Retirement confidence hits skids

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 now plan to work past 65

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 now plan to work past 65.

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual survey on retirement, 27% of respondents said they are “not at all” confident about having enough to retire comfortably, up from 22% last year. Workers are apparently managing their retirement plans by bumping up the age at which they plan to retire and continuing to work during retirement. The percentage who expect to work past 65 has risen steadily to 36% this year, from 11% in 1991.

The percentage of workers who expect to work during retirement increased to 74%, from 70% last year.

The scaled-down plans for retirement are likely due to workers’ taking a realistic look at what they have saved, which often isn’t much. Of the survey respondents who answered questions about savings, 29% said that they have less than $1,000, and 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 said they and/or their spouses have saved for retirement stayed about the same as last year at 68%. That is down from 75% in 2009.

The percentage of workers who said that 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.

The random survey of about 1,000 workers over 25 was conducted by telephone in January.

E-mail Lavonne Kuykendall at [email protected].