and galen murphy is hardly alone. he plans to keep working as long as he can. but still wonders which bills will get paid and which ones won't. there's no money left for savings. only 40% of the private workforce has access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. even those who are saving still aren't saving enough. one problem? pensions became a thing of the past. in 1983, almost 90% of the workforce had pensions. by 2016, that number had dropped today, 94 million americans have retirement accounts yet a recent vanguard study says the median 401(k) for someone aged 35 to 44 held less than $24,000 in 2016. for 45 to 54-year-olds, $43,000. and for someone 65 and older, the median balance was less than $61,000. how big a problem is this? >> i think it's much bigger than one can imagine. >> reporter: he's a washington, d.c.-based financial adviser. >> the ones who don't plan, the majority, if you look at the number of retirement accounts that have less than $50,000, as a percentage of people over 50, it is staggering. >> reporter: johnson says putting a higher p