Put it down to confidence or misplaced optimism, but among people more than 10 years away from retirement a majority of both Gen Xers and Gen Yers expect to retire before age 65, while only a minority of young baby boomers believe they'll be able to call it a day before 65, according to a broad survey by Aite Group.

Specifically, 57% of Gen Y respondents and 51% of Gen Xers said they expect to stop working before they reach the traditional retirement age. The study defines Gen Y as those age 21 to 31 and starting their asset accumulation stage, while Gen X is defined as ages 32 to 46 and engaged in asset accumulation. Among younger boomers, who are defined as those age 47 to 57, only 31% said they'll be able to quit working before 65.

Elsewhere in the survey, Retirement Income and Investor Types: Pre-Retiree and Retiree Differences, the Boston-based research group found that 86% of pre-retirees more than 10 years from retirement had less than $250,000 in investable assets (excluding employer-sponsored retirement plans). Among pre-retirees 10 years or less from retirement, 75% have less than $250,000 in investable assets. And among retirees, which were the third cohort included in the report, 66% said they had less than $250,000.

The upshot is that many investors are clueless about how much money they'll need to pay for retirement. "Overall, these numbers and expectations speak to the industry's greater need to educate and provide real-world context to these investors' imagined expectations," the report said.

Regarding the primary type of investment firm used by the three groups, for pre-retirees more than 10 years from retirement, the top three choices were the investment division of a retail bank (31%), online brokerages (27%) and large brokerage firms (25%).
For pre-retirees 10 years or less from retirement, the top three choices were online brokerages (26%), the investment division of a retail bank (26%) and large brokerage firms (23%). Retirees' top three choices were online brokerages (36%), large brokerage firms (28%) and insurance firms (10%).

Aite surveyed 1,014 investors who had at least $25,000 in investable assets, excluding employer-sponsored plans.