Workers over the age of 65 are staying active in the workforce, opting to delay retirement. In the year 2000, about 13 % of Americans 65 and over reported being employed full or part time. But, by May 2016, that percentage had increased to 18.8%. As such, nearly 9 million Americans that happen to be age 65 and older are employed. Further, over the next five years, that percentage is expected to rise to 32% of the workforce.
Possibly time to Reconsider Your Age of Retirement
“The context of aging and work is changing,” Jacquelyn B. James, co-director of the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, told The New York Times. Greater longevity and health aside, “this is one of the most educated generations in history. A lot of the jobs people are continuing in are fields in which you use the mind, not the body.”
A 2015 study by Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies discovered that 44 % of workers who retired later than planned said they continued to work because they made a decision to.
“My basic sense is that there are two types of workers in their late 50s,” says Michael D. Hurd, an economist and director of the RAND Corporation Center for the Study of Aging in Santa Monica, Calif. “People who have health problems or are economically distressed, and who might want to work longer but probably won’t be able to, will leave the labor force at 62 when eligible for Social Security. More healthy ones will want to work longer for the financial reward. The other is a group who are healthy, fit, able to work and find their work satisfying. They will continue to work into their 60s or even beyond.”
With that being said, workers still need to be practical and anticipate retiring one day, and plan for it. “It’s not a good strategy to think you’re never going to retire,” James says.
Speaking from experience, Nick & Cindy both retired from the US Army and knew we were no way ready to retire completely. So that is why we went into Real Estate and now having our son Nicholas join us in 2015, we figure we will work way past the normal retirement age.
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