Retirement Delayed Five Years

That’s apparently what most Americans concluded after adding up the effects of the financial crisis. A survey by Bankers Life and Casualty found that many think they’ll delay retirement by five years after the crisis. The survey focused on middle income Baby Boomers, surveying 500 Americans ages 47 to 65 with incomes between $25,000 and $75,000. The key finding was that 79% are delaying retirement, and the average length of the delay is five years. The survey had a number of other interesting findings:

• Uncovered health-care expenses (80 percent), inflation (79 percent) and living longer than their money lasts (71 percent) are the top three financial concerns that middle-income Boomers have about retirement.

• Pensions and guaranteed income are what sixty percent (60 percent) of middle-income Boomers envy most about the retirement of previous generations.

• Three out of four (73 percent) middle-income Americans age 47 to 65 say that their financial situation, not age, is now the key indicator for when to retire.

• Three out of four (75 percent) middle-income Boomers expect to work in retirement; more than half (57 percent) of those expect they will have to work for financial reasons.