More than 50 per cent of Australians don't think they will have enough money when it comes time for them to retire.
Also, a greater percentage of women than men expect to have "far from enough" - around 29 per cent versus 17 per cent - according to the MLC quarterly Australian Wealth Sentiment Survey.
Men expect to retire with $538,000, but women expect to retire with only $390,000.
The biggest barrier to investing for retirement is not having money after paying for everyday expenses, especially for women, young people and households with children.
"We want all Australians to enter their retirement phase of life feeling confident and prepared, and believe the first place to start is by managing day-to-day living costs," NAB general manager of corporate super, Lara Bourguignon said.
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MLC is part of the National Australia Bank group of companies.
Being unemployed, taking a career break to raise children, living longer and working part-time are also major impediments.
Households with children rated all barriers to retirement higher than households with no children.
One in five people don't expect to retire until they reach 70 years or older.
But one in two people earning more than $100,000 expect to retire before 65.
More than 2,100 respondents participated in the wealth sentiment survey in the third quarter of 2015.
