Twenty percent of pre-retirees made plans to postpone retirement last year, a new survey shows, perhaps suggesting that work, savings and Social Security make up the new three-legged stool of retirement.

More than a third of workers ages 44 to 53 who were surveyed listed “loss of full-time employment” among their biggest financial concerns. And 58 percent of people ages 34 to 53 (roughly Generation X) said they planned to retire at 65 or later, up from the 42 percent who said so in a similar study in 2011, according to the recent survey, which was conducted by the Insured Retirement Institute, a trade group representing insurers and financial brokers.

“We’ve really got a generation here that is very concerned about their level of retirement savings,” said Frank O’Connor, IRI’s vice president of research. “They aren’t confident about their preparations, and the solution in their minds is that they’ll just work longer.”

The problem, O’Connor and myriad financial advisers suggest, is that the ability to work longer is hardly guaranteed. Older workers have to be healthy enough to work, which is only partly in their control, he said, and the work has to be there.