(MoneyWatch) The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) recently released its 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey, and the results are quite depressing.

-- Just 14 percent of survey respondents are very confident they'll have enough money to live comfortably in retirement. These results are the same as what was reported in 2009 and 2011.

-- Almost half of all survey respondents -- 42 percent -- cite job uncertainty as the most pressing financial issue facing most Americans. Only about one-fourth, or 28 percent, are very confident they'll have paid employment as long as they need it.

-- Many workers report they have virtually no savings; 60 percent say that the total value of their household savings is less than $25,000, excluding the value of their home and any pension benefits they expect to receive.

-- Almost two-thirds of respondents (62 percent) consider their current level of debt to be a problem.

-- Only 16 percent of those surveyed are very confident that their investments will grow in value.

How watching too much TV can ruin your retirement Retirement planning: How to do it right Invest in your health

Is there any good news about retirement out there? Being an optimist, my natural inclination is to dig deeper into the report to find some helpful insights, and I was successful in finding suggestions that can help increase your retirement confidence. These four suggestions might be difficult to implement, but nevertheless, they point to the tough steps people need to take to boost their retirement confidence.

1. Pay down your debt.

The percentage of employed people who reported that their level of debt is not a problem and that they have confidence in their ability to retire is more than five times higher than the percentage of workers who report that debt is a problem. Paying down your debt now -- before you retire and most likely will have less money coming in -- is one of the smartest steps you can take to create a stress-free retirement.

Read this article:
4 moves to make you confident of your retirement