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Jennifer Robinson jokes about it.
"Who knows," she says, "maybe I'll wind up a bag lady" like those she sees on the streets of Manhattan, where she lives and works.
She doesn't really believe that will happen, of course. But the remark reflects a real concern that when the time comes to retire, she may have a tough go of it.
Millions of other working people across America share that feeling, and in many cases, say experts, they have good reason to be uneasy.
As evidence, they point to a mountain of data showing that most people are just not saving enough, that most workers have no pension plan at all on their jobs and that those who do have access to a 401(k), the dominant type of pension today, are often failing—sometimes badly—to build their accounts adequately.
It adds up to what many consider a retirement savings crisis—part of a broader national trend that has seen overall savings rates plunge to all-time lows between 1 and 2 percent of income. In one recent survey, by Thrivent Financial, 36 percent of working adults said they hadn't yet started saving for retirement, while another 16 percent said they'd put aside $10,000 or less.
What this suggests is that unless they sharply increase their saving, many of today's younger workers will have to work well beyond "normal" retirement and may spend their later years struggling to make ends meet or being more dependent on relatives than they'd like.
Shaken by stock market losses, burdened with heavy expenses and seeing the years beginning to speed by, some baby boomers appear especially anxious.
"Life just gets in the way of saving," says Jennifer Robinson, who makes the effort to save nonetheless.
Robinson, 40, a vice president at gabbegroup, a public relations firm, is one of them. Although she makes a salary near six figures and has $90,000 in her retirement account, she feels she needs to do more.
"Life just gets in the way of saving," she says. "I'm living paycheck to paycheck, as many people here in New York do. But I wouldn't trade my life experiences for a full bank account."
When you're single, as she is, she says, "There's a realization that the odds are pretty good there's not going to be anyone else to help care for you, and that really is a wake-up call."
Although it probably doesn't offer much comfort for those feeling the pressure, preparing for retirement is a lot different and probably harder for younger people today than it was for their parents.
For one thing, the age of eligibility for full Social Security benefits is rising, to 67 for Robinson and others born after 1960, and that may force more people to work longer. This change also has the effect of increasing the amount of money people who retire before 67 will need from other sources to maintain their standard of living.
More significant, traditional pensions, which guarantee lifetime monthly income and have provided a solid financial base (along with Social Security) for many millions of Americans, are fading away. Only 20 percent of private-sector employees are covered by them today.
Although many younger workers wonder whether Social Security "will be there" when they retire, most experts have no doubt about it. They point out that without any changes in present law, full benefits can be paid until 2042. Given Social Security's critical importance, they're confident, too, that changes will be made to ensure its future benefits beyond 2042.
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