Almost two-thirds of workers anticipate IRAs and other personal savings will supplement Social Security for their financial needs in retirement while nearly three-quarters said they should be getting help from an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
Long-term care insurance is seen by few workers and retirees as a vital component of a secure retirement.
Just 4 percent of retirees and 12 percent of workers said they are very interested in the insurance to help pay for the certainly high but uncertainly needed expenses of home health care and nursing home care.
There were some danger signs in the report.
EBRI says, a sizable percentage of workers report they have virtually no savings or investments.
Twenty-six percent of those surveyed say they have less than $1,000. Retirees are more likely than workers to describe their level of debt as not a problem. Sixty-seven percent of retirees and 44 percent of workers indicate they do not have a problem with their level of debt.
Alarmingly, current savings levels are not sufficient to support a comfortable retirement, says Matthew Greenwald, president of Greenwald and Associates, which conducted the survey. Fifty-four percent of workers say they have less than $25,000 in savings or investments.
Many people say they can retire but their savings levels do not support that, says Greenwald. Sixty-five percent of workers think they can live on half of their pre-retirement income, which is unrealistic, he says, and 39 percent say they are just guessing at what their financial needs will be in retirement.
EBRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that focuses on health, savings, retirement and economic security issues. The survey included 1,000 workers and 505 retirees.
Karen DeMasters contributed to this story.