The golden years imply the living is easy, affordable and carefree.

The reality is that not very many people are financially prepared for life after retirement, according to a new study by AARP.

“We have a retirement savings crisis,” said Cathy MacCaul, advocacy director for AARP Washington.

Forty-five percent of Washington adults have less than $25,000 in retirement savings and many have even smaller retirement nest eggs, the study showed.

More than 77 percent surveyed said they were confident they will retire and no longer work because it’s something they want to do and they think they will have enough money saved to afford to retire.

Most said their income in their retirement years will come from money they have saved in a 401K or other personal savings tool, but three in five have never calculated how much money they will need in retirement, according to the survey.

“Why aren’t people saving? You have family, you have other obligations, you’re saving for a house, you’re feeling stretched,” MacCaul said.

MacCaul said the retirement crisis is one reason AARP is supporting the Washington Small Business Retirement Marketplace, which launches Jan. 1.

Operated by the state Department of Commerce, the online marketplace will be available to employees of small businesses, defined as businesses with fewer than 100 employees, so they can purchase a retirement plan.

Employees will pick from a range of private sector retirement plans offered in the marketplace, which will include regular IRAs, simple IRAs or MyRAs, a retirement savings account developed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for people without access to a retirement savings plan at work.

Participation in the plans is voluntary and the plans are portable so employees can keep them if they change jobs.

“We have a great opportunitiy to really change the way people view retirement savings,” MacCaul said.

Carolyn McKinnon, Department of Commerce’s policy adviser and marketplace director, said Washington is the first in the nation to implement this retirement initative.

She said the marketplace will be easy to use, informative and motivational.

“We’re already weary and worried about our personal finances…We don’t want to continue with that fear,” she said at last month’s Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce meeting.

McKinnon said the state is actively recruiting financial services firms to “onramp on the marketplace. “We’re recruiting for a variety of retirement plans,” she said.

And she said it’s needed since some 90,000 Washington small businesses offer no retirement benefits to full-time workers and 120,000 offer no retirement benefits to part-time workers.

Less than half of Washington workers participate in a retirement plan at work.

The key findings from the AARP study include:

• More than half of those surveyed (55 percent) say they are very or somewhat anxious about their financial security during retirement.
• 77 percent are somewhat confident they will one day be able to retire and no longer work, while 63 percent have never calculated how much money they’ll need to save for retirement.
• 24 percent say they do not have a way to save for retirement at work.
• More than 25 percent say retirement seems so far away that they will just get to it later.
• What’s preventing them from saving now? Concern over current finances (55 percent), paying down debt (51 percent), not having extra income set aside (48 percent) and spending too much money (31 percent).

“Given how little many of us are putting away for our retirement years, it makes sense that some consumers feel anxious about their financial futures,” said Doug Shadel, AARP state director, in a news release. “But it’s even more troubling to see how many Washingtonians are unaware of just how unprepared they are.”

AARP’s study, called “Ready or Not: 2016 Survey of Retirement Readiness Among Washington State Adults,” was conducted as a telephone poll among 1,000 adults ages 18-64 working or looking for work in Washington state.