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Boomer generation expected to redefine
notion of retirement By Jodi Mailander Farrell, The Pat
Nord, 72, "retired" four times in the past five years. The
former Miami-area public school assistant principal keeps returning to
public and private education jobs, the latest as a parttime teacher in the
school system’s assessment department. Nord
is part of an advancing wave of retirement-age people who simply aren’t
satisfied with living the lives of leisure they’d worked so hard to
attain. Once viewed as a middle-class entitlement, retirement is
undergoing a seismic shift these days as many continue to work, part time
or full, paid or volunteer. Until
recently, most workers nationwide retired in their late 50s or early 60s.
A 1999 report, funded by the National Institute on Aging, showed that only
21 percent of men and 11 percent of women were still working full time at
age 65. But,
like John Glenn rocketing back into space at age 77, many retirees are
rethinking their relaxation years and using them to explore new careers,
embark on adventures or try a hand at something entirely different. Such
anti-retirement attitudes are expected to increase as the nation’s 77
million baby boomers enter the second act of their lives. This
trend-setting, massive group of Americans possesses a different mind-set
about work than that of their parents. Instead of disconnecting from the
workplace, boomers are expected to stay closely entwined, in part because
they enjoy better health than their parents and have always been defined
by a sense of youthfulness. Also,
boomers generally enjoy work. The notion of meaningful work primarily
evolved as a baby-boomer concept and will continue as a core part of
boomers’ self-identity even in their later years, experts on aging
predict. "Retirement is becoming an outmoded concept," said
Daniel Perry, executive director of the "
That kind of rigid, defined type of life is out the door with baby
boomers, "he added." They won’t have it. " As
boomers age, they will have" many different approaches to what they
want to do with the last decades of their lives, "Perry said."
Unlike the World War II generation, this is not a generation that thinks
of doing things the traditional way. There will be a wide range of
experimenting with school, work, volunteerism, creativity and
entrepreneurship. " Most
of today’s workers now see their retirement not as a time for leisure
and travel but as an opportunity to do fulfilling work and find an
avocation in what they do, according to a 2000 study by Rutgers
University. Nearly 70 percent said they would continue to work even if
they had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. Even
the former American Association of Retired Persons has dropped retirement
from its name and insists on simply being known as AARP. The
federal government encourages this mind-set. The age at which you can
collect full benefits for Social Security is slowly rising. For people
born in or before 1937, it’s 65; for those born from 1943 to 1959,
it’s 66; anybody born in 1960 or later must wait until age 67. When
workers reach full retirement age, they can take their Social Security
benefits and continue to work without any limit on their earnings. That
will prompt many to stay on the job and enjoy the extra income, financial
analysts say. But there’s another, less-encouraging, reason why people
aren’t retiring: The bear market that marked the new millennium cut
deeply into the 401 (k) and retirement savings balances of many. They
continue to work to add to their shrunken savings. An AARP survey,
released in September, found that when pressed to name a major factor in
their decision to work well past traditional retirement age, 22 percent of
today’s older workers cited the need for money. The second-most-cited
reason is a need for health benefits. HIGH
EXPECTATIONS Congress has increased the amounts that workers can
contribute to retirement accounts. This year, the contribution limit for
401 (k) plans rose to $12,000. It goes up to $15,000 in 2005. The
Individual Retirement Account annual dollar-contribution limit is $3,000,
until 2004. It goes up to $4,000 for 2005-07 and $5,000 for 2008-10. For
people 50 and older, however, those annual limits rise by an extra $500
through 2005 and $1,000 for 2006 and thereafter. But
for the most part, today’s workers are naive about how much they’ll
need in retirement, experts say. The overly optimistic attitude was
apparent last year, when a savings survey showed that people’s
confidence in their ability to retire comfortably had increased despite
recent economic and emotional chaos. About
70 percent of people surveyed said they expected comfortable retirement,
even after the The
evolving model of retirement is expected to work something like this:
People will stay in their current jobs or main careers until 55 or 60.
Then, with mortgages paid off and kids out of college, some will step back
and do something more fun or rewarding that still pays. They’ll let
their savings grow for another 10 or 15 years before regrouping into yet
another phase of retirement — around age 75. Perry,
of the "
There’s more flexibility and mobility, more trying this and trying that
than in previous generations, "he said." There’s going to be
people deciding they want to go back and get another degree or be a
consultant instead of working eight hours a day. More people will go into
business for themselves late in their lives, trying to make a living out
of something that has been their hobby all along. Retirement will change
in that it will be hard to say who’s retired and who’s not. " Three
years ago, Nord thought she was retired for good — until a friend told
her about a new parttime position with the Don’t
bet on it. "
I’ve been lucky in life. I enjoy my work, " Nord said.
Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
