Feb

21

Working Retirees

Posted by maureen

February 21, 2007 |

Retirement patterns are undergoing a major change in the USA. If you think that once you retire, you will not return to work for money than you will not be among the 7 million retired Americans who have done just that. Americans have already moved beyond the traditional retirement ages of 65. Many retirees are using retirement as a breather before going back into the work force and often they will use the same expertise and experience as in prior position. A Putnam-sponsored study, estimated that these ‘working retired’ are, now almost one-third of all American retirees.” The survey of 1,726 retirees who returned to work revealed some interesting facts:

Why do retirees go back to work?

  • For some retirement did not live up to expectations.
  • Two-thirds of working retired survey respondents returned to the workforce because they wanted to. The average household investable assets for this group are almost $550,000,
  • The remaining one-third went back out of economic necessity. This group had average investable assets of $140,000. A significant number had inadequate savings and investments, which made it necessary to return to the workforce. Working in their seventies to pay bills is not the portrait of retirement most Americans envision.

What are the characteristics of the working retired?

  • The have an average of about $400,000 investable assets
  • 70% wish they had started saving more and sooner.
  • They were educated and high-income group.
  • The average household income of survey respondents, $87,000,
  • They were twice as likely to have a college degree.
  • Over half (60%) still carry a mortgage,
  • On average, these working retired own only 47% of their homes.

Retirement means different things to different people but I think everyone would agree that returning to work should be something you want to do rather than an economic necessity. Working into your seventies to pay bills is not the portrait of retirement most Americans envision. Over the next two decades, a record number of Americans will become eligible to retire. I hope they have all planned well enough to be able to enjoy their future years no matter what that means to them


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