Christopher Nelson is 44, and like many of his self-employed brethren, he has nothing saved for retirement.<br /><br />He still has time. He also has plenty of reasons to think the future is bright. He is the chief financial officer of Glass Handbag, a company that sells high-end handbags outfitted with integrated light systems.<br /><br />He runs it with Tamara Leuty, Glass Handbag's inventor and founder.<br /><br />"I am hoping Glass Handbag takes off and creates the retirement I desire," Nelson says.<br /><br />Of course, Nelson has ample reason to worry that he won't have the retirement he desires. According to the Small Business Administration, 50 percent of new businesses won't celebrate their five-year anniversary. Two-thirds won't reach the 10-year milestone. Glass Handbag started four years ago.<br /><br />Nelson has another job as a real estate appraiser, making a little over $100,000 annually, but he says he hasn't managed to save anything for retirement. He put away $150,000, but that went to Glass Handbag. It doesn’t help that he is shuttling between two cities with a high cost of living: Las Vegas and New York, where he and his fiancee are moving.<br /><br />"I haven't had any retirement [savings] for about five years, and it makes me very worried. Sometimes, I don't sleep well at night," Nelson says. "The thought of knowing you can't survive without working, even for a short time, is very nerve-wracking."<br /><br />[Read: The Best Budgeting Strategies for the Self-Employed.]<br /><br />Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like Nelson lying awake at night. Financial services provider TIAA-CREF recently surveyed more than 1,000 adults and found that 21 percent of those who hadn't retired had nothing saved for retirement. Forty-four percent had saved 10 percent or less of their current annual income. And yet 37 percent surveyed said they planned to retire before age 65.