An increasing number of retired workers are heading back into the workforce amid economic fears, according to the results of a recent survey from Nationwide Retirement Institute. 

“As we enter a period of peak retirement in our country, many retirees will face harsh reality checks if they missed opportunities to prepare for this moment,” Nationwide Financial President and Chief Operating Officer John Carter said in a statement. 

Edelman Data and Intelligence conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1,000 US residents aged 60 to 65 on behalf of Nationwide from Nov. 2 to Nov. 29.

The results show that many adults aged 60 to 65 years are finding that they are not as financially comfortable as they expected to be when they retired. This finding aligns with a previous and unrelated survey by Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America in which 61% of adults surveyed said they were afraid that they might outlive their savings.

The Nationwide survey found that one-third of surveyed retirees are considering returning to work for financial reasons. Half of those who said they are returning to work said that they are running out of money or are afraid that they will run out of money as their top reasons for going back to work. Top reasons for their economic fears were inflation (90%), followed by cuts to Social Security benefits (84%) and cuts to Medicare or Medicaid benefits (83%).

Many of those individuals that are apprehensive about money (64%) said they felt they retired earlier than they had planned. “The average age of retirement was 60, while the average age of expected retirement was 67,” Nationwide said.

More than a third (36%) of retirees surveyed said they received less in Social Security benefits than they expected.

The top advice the respondents said they would impart to their younger selves was to know that they’ll need more money than they think for their Golden Years, so start saving early. They said that they also would caution their younger selves to avoid bad investments and extravagant purchases, to not tap retirement savings early and to not wait until after age 30 to start saving.

“In the future, success will be determined based on whether or not retirees have enough income to cover their needs. With fewer young people able to count on defined benefit pensions and uncertainty around the future of Social Security, younger savers should focus on simple things they can control right now to set themselves up for success in the future,” Carter said. “There is reason to be optimistic, but retirement savers need to act now to ensure success.”