The 2016 Retirement Confidence Survey, published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), is the longest-running survey of its kind in the U.S. This year's recently issued report has some interesting data that suggests both good news and bad news for Boomers on their journey to retirement.

According to EBRI, key findings include the following:

• 21 percent of workers are very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement. This is slightly lower than in 2015 (22 percent) but substantially higher than in 2013 (13 percent). The percentage of "not at all confident" decreased from 24 percent in 2015 to 19 percent in 2016.
• Worker confidence in the affordability of various aspects of retirement also increased in 2016. For example, workers who are very confident in their ability to pay for basic expenses increased from 37 percent in 2015 to 43 percent in 2016.
• 67 percent of retirees indicate they do not have a problem with their level of debt, vs. 44 percent of workers who do not have a problem with their level of debt.
• All of the above data points are generally positive, but here is the big warning sign: Even though 69 percent of workers report they or their spouses have saved retirement, a sizable percentage of workers say they have virtually no savings and investments. Of workers who provide this information, 26 percent say they have less than $1,000. Individuals and their spouses who do not have a retirement plan of any kind are far more likely than those who have a retirement plan to report this low level of savings (67 percent vs. 9 percent) and far less likely to report having saved at least $100,000 (5 percent vs. 34 percent).

You can download a copy of the institute's survey brief below.

Download 2016RetirementConfidenceSurvey