How far away is retirement? Many Americans don't see it in the near future

"Retirement is when someone leaves the workforce for good. How much to save for retirement depends, in part, on how long you'll expect to live in retirement and how much annual income you'll need to live comfortably," Investopedia explained about retirement, something Americans are finding increasingly difficult.

On average, citizens see retirement as increasingly distant. A survey conducted by Axios and Ipsos showed that nearly 3 out of 10 workers under 55 said they do not see retirement as possible. "I don't think I'll ever retire" was the exact phrase they used.

When asked why, three-quarters of respondents said they could not afford to stop working, while a smaller group said they simply did not want to stop working.

"How to make the dollars and cents of retirement work is a constant balancing act for those who are retired and Americans hoping to reach that milestone one day," Clifford Young, president of Ipsos Public Affairs, said of the issue.

The trend was confirmed by another survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Like Ipsos, they found that one-third of workers expect to retire at age 70, perhaps later or never.

A third report, in this case by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, found that 40 percent of Generation X workers, and nearly half of Boomers, expect to retire after age 70 or not at all.

The EBRI survey revealed one of the most important reasons workers see retirement as a distant prospect: Thirty-six percent of respondents say they have little or no confidence in financial security after retirement.