{"id":602479,"date":"2026-04-23T23:03:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602479\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T23:03:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T23:03:15","slug":"despite-nearing-their-60s-nearly-four-in-10-americans-heading-towards-the-end-of-their-careers-dont-even-have-a-retirement-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/602479\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite nearing their 60s, nearly four in 10 Americans heading towards the end of their careers don\u2019t even have a retirement account"},"content":{"rendered":"

American workers have dreams of<\/a> throwing in the towel by their mid-60s and spending the rest of their days in cushy retirement<\/a>\u2014but it\u2019s become less of a reality<\/a> for most. In fact, many professionals aging towards their workforce exit could make the leap with thin financial safety nets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly half of working-age Americans in the private sector don\u2019t have a retirement account, according to a recent AARP data analysis<\/a> from Apollo Global Management<\/a>\u2019s chief economist Torsten Slok. As expected, those that are still building their careers are the worst off; about 57% of Gen Zers and young millennials aged 18 to 34 do not have a plan set up. However, the issue even extends to older generations who have decades of experience under their belts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

About 43% of Americans aged 34 to 44 employed by private companies do not have a retirement plan in place, as well as 41% of those 45 to 54 years old, and 40% of U.S. workers who are 55 to 65. That means that around four in 10 U.S. Gen Xers, and even some baby boomers, aren\u2019t squaring away money in retirement plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And as many of these older workers barrel towards the end of their careers, it could spell trouble for their living expectations after leaving payroll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Americans aren\u2019t prepared to stop working, and some retirees are \u2018living the nightmare\u2019<\/p>\n

The majority of Americans say they\u2019re living paycheck-to-paycheck<\/a>; as housing costs, child care, and groceries gobble up a majority of workers\u2019 income, setting funds aside for retirement can feel like a tall order. Finances have become so dire that some are even dipping into what they\u2019ve already set aside for post-work life.<\/p>\n

About 38% of professionals across all generations have withdrawn money<\/a> from their retirement accounts, according to a 2025 report<\/a> from Payroll Integrations. And Gen Zers still grinding for a decent wage were the most likely to take money out of their plans, with nearly half of the young adults having already dipped into their retirement funds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, 31% of millennials and 41% of Gen Xers and baby boomers also siphoned money from their retirement savings. Most of the early withdrawals stemmed from unexpected emergencies and paying off looming debt.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And to make ends meet, many Americans are bucking traditional timelines and holding onto their jobs<\/a> for longer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number of those who are working past 65 has quadrupled in the U.S. since the 1980s, according to 2023 analysis<\/a> from Pew Research Center. And there\u2019s real concern over their funds running dry<\/a> late in life; over two in five retired Americans, amounting to about 20 million people, worry that their funds won\u2019t be able to support their ideal retirement lifestyle, according to a 2025 survey<\/a> from investment banking firm D.A. Davidson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For some who have already called it quits on their careers, that fear has already become a reality. Nearly 20% of American retirees are \u201cstruggling\u201d or \u201cliving the nightmare,\u201d according to a 2025 study<\/a> from Schroders. Meanwhile, only 5% said they were \u201cliving the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Americans say it takes $2.1 million to retire comfortably\u2014but few are on track<\/p>\n

Clocking out for good and kicking your feet up comes with a cost\u2014and the price tag has been set in the millions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When BlackRock<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest asset management firm, surveyed<\/a> U.S. voters earlier this year on how much they think they\u2019d need to retire comfortably, the average response landed around $2.1 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s CEO, Larry Fink, said that<\/a> \u201calmost no one\u201d is close to reaching that goal. BlackRock\u2019s study found that 62% of respondents had less than $150,000 saved for retirement\u2014about 7% of the $2.1 million they think they\u2019d need to stop working. Fink also pointed to several factors exacerbating America\u2019s retirement savings problem, including the U.S.\u2019s lack of preparedness for rising life expectancy, and climbing senior care costs. And he predicted it\u2019ll only get worse for future generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem will only get harder and nastier as the oldest Gen-Xers start to retire,\u201d Fink wrote in his<\/a> 2025 annual shareholders letter. \u201cThey\u2019re the first generation primarily dependent on 401(k)s. And the 401(k) trend is growing with Millennials and Gen Z.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"American workers have dreams of throwing in the towel by their mid-60s and spending the rest of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2594,19603,12295,28,525,12586,4084,6067,153,13495,6069,147,530,1666,3415,6477,2830,3657,6073,21,1432],"class_list":{"0":"post-602479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-aging","9":"tag-baby-boomers","10":"tag-blackrock","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-careers","13":"tag-cost-of-living","14":"tag-employment","15":"tag-gen-x","16":"tag-gen-z","17":"tag-larry-fink","18":"tag-millennials","19":"tag-personal-finance","20":"tag-personalfinance","21":"tag-retirement","22":"tag-savings","23":"tag-savings-accounts","24":"tag-u-s","25":"tag-u-s-economy","26":"tag-u-s-workers","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-wealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}