Americans continue to be stressed about their retirements, according to the 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), a major annual survey of employee expectations and retiree realities. Since the 2007-08 recession, retirement confidence has hovered for several years at or near the lowest levels recorded by the RCS since it began in 1990. Last year was no different.

[See 10 Steps to Fine-Tune Your Retirement Plan.]

For people still working, slightly more than half were either very confident (14 percent) or somewhat confident (38 percent) they would be able to retire comfortably. For people either retired or at least 65 years old, the picture was a bit better: 21 percent said they were very confident of a comfortable retirement and 42 percent said they were somewhat comfortable.

When the RCS asked them about their confidence in paying for basic necessities in retirement--a lower financial threshold than being comfortable--71 percent of workers (26 percent were very confident and 45 percent were somewhat confident) and 80 percent of retirees (32 percent were very confident and 48 percent were somewhat confident) said they were.

The RCS is co-sponsored by two Washington organizations: the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), a nonprofit research organization, and Matthew Greenwald & Associates, a market research firm. It has become the retirement benefits' version of the annual State of the Union message. And for most of those years, the message has not been very uplifting.

Americans save too little money and do not do a good job of planning for retirement. These are the averages. Broken down by income levels, more affluent workers do a better job, no doubt in large measure because they can afford to. Older workers also do a better job, for the obvious reason that they are beginning to see the retirement beast at the end of their employment tunnels.

[See How Spending Priorities Change as We Age.]

< p>Among the many charts and tables in the RCS, one topic has always held special interest. Each year, the RCS asks workers about what they expect to find in retirement. It then asks retirees a comparable set of questions about what they've actually found retirement to be like. There is a big gap between the two sets of answers. The reality of retirement is a lot more challenging than pre-retirees expect.

Taking a look at the differences between expectation and reality creates a compelling list of the things workers could be learning from retirees who have already walked a mile or two in their retirement shoes. Yet, the next year's RCS shows the same comparative gaps. And the next RCS after that. And so on. The RCS, to state the obvious, is probably not required reading in the lunch rooms of America's workplaces. Too bad.

[See Health: The Biggest Determinant of Your Retirement Security.]

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The State of the (Retirement) Union is Weak