IRI's research found that 48 percent of Boomers who work with a financial professional are very or extremely confident with their financial preparations for retirement, compared to only 28 percent who are doing it on their own.

Seventy-one percent of Boomers working with an advisor have determined a retirement savings goal and 94 percent have retirement savings. This compares to only 34 percent and 64 percent, respectively, of Boomers who have not consulted an advisor.

EBRI's research correlates with the findings from IRI's Baby Boomers report, said Nevin Adams, director of the American Savings Education Program and co-director of the Employee Benefit Research Institute Center for Research on Retirement Income.

During a conference call on Monday, Adams said that workers' confidence levels are at near record low levels. "Clearly people are concerned about having a financially secure retirement," he said.

In EBRI's most recent Retirement Confidence Survey, it found that there was a gap between the amount of money people believed they needed to save for retirement and the reality. Four in 10 people thought they needed to save 20 percent of their salary every year.

"Believing they might need to save that much and the ability to save that much … there is a gap between the two realities," Adams said. "Retirement is something that will take a substantial financial commitment on their side."

Many workers expect to work longer and retire later, but the majority of people still retire by age 65 and not because they chose to do so. Many are forced into retirement because of health problems.

According to the IRI report, 79 percent of working Boomers expect to work during retirement, an increase of 12 percentage points from the 2011 study. In 2011, 11 percent of Boomers said they planned to retire by age 70 or later. In 2013, that figure rose to 18 percent.  Overall, 21 percent of Boomers reported postponing their retirement.

Individuals who take the time to use online tools, such as retirement calculators, typically set higher retirement savings targets than those who have not sat down to do the calculation, Adams said.

EBRI's data showed a marked increase in the retirement savings target of those individuals who sought advice from a professional or took advantage of online retirement tools.

"The bad news is that only 25 percent of respondents actually used either of those two help solutions in terms of coming up with a good result," Adams said. "Those who guessed, they did worse than those who didn't give it any thought at all."

So what can boost retirement confidence? Continued improvement in the economy, said Greg Cicotte, president of Jackson National Life Distributors LLC and a member of the IRI board of directors. Financial advisors also "play a big role in restoring confidence and letting people know and educating them about what they should do during certain times," he said.

When investors lose money due to market downturns, it is hard to fight off the very real human emotion to sell and get out of the market, Cicotte said. "That's when advisors earn their money. They hold hands, they reassure clients" that staying with the plan and not wavering is the best option.

Charlotte Mooney, head of individual markets marketing for ING U.S. Retirement, agreed, saying that "the anxiety level is higher sometimes when you don't engage. Obviously we have seen really difficult economic times and that terrifies people and they shut down a little bit. They need to get back in the conversation."

She added that by knowing how much money you have, knowing where it is and having a plan to do something with it can only help boost investor confidence.

"Whether self-directed or with an advisor, it is important that people get back in the game, not from an investment perspective, but intellectually they need to get off the sidelines and understand what [their] plan is for retirement," Mooney said.

To learn more about Retirement Week activities, visit retireonyourterms.org.