Baby boomers confidence in their ability to retire is dropping significantly even as the economy continues to improve and the actual level of retirement readiness remains steady, according to the Insured Retirement Institute.

Only 24 percent of baby boomers are confident they will have enough savings to last through retirement, the lowest level since 2011 when IRI began its research and 37 percent were confident.

Several factors could be bringing that confidence level down, says Cathy Weatherford, president and CEO of IRI, which kicked off National Retirement Week Monday by releasing the organization's latest retirement research, "Boomers Expectations for Retirement 2016."

The low interest-rate environment has put a damper on some investment returns, the amount of recovery time that the 2008-2009 recession took was discouraging, the fact that a lot of baby boomers were laid off during that recession or forced to retire took its toll, and the increase in health-care expenses as boomers age is a burden.

One factor affecting confidence that is actually a positive is that baby boomers are becoming more aware of retirement issues and of the need to plan for retirement, says Jamie Hopkins, associate professor of taxation at The American College.

About half of baby boomers will be able to meet basic expenses during retirement, a figure that has remained relatively stable in recent years, Hopkins says. Part of the confidence problem may be that people are bombarded with complex financial choices they need to make regarding how much to save, when to take Social Security and how to make the best use of employer-sponsored plans.

According to IRI, of the 800 boomers surveyed only 55 percent have retirement savings and 42 percent of those with savings have less than $100,000, an amount that will generate less than $7,000 a year in retirement income.

During the past year, 30 percent of boomers postponed plans for retirement. Fifty-nine percent now plan to retire at age 65 or later including 26 percent who plan to retire at age 70 or later. In 2011, only 17 percent of boomers expected to retire at age 70 or beyond.

The power of planning is important and having a written plan increases the amount of money a person saves and helps them make good decisions, Hopkins says.

“The road to a confident financial future begins with developing a holistic retirement plan,” says Weatherford. “Unfortunately most boomers are not taking important planning steps” to correct this.

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