Nearly half of investors (46 percent) are afraid they’ll run out of money once they’ve stopped working.

So say the results of a new Wells Fargo/Gallup survey of investors with $10,000 or more in savings.

Worse, 36 percent of respondents who have already retired and 50 percent who have not said they were afraid they’d eventually have to rely on Social Security as their sole source of income to get by.

Some of their worries are likely due to the pummeling many took in the Great Recession, with the massive losses racked up in the market making people very hesitant to dip their toes back into the water.

“There are tangible reasons for a lot of people to worry,” said Karen Wimbish, director of retail retirement for Wells Fargo. Many don’t save enough as it is, and Wimbish said that some who lost a lot of money during the downturn “haven’t healed” from those losses and aren’t ready to trust the market.

Those who haven’t retired yet say that only 38 percent of their retirement savings is in the stock market. Among retirees, the figure is lower; only 33 percent of their savings is in stocks. “Some are investing in the market, but they are doing it reluctantly,” Wimbish said.

And they are really reluctant. Among those who are staying away from stocks, 56 percent say they aren’t confident they can reach their financial goals without them, but they’d rather not risk losing what they have. And 60 percent of respondents said caution when investing in the market is a good thing because it protects people from possible losses.

A Bankrate.com survey also found that while 55 percent of Americans who have significant savings are afraid of running through those savings during retirement, they can’t bring themselves to economize more now to have more later.

Instant Insights /

Retirement money woes feared by almost half of investors

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