Work and Retirement: The Real Deal
08/17/2015
Today's retirement landscape looks very much different from just a generation ago. Economic realities and the fact that many seniors aren't ready to call it quits are re-shaping attitudes toward working for boomers and beyond.
Proof of this can be found in a Merrill Lynch study, conducted in partnership with Age Wave, that reveals some stunning information about work in retirement:
- More than 70 percent of pre-retirees say they want to work in retirement.
- Nearly three out of five retirees launch into a new line of work.
- Working retirees are three times more likely than pre-retirees to be entrepreneurs.
While earning income is a motivation for some, "many others are motivated by important nonfinancial reasons," according to the study, which breaks working retirees into four categories: "Driven Achievers, Caring Contributors, Life Balancers, and Earnest Earners."
The study found that today's retirement picture is a four-phase process: Pre-retirement, "Career Intermission" (during which 52 percent of retirees take a break from working), "Reengagement" (a time when the four categories of working retirees are active), and Leisure.
According to the study:
"Today, 40% of people age 55+ are working — a level of engagement in work among this age group not seen since the 1960s. As more people continue working in their later years, the U.S. workforce is steadily transforming. In prior decades, workforce growth was driven by the influx of young workers. In the last seven years, however, workers age 55+ accounted for virtually all workforce growth..."
We are a force!
Comments