Nearly half of working-age Americans in the private sector don’t have a retirement account, according to a AARP data analysis from Apollo Global Management’s chief economist Torsten Slok published this April. As expected, those who are still building their careers are the worst off: About 57% of Gen Zers and young millennials aged 18 to 34 do not have a plan set up. However, the issue even extends to older generations who have decades of experience under their belts. About 43% of Americans aged 34 to 44 employed by private companies do not have a retirement plan in place, as well as 41% of those 45 to 54 years old, and 40% of U.S. workers who are 55 to 65. That means that around four in 10 U.S. Gen Xers, and even some baby boomers, aren’t squaring away money in retirement plans. And as many of these older workers barrel towards the end of their careers, it could spell…

And Gen Zers still grinding for a decent wage were the most likely to take money out of their plans, with nearly half of the young adults having already dipped into their retirement funds. However, 31% of millennials and 41% of Gen Xers and baby boomers also siphoned money from their retirement savings. Most of the early withdrawals stemmed from unexpected emergencies and paying off looming debt. And to make ends meet, many Americans are bucking traditional timelines and holding onto their jobs for longer. The number of those who are working past 65 has quadrupled in the U.S. since the 1980s, according to 2023 analysis from Pew Research Center. And there’s real concern over their funds running dry late in life; over two in five retired Americans, amounting to about 20 million people, worry that their funds won’t be able to support their ideal retirement lifestyle, acc…