Twenty percent of all Americans near retirement age don't have any money saved for retirement.
None at all.
The study offered a stark reminder that as more Americans are made responsible for their own retirement, most are not saving nearly enough. Overall, 31 percent of people said they have zero money saved for retirement and do not have a pension. That included 19 percent of people between the ages of 55 and 64, or those closest to retirement age.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but duh. The economy tanked, replaced with a conspicuously "jobless recovery." The ranks of the middle class have been dwindling. Wages haven't been keeping up with living expenses. Pensions have been going away, either discontinued by companies, intentionally underfunded by companies, and/or attacked as the root of all evil by companies and government figures alike. And we suppose these Americans will be "saving" for retirement
how, exactly?
A lot of people said they would just keep working: About one-third of the people surveyed said they delayed their retirement date after the financial crisis. Among the people closest to retirement, those ages 45 and over, that number increases to 41 percent. [...]
Only 18 percent of people said they envisioned having a traditional retirement where they would work full time until a particular date and then stop working completely.
Yup. And as long as we're fine with that, we're fine with that. If your grandpa needs to keep working the Walmart checkout lines until he drops dead and his other co-workers have to carry him out back and stack him with the pallets, well, that's just America, baby. But let's not kid ourselves and suppose that it's happening because all the minimum wage employees and ex-factory workers out there have
insufficient character to set aside money for their elder days.