A recent Axios/Ipsos poll finds that a fifth of Americans don't believe they will ever be able to retire.
The July 20 poll found that 20% of Americans said they don't think they will ever retire due to financial worries and the uncertainty of Social Security's future.
Of those, 70% said they could not afford to retire, and 19% said they did not want to stop working.
According to the survey, another 40% said they want to work as long as possible without fully retiring.
The poll was conducted July 7-9 with 1,238 American adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing over 18,000 people, the organization said.
Those over age 55 in the poll were split when asked if they would retire as they previously planned, with 36% saying they would retire as planned and 23% saying they would retire later, and a plurality of 40% saying they were not sure if they will retire when planned.
According to the poll, just under half of those surveyed, 44%, said they had to change their retirement plans based on economic factors outside of their control.
Most surveyed who had not yet retired, 52%, said they would likely move to someplace with a lower cost of living.
A full 62% of those still working said they believe that Social Security will cover less than half of their living expenses, with 37% thinking it will only cover 25% of costs, according to the poll.
Two-thirds of those surveyed, 66%, said they have individual retirement accounts they will rely on when they stop working, and 50% of those currently retired said they are using those accounts to pay for their retirement.
The poll found that 3 in 10 working Americans would use a pension to help fund their retirement.
Despite the financial challenges, 63% of those still working think they will feel better after retirement, as do 68% of those who have already stopped working.
Some 68% of retirees said they think retiring makes it easier to take care of their physical, mental, and emotional needs, compared to 60% of those still working, the poll found.
The poll found that the overwhelming majority, 80%, of those surveyed said that working hard through your adult life allows you to have a nice retirement and spend time with family and friends.
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