Its no secret that the current economic crisis is having a lasting impact on many older Americans, forcing them to make difficult financial decisions due to having such little time and resources available to recover from losses in their retirement portfolio.

A new survey conducted with United Sample, in partnership with Golden Gateway Financial that polled a nationwide sample of more than 500 senior citizens aged 62 or older and found half of the respondents net worth has decreased by 10 to 30 percent.  This is forcing many older Americans to put off retirement until after age 70. 

"Even though some economists are beginning to grow optimistic, older Americans continue to feel real pain and must make hard tradeoffs and decisions," said Eric Bachman, founder and CEO of Golden Gateway Financial. "This is the worst possible time for the 40 percent of seniors now considering delaying retirement to be searching for jobs. It’s unfortunate that the hopes and dreams of these retirees are being put on hold."

• Before the economic crisis, 67 percent of respondents planned to retire before age 70
• Now, the number of seniors planning to retire by age 70 dropped to 40 percent
• Before the economic crisis, 30 percent of those surveyed planned to retire after age 70
• Now, almost 50 percent of seniors plan to retire after age 70
• More than 40 percent of seniors polled said the current economy has had some kind of negative affect on their ability to retire
• More than 50 percent of respondents said they are concerned that their overall net worth may no longer be enough to sustain their retirement
• 86 percent of seniors said they had a reasonable understanding of their net worth, and 50 percent said that net worth had declined by between 10 and 30 percent

You can find a complete list of questions and percentage answers are available at the Golden Gateway Financial website.