America's Adults Won't Be Ready For Retirement

The Great Recession has had a huge affect on people's retirement plans - and many households are not adequately prepared for the future. This is according to the results of a new Federal Reserve survey.

Adults now expect to keep working past retirement age. According to the survey, 40% of non-retired adults over the age of 45 have delayed their planned retirement date because of the recession.

For the most part, non-retired adults ages 55 to 64 don't expect typical retirements. 24% of those surveyed expect to keep working for as long as possible; 18% expect to pick up a part-time job after retirement; and 9% expect to become self-employed after retirement.

Additionally, some people were forced into early retirement because of the recession. Approximately 15% of those who retired since 2008 reported that they retired earlier than they intended.

And not only are people's retirement plans changing, but the survey results suggest that many households are not prepared for retirement. 31% of non-retired respondents (including 19% of those aged 55 to 64) said that they don't have any retirement savings or pension.

Almost half of adults reportedly "were not actively thinking about financial planning for their retirement". A whopping 25% of adults reported that they had done no financial planning for their retirement, and 24% said that they had thought "only a little" about it.

In addition to not saving, many Americans have a spending problem.

"Just over half of respondents were putting some portion of their income away in savings, although about one-fifth were spending more than they earned," wrote the study's authors.