More Americans say they will never be able to retire

A growing share of American workers believe they will never retire, recent surveys suggest.

Retirement is an ancient life stage and an almost universal expectation in working America. However, a comfortable retirement requires savings, and many workers fear not having enough.

In a July survey carried out jointly by Axios and Ipsos29 percent of workers under 55 answered a question about retirement with, “I don’t think I’ll ever retire.”

When asked why not, three-quarters of the non-retirement group said they couldn’t afford to stop working. A smaller part said they didn’t want to.

“Making retirement dollars and cents work is a constant balancing act for those in retirement and Americans who hope to reach that milestone one day,” said Clifford Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs.

Another survey, by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), found that a third of workers now expect to retire. at 70 or later, or never.

A third report, from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, found that 40 percent of Gen X workers and nearly half of Boomers expect retire after 70or not at all

Retirement fears appear to be on the rise. In the EBRI survey, the share of workers planning to delay retirement rose to 33% in 2023, up from 29% in 2022 and 26% in 2021.

The summer of 2023 may seem like an odd time for Americans to feel short on retirement funds. Almost three-quarters of 401(k) money. is in stockand the stock market is booming, even this week it’s been rocky.

But the full story of American retirement planning is more complicated.

One of the main reasons workers worry about retirement is inflation, which increased in 2021 and 2022 after many years of relatively flat prices.

Another factor is the decline in retirement savings. The average 401(k) lost 20 percent of its value in 2022, according to data from the investment house.

Stocks and bonds both crashed in 2022. That shouldn’t happen: when stocks fall, bonds tend to rise, and vice versa. Last year was one strange atypicaltriggered by the inflationary crisis and the corrective campaign of increases in federal interest rates.

The nation’s retirement accounts are recovering, but not completely healed. The average IRA he had $109,000 in the first quarter of this year, down from $127,000 at the same time last year, according to Fidelity Investments.

More than two-fifths of baby boomers in the 55-64 age group have it no savings for retirement, show the census data. Many work for small businesses that don’t offer retirement savings, or are self-employed, or have no income to put money away.

The average retirement savings account in this age range has a balance of $71,168according to a NerdWallet analysis.

Common wisdom suggests that it is not enough. Workers believe they will need it about $1.8 million for a comfortable retirement, according to a new survey by Charles Schwab.

Not surprisingly, many Americans don’t think they’ll have enough money to live comfortably in retirement. In the 2023 EBRI survey, 36 percent of respondents said yes little or no confidence in financial security after retirement.

This data point is also being advanced. A year ago, 27% of workers had no confidence in retirement.

Transamerica’s investigation found that only 17 percent of Gen X workers are “very confident” of a comfortable retirement. The oldest people in this cohort are in their late 60s.