One in five workers 45 and older have stopped putting money into a 401(k), IRA or other retirement savings account over the last 15 months, and one in four has increased the numbers of hours worked, according to a survey by AARP.

Wall Street’s elite siphoned $2 trillion from American workers during the past year and a half in response to the current financial crisis, extracting 20 percent of their retirement funds. Now Americans are left to embrace the shock of how paltry their retirement funds have become.

According to a recent report by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, most Americans only guess at how much money they will need when they stop working. Only about one in 10 do any sort of calculation. Most Americans are on track to replace less than 60 percent of their income during retirement, while financial experts generally recommend that retirees replace at least 80 percent, due to the high cost of healthcare.

After the epic loss of $2 trillion, over 44 percent of American households won’t be able to maintain their standard of living in retirement now, according to an index developed for the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. However, this figure doesn’t factor in long-term care like costs accumulated in nursing homes or from an in-home aide. Since most Americans didn’t calculate their retirement costs in the first place, the added strain could prove debilitating. Approximately two-thirds of people over 65 will need long term care at some point in their lives.

So what happened to all the squandered money? The businesses that were able to grow with Americans investment capital made money – their golden parachutes are providing them with a beautiful scenic ride on their way down, while the rest of us are being forced to nose dive.

Just before JPMorgan Chase scooped up the remains of a failed Washington Mutual, WaMu’s CEO parachuted into a $44 million deal. Daniel Mudd of Fannie Mae and Richard Syron of Freddie Mac may walk away with $25 million. The top executives at Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns made $613 million combined last year. And the worst offenders – Lehman, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – were paid more than $1.4 billion in total compensation since 2004.

While average Americans spent their lives working in order to one day have a lump sum for retirement, they now find themselves pushing on into old age while younger, fiscally irresponsible execs reap the rewards of their hard-earned cash.

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