For many Americans, retirement is not an option they can afford, according to new research from Northwestern Mutual.
The 2019 Planning & Progress Study, conducted online by the Harris Poll, surveyed 2,003 adults age 18 and older from February 20 through March 5, 2019.
The study reports that 46 percent of Americans expect to work past the traditional retirement age of 65, with nearly one out of five baby boomers and Gen X respondents (18 percent) expecting to work past the age of 74.
That’s because more than a fifth (22 percent) of Americans have less than $5,000 saved for retirement, and nearly a third live within three paychecks of needing to borrow money or skip payment of a bill, the study says.
While fewer Americans in 2019 (15 percent) than in 2018 (21 percent) had no retirement savings at all, more than half (56 percent) of Americans don’t know how much they’ll need to retire comfortably.
“People are skating on some very thin ice financially,” Emily Holbrook, senior director of planning at Northwestern Mutual, said in a news release. “While there are some signs of improvement since last year, we still have a long way to go, and for most Americans, there’s no way to get there without a plan.”
Northwestern Mutual is a financial services company headquartered in Milwaukee.