Retire? Older Americans Plan to Work Until They Drop

It's the retirement elephant in the room: How much do you need to be financially secure if you stop working? The answer, from a pool of workers of all ages, was a median of $1 million, according to a new report. Thirty percent of those surveyed said it would be double that. While most people said their required nest egg was just a guess, those numbers would be a daunting goal for most Americans. But then, most people don't plan to stop working.

Twenty percent of American workers expect to stay in their current position or a similar one until they can't work any longer, according to a report out today from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) that surveyed 4,550 full and part-time workers. Another 41 percent hope to cut their hours when they're older, or work in a less demanding, or more satisfying, position at their company—even though relatively few workers say their employers offer such options. Only 21 percent plan to walk out the office door when they hit a certain age (14 percent) or a saving goal (7 percent).