More than half of working Americans have no plan in place for stretching their retirement savings to last through a long retirement, says a study by Pentegra Retirement Services released Tuesday.

Fifty-six percent of the 1,530 survey respondents, all of whom are working and not yet retired, say they have no distribution plan for how they will access their retirement money, including 20 percent who have not even thought about the subject. Pentegra works with advisors and institutional investors on retirement planning.

The average American worker plans to retire at age 66, but 20 percent say they do not plan to retire at all. Of those who plan to retire, the average amount they said they needed for retirement will be $3,200 per month. The survey indicates people have difficulty making the transition from accumulating money to actually using it in retirement.

The survey revealed a lack of knowledge about options such as lump-sum payouts, routine quarterly or monthly payments and annuities. One in four respondents did not know these options exist, according to Pentegra.

“The retirement industry has spent the last 20 years advising people how to accumulate retirement savings and reach a magic number," said Rich Rausser, senior vice president of client services at Pentegra. "Many may not ever be able to reach that goal, and we must shift some of the focus to helping educate people on what to do with their savings when they retire. People need to learn about their options and solutions to maximize what they saved.”