Many Americans expect to keep working into their 80s to retire

The retirement age for many people in the US may not be 55, or 65 or even 75 as they may have to keep working well into their old age, according to a study.

One-quarter of middle-class Americans fear they would need to work till the age of 80 to afford a comfortable retirement (if "retirement" could be said to the right word).

In a survey released yesterday by Wells Fargo & Co, nearly three-quarters of Americans said they expected to continue working beyond what is considered as retirement age, while a little over half of those said they would need to work to pay their bills, while the rest said they wanted to keep working.

The survey showed that Americans had made little preparation for retirement and had only limited savings. Many people were realising that they would need to work much longer, scale back their lifestyles, or both.

Over half of middle-class Americans in the survey said they would need to slash their current spending significantly.

The average person had only saved 7 per cent of the amount they had hoped-for,  a median of just $25,000 as against a desired goal of $350,000, the survey found. Three in 10 people in their 60s had less than $25,000, suggesting they'll had little choice but to live on Social Security.