting money away.