In 2013, Wells Fargo surveyed 1,000 middle-income Americans earning between $25,000 USD and $100,000 USD a year, and asked if anyone planned to work until they died, or until they were too sick to work. They found that an astounding 37 percent of respondents were resigned to the fact that they would not be able to save enough to ever stop working. And an additional 34 percent figured that they would have to work until they were at least 80 years old.
A not-so-sunny future:
- Fifty-nine percent of respondents said that their top financial concern was paying day-to-day bills. About 42 percent admitted that they weren't able to pay their bills and save for retirement at the same time.
- Only 30 percent of those surveyed said they had a retirement plan. Forty-five percent said they didn't have enough assets to warrant having a plan, while another 25 percent said they didn't know how to set one up.
- Around 75 percent of respondents said they were not confident that their savings would be safe if invested in the stock market. About a third said they would be relying on Social Security as their primary income during retirement.