The survey conducted in August and September 2011 by Harris Interactive on behalf of Wells Fargo Retirement interviewed 801 affluent Americans between the ages of 25 and 75, cites that 37% respondents need to cut back their spending to save for retirement, including 48% of those with US$100,000 to US$250,000 in investable assets.

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The survey also found that 40% of affluent Americans say their biggest fear about retirement is they "will do all the right things today and it still won’t be enough for tomorrow" and 9% fear they "will have under saved and won’t recover".

Karen Wimbish, director of Retail Retirement at Wells Fargo, said, "Even among those considered ‘well off’, many seem to fear a sharp drop in their post-retirement standard of living due to insufficient retirement savings."

One of the biggest insecurity among the affluent Americans is regarding their retirement saving which they (23%) say will not be sufficient enough for retirement.

This feeling is predominant especially among Americans with assets between US$100,000 and US$250,000 (33%), people without a written retirement plan (32%) and women (31%).

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There is confusion over the time of retirement as well and more than one in five (21%) between the ages of 60 and 75 say they don’t know when they will be able to retire. In fact one in five (19%), with assets of between US$100,000 and US$250,000, feel they will need to work until "at least age 80".

This sentiment has been reported by 25% of middle-class Americans surveyed at the same time. Among all the affluent surveyed, 12% say they will work until 80.