The State of Retirement

Another survey of Americans in or near retirement has rolled out. This one is worth paying attention to because it’s not done by a financial services firm with an agenda to boost its business. Instead, the Society of Actuaries did another edition of a survey it’s been doing periodically for a while. The survey covers what Americans are both doing and thinking about their finances and covers a wide range of topics. The slide show of the survey results presents a lot of interesting information.

One fallacy people have, which I’ve addressed in Retirement Watch and my books, is that most people won’t retire when they think they will or want to. This is especially important because a growing percentage of people say they won’t retire at all or will stop working only after age 70 or later. The fact is most people retired earlier than they expected. They might have been laid off and were unable to find a satisfactory new job. Or there might be health issues. While working longer can help people make up for not saving enough or having high enough investment returns to a point, you can’t count on being able to do that. Many people will find they have to stop working before they planned. That possibility needs to be factored into your plans.