Why Americans are Delaying Retirement (Money)

In 2012, 14% of individuals felt very confident about their financial security in retirement, according to an annual survey by Mathew Greenwald and Associates and the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Some of the reasons why workers think they won’t be able to retire comfortably: little savings, job insecurity, too much debt, investment uncertainty, a lack of financial knowledge, growing medical costs, less generous retirement benefits and declining expectations. Though Americans are feeling pessimistic about their retirement prospects, it could be the first time workers without traditional pensions are realistically assessing their current saving rate for retirement. “To some extent, a lack of confidence is good because no confidence is better than false confidence if it leads to actions,” said Mathew Greenwald, president of Greenwald and Associates.