Retiring Honolulu residents may not find their golden years so lustrous unless they do more to prepare themselves financially, a study by a Washington-based coalition found.

The City and County of Honolulu's population was identified as having an "elevated risk" when it comes to planning and saving for post-work years, according to the report by Americans for Secure Retirement. The group's study ranked retirement planning risk in the nation's 250 largest counties.

The report highlights what experts have said anecdotally — that many residents aren't putting away enough or penciling out what they'll need to live comfortably after they retire. Honolulu wasn't alone in its risk ranking; more than half of the counties studied had an elevated risk or higher.

"There's a pervasive lack of retirement readiness across the United States," said Walter Welsh, chairman of Americans for Secure Retirement, a group whose founders include insurance companies that sell retirement products. He said most people agree that retirees should have income that's 70 percent of their pre-retirement earnings if they want to maintain their lifestyle.

The study's authors said Honolulu had a larger senior-citizen population than most counties studied, while having fewer manufacturing jobs that typically pay pension benefits.

There were 93 other counties in the elevated risk category with Honolulu, while 32 were deemed to have "high" risk and six had "very high" risk.

Counties with very high risk had large elderly populations and low median incomes. Counties with the lowest risk had younger populations, high incomes and more government and manufacturing jobs that tend to offer a pension.

The state forecasts that people who are 60 years old or older will represent one-fifth of Hawai'i's residents by 2010 and one quarter by 2030.

People have "a vague idea they'll stop working and pay more attention to travel, hobbies and their families," said Pat Sasaki, director of the state's Executive Office on Aging.

"However, they don't necessarily sit down and do the numbers."

A January survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found about six in 10 workers said they hoped to at least maintain their standard of living when they retire.

Honolulu financial planner Mel Hertz said he sees too many people who are unprepared to retire because they've taken on big mortgages or haven't done the planning.

"There are many who are professionals who unfortunately don't have enough and they'll have to keep working," Hertz said. "They don't have the money to say 'Hey, I can quit now.' "

State Executive Office on Aging and U.S. Census Bureau figures show the median income of people 60 or older was $19,115 in 2000, while the median income for all males working full-time was $35,535. For all women working full time it was $28,546.

The Census data also show 7 percent of people 60 or older are living at or below the federal poverty level.

Bruce Bottorff, spokesman for AARP Hawaii, said planning for retirement is becoming more important because of efforts to modify Social Security and companies chopping defined-benefit programs such as pensions.

"This is not unique to Hawai'i. It's true for Americans across the country," Bottorff said. "We really haven't saved as much as we should."

Reach Greg Wiles at gwiles@honoluluadvertiser.com.