1. Don’t Worry. Join the Crowd
As a Baby Boomer, you’ve seen plenty of trends come and go, and retirement at age 65 is one of the ones that has come and gone.
Pensions have become relatively rare. Healthcare has become expensive. The 401(k) employee retirement savings plan was supposed to be a modern alternative to a pension. But according to Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS), the median total in a Baby Boomer household’s 401(k) account or accounts is estimated to be $127,000.
That’s a nice chunk of change. But a Baby Boomer’s life expectancy is now 82.7 years for a man, and 85.3 for a woman. We’d do the math ($127,000 divided by 17.7 years, or $127,000 by 20.3), but it’s too depressing to contemplate.
You may be wondering how this is supposed to help you stop worrying. Here’s how: Consider the sheer size of the Baby Boom generation. If you’re a Baby Boomer, you’re one of a group that sets the trends. And, out of choice as well as necessity, the trend is about keeping active, at work and at play, after age 65.
2. Don’t Worry. You Have Options.
Who retires these days, anyway? In a survey by TCRS, two-thirds of Baby Boomers said they plan to work after age 65, or don’t plan to retire ever.
That’s a radical change in thinking from their parents’ generation. But it should be expected. Baby Boomers, said TCRS president Catherine Collinson, “are overturning long-standing assumptions about working until age 65, calling for dramatic changes in current employment practices, and proving that retirement and working are not mutually exclusive.”
The survey shows that many actually want to work beyond age 65 because they enjoy what they do. But most think they will have to work to maintain an adequate income and decent health benefits. (For more, see Retirement Doesn't Mean You Have to Stop Working.)
Fortunately, “you can work and receive full Social Security benefits just as long as you are full retirement age,” says Mark Hebner, founder and president of Index Fund Advisors, Inc., in Irvine, Calif. “You also need to be careful if you are receiving Social Security disability or Supplemental Security Income payments.”
3. Instead of Worrying, Take a Chance
“Retirement and working are not mutually exclusive.” What does that mean, anyway, unless it’s a reference to the jerk in the corner cubicle who sleeps on the job?
As they reach or approach age 65, workers want to continue to use the skills and experience they learned over a lifetime. But they may want to shift to fewer hours or more flexible hours, a more rewarding role in a related field or even a second career, the survey shows.
That sounds appealing, but the biggest barrier may be your current employer. In the TCRS survey, employers paid lip service to the invaluable contributions of their older workers. But the older workers weren’t so sure about their boss’s real level of commitment. So you may need to take a chance and look elsewhere for alternatives.
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