How much money Americans think they need for retirement and what retirees say they can live on are miles apart.<\/p>\n
For many folks who are still on the job, the future looks bleak. But check in with retirees, and it turns out, things aren\u2019t so bad. Several recent reports illustrate this duality.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the hand-wringing pre-retirees.<\/p>\n
Americans with employer-provided retirement plans estimate that they will need $1.2 million to retire comfortably, according to a\u00a0survey from investment manager Schroders<\/a>. Nearly half expect to have less than $500,000.<\/p>\n Another study found<\/a>\u00a0that only 1 in 5 middle-class people are very confident in their ability to fully retire or maintain a comfortable lifestyle throughout their retirement.<\/p>\n Read on Yahoo Finance<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n So the pre-retirement panic is real.<\/p>\n Post-retirement? Eight in 10 retirees ages 65 through 80 say they have enough money to live comfortably, a new Gallup poll found.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of the unknown,\u201d Craig Copeland, director of Wealth Benefits Research at EBRI, told Yahoo Finance. \u201cPeople don’t know what to expect, don’t know how much they have, and don’t know how they’ll be able to live. When they actually retire, they adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n About a quarter of non-retired folks say not having a regular paycheck is \u201cterrifying,\u201d\u00a0Schroders found<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe transition from retirement savings accumulation to the decumulation phase is not an easy one to make,\u201d Deb Boyden, Schroders\u2019s head of US defined contribution, told Yahoo Finance.<\/p>\n Asked to forecast how much monthly income they would need to live comfortably, workers said $4,947 on average, which is higher than the $4,258 of monthly income today\u2019s retirees report they live on just fine.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, these worried pre-retirees are planning to start Social Security benefits before age 67 \u2014 the full retirement age for everyone born in 1960 or later. Just 1 in 10 plan to\u00a0wait until at least 70\u00a0<\/a>\u2014 the age you hit your monthly maximum benefit for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that they aren’t hip to the upside of delaying their checks. But they don\u2019t care for these reasons: They\u2019ll need the money and want it as soon as possible, and they\u2019re worried Social Security will go kaput.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans will pay a high price for taking their Social Security benefits early,\u201d Boyden said. \u201cThe money generated by Social Security is the most reliable source of income for many retirees, and yet few maximize these payments.\u201d<\/p>\n With so many Americans behind on retirement savings, waiting to collect Social Security benefits can have a significant impact on their quality of life once they\u2019ve left the workforce, she said.<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0<\/em>What is the retirement age for Social Security, 401(k), and IRA withdrawals?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\nRetirement concerns are ‘terrifying’<\/strong><\/h2>\n