Within that gap between expectations and reality lies the potential for some troubling outcomes. For instance, workers who plan to retire at 65, but are forced to stop working years earlier, might not have enough saved.
Already, many older Americans lack any retirement savings, with a finding that 1 in 5 people over 50 have nothing saved for their old age.
Needed: $1.5 million
The new EBRI study, which polled 1,255 workers and 1,266 retirees in January, found that only about half of workers have calculated how much money they'll need in retirement. Of those who examined their financial retirement goals, about one-third believe they'll require at least $1.5 million, EBRI found.
That jibes with other research that found the typical worker believes they'll need $1.46 million to retire comfortably. But in reality, most Americans have far less, with EBRI noting that about one-third of workers currently have less than $50,000 in savings and investments.
Americans may be picking big numbers because of the rule of thumb that you should have about 10 times your salary saved for retirement, Copeland noted.
"So if you are making $100,000 or $150,000, $1.5 million is a simple calculation to get you there," he noted. "They are realistic in what they need, but I'm not sure they are realistic in what they need to save to reach that number, and that's the issue."
At the same time, most workers expect Social Security will be a source of income in retirement, EBRI found, even as the benefits program is set to face a funding shortfall in less than a decade. If Social Security isn't shored up by 2033, retirees could face an across-the-board benefits cut of more than 20%, a worrying issue for workers without much saved for retirement.
Even so, current retirees overall are optimistic about their lives, with EBRI finding that two-thirds said they are living the retirement life they envisioned.
"It's pretty positive overall," Copeland said. "But getting there can be a stressful situation."
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