St. Petersburg, Florida — Larry Gesick, a 77-year-old electrician by trade, leaves his house at 5:30 a.m. and heads to his part-time job unloading trailers at a St. Petersburg, Fla., supermarket for $14.75 an hour. It certainly wasn’t part of his retirement plan.

His wife, 66-year-old Joyce, prepares for her workday, earning $14 an hour as a full-time legal administrator.

“It’s not really a retirement,” Joyce told CBS News. “…It’s about the work every day.”

The Gesicks came from retirementnot because they wanted to, but because they had to. About one in five people over 65, or about 11 million Americans, still work, according to the Pew Research Center.

Labor market economist Teresa Ghilarducci says work is the new retirement.

“I call it the ‘work, retire, repeat’ syndrome,” Ghilarducci said. “…More than half of the people who are currently retired don’t have enough money to retire.”

Ghilarducci says she blames “the politicians who experimented with our pension system 40 years ago, and they don’t say the experiment failed.”

This experiment is now known as 401K, named after part of a 1978 law that offered companies an alternative to the traditional pension plan.

“The idea was that Americans just needed a little financial literacy and then they could save on their own,” Ghilarducci said.

But in reality, many of today’s older workers have never been adequately educated about Saving and investing for retirement.

“I grew up on a farm,” Larry said. “Nobody there taught us to put money aside and make our own way later.”

Whether you’re over 65, like the Gesicks, or approaching that age, there are a few rules to follow. Everyone needs a plan. First, calculate when it’s best to start claiming Social Security benefits. Next, build an emergency fund. If you’re still working, set aside an amount to cover six to 12 months of living expenses. If you’re already retired, set aside an amount to cover one to two years of living expenses. And keep that fund in a safe, easily accessible, interest-bearing account.

Like many working Americans, the Gesicks were doers rather than savers and maxed out their 401(k) plans.

“I think to us it felt more like a savings account rather than something we should be focusing on ‘accumulating this to actually be able to live off of,'” Joyce said.

Now they have a mortgage, a car loan and are paying off about $12,000 in other debt. But even with Social Security, some old pension funds and their paychecks, money is tight.

After paying off all expenses and debts each month, they say they have only $50 left. And if the Gessicks had waited until age 70 to claim Social Security, they would have received even more.

“Yes, it’s stressful right now,” Joyce said. “But I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

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