Saving for retirement is tough.

It’s so tough, in fact, that working-age people who have not yetretired expect to save for seven years longer than current retireesdid when they were in the workforce.

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That’s according to a new study from banking and financialservices company HSBC, which found that the average retiree begansaving for retirement at age 31, and stopped working at age 59 —having saved for a total of 28 years.

People currently in the workforce, however, began saving at age29, and expect to keep working till age 64 — seven yearslonger.

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Americans were as poorly prepared as preretirees globally,making for a gloomy picture. On average, retired men began savingat age 29, while women did not begin saving till age 34. And thosemen retired at age 58, compared to women, who didn’t retire tillage 60.

“Americans did stand apart from the world in one important area:the number of years in the workforce,” Michael Schweitzer, globalhead of sales and distribution at HSBC, said in a statement.Schweitzer added, “Americans work an average of 5 years longercompared to their global counterparts — 35 years versus 30,respectively.”

Considering how much longer they’re planning on sticking it out,it’s probably not surprising that those currently working have moreregrets about saving than people who have already retired.Thirty-four percent of retirees say they would not have doneanything differently, while just 22 percent of preretirees say thesame.

Of course, there is always the element of hindsight, and while44 percent of preretirees say they wish they’d started savingearlier, 35 percent of retirees wish the same thing. And 35 percentof preretirees who are saving for retirement have stopped doing so,or have faced challenges in the savings process at one point oranother.

More than one in five — 22 percent — of working-age people havenever gotten any advice or information about retirement. The mostunadvised group is people in their 40s, among whom 27 percent nevergot any advice or information. But even among those age 60 andolder, 18 percent were similarly unenlightened.

“Starting to save early may no longer be enough to ensure acomfortable retirement, and continuing to save through the ups anddowns of life is just as important,” Charlie Nunn, group head ofwealth management at HSBC, said in a statement.