New York, NY, United States (AHN) – A recent Harris Poll found that thirty-four percent of Americans have no retirement savings and 27% have no personal savings.

The findings mark an increase, when just 18 months ago those numbers were moderately lower, at 30% and 22% respectively.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,151 adults surveyed online between November 8 and 15, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

According to the 2,151 adults surveyed, one-in-four Baby Boomers have no retirement savings, with 22% of people aged 65 and over are in the same boat. While Gen Xers aged 34-45 are struggling just to survive with immediate needs and 32 of them have no personal savings.

“Current economic conditions seem to be driving somewhat less risky investment behavior by Gen Xers, which goes against the grain of traditional investment advice,” stated Barbara Bertner, Vice President of Financial Services Research for Harris Interactive.

Some of the other key findings from research includes that 31% of all adults report that they keep their personal savings “mostly in bank savings and and/or CDs”, 17% keep “a relatively equal mix of stocks/mutual funds and investments such as bonds and money market funds”, 11% keep their personal savings “mostly in stocks and/or mutual funds”, 8% keep theirs “mostly in bonds, money market funds and other stable investments.”

While many Americans’ retirement plans look bleak because they don’t have enough money saved, 84% of high net worth baby boomers believe their retirement will be better than their parents.

Seventy percent of these boomers said they plan to work in retirement even if it is part time simply “to remain more active and engaged.”

This takes time and money to replace and in the mean time we are at risk of loosing our competitive advantage overseas to the BRICK economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and Korea). As hard as it is to envision, given our current economic climate, organizations need to start thinking seriously about training and retaining younger workers and gaining the continued commitment of older workers. They can do this by creating a more flexible attraction and retention programs and approaches to retirement that allows people to continue to contribute well into their sixties and seventies. Putting in longer term workforce planning strategies now could provide a real competitive edge when the upturn comes.

The problem will not just be lack of bodies—skills, relationships, knowledge, and experience walk out the door every time someone retires. They take time and money to replace. A yearlong study conducted by the Concourse Group found that companies will need to adopt a much more flexible approach to retirement than in the past and put processes in place that will make it possible – and even attractive—for workers to stay active into their late sixties and even seventies.