1/3 of Americans Believe They Won’t Be Able to Retire, According to New MIT Study

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Many Americans responding to an MIT study expressed concerns about when they’d be able to retire. Find out what to do if you’re one of them. 

Many people eagerly anticipate their retirement, since it provides a chance to finally end going to work for money every day and instead let your interests and hobbies control how you spend your hours.

For many people, though, retirement is something they believe will never happen for them. That’s not a surprise, given how challenging it can be to sock money away in a brokerage account for the future. But it’s a problem because people who plan to just work forever may find they can’t end up doing that.

Far too many Americans believe retirement is out of reach

According to a study conducted by the MIT AgeLab and Transamerica, 33.4% of survey respondents indicated they didn’t expect they would be in a financial position to retire. Instead, they said they were going to keep on working until late in life and having paychecks deposited into their bank accounts because they had no other real choice.

This statistic is troubling because it means about a third of Americans see no prospect of ever achieving the financial security they deserve. And the sad reality is, a good number of these people may not be able to keep working in their senior years despite their desire to do so.

The Social Security Administration has reported that while many people indicate they plan to wait until they are 65 to stop working, 62 is actually the mean retirement age. What’s more, 47% of respondents said they ended up retiring sooner than they had planned to. And, while two-thirds of people said they expected to keep working for pay in retirement, only around one-third of actual retirees have jobs that bring money in.

While it may feel like a viable plan to keep working forever — and this may feel more feasible than actually saving enough for the future — it probably isn’t a smart strategy. A lack of job opportunities, family needs, and health issues are just some of the many obstacles that could prevent you from continuing to work in retirement.

What options do you have?

If you’re among the one-third of Americans who don’t think they’ll be able to retire, the big question is: What can you do about it?

The first step is to realize that you may have to retire someday whether or not you want to — or are prepared to. Planning to just keep working is simply infeasible and unrealistic. So, you have two choices:

You can make some changes now, while you’re young, healthy, and still working, so you can have the money you need later.You can keep going as you are. But unless you’re very lucky, there will come a day when you simply can’t work anymore — and you may have to make drastic life changes to try to live on Social Security alone, since those benefits only replace about 40% of pre-retirement income.

When you look at it this way, chances are good you will decide you must make some changes now to be ready to retire. Even if you’re struggling financially, it’s going to be a lot easier to try to fix being broke now than to try to fix being broke when you’re 85.

So, what changes can you make to be able to save for retirement? A lot depends on the specifics of your current situation but some options include:

Taking on a side hustle. Start freelancing, dog walking, babysitting, or selling on Etsy, and put every spare dollar you earn into retirement savings.Increasing income. Looking for a new job, learning new job skills, and negotiating your salary with your boss could potentially help you get a raise that you can use to save for retirement.Cutting a big fixed expense. If you downsize to a cheaper apartment or more affordable used car, you could free up funds for retirement.Tracking spending to find cuts to discretionary costs. If you monitor your spending for 30 days, you should be able to find at least some area where you’re overspending and can divert that money to retirement instead.

Doing these things probably won’t be fun and you may not want to do them. But it will be far worse to make painful sacrifices when you’re old and have fewer options left. Do them now if you’re among the portion of Americans who think retirement is out of reach.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Christy Bieber has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Etsy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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