Are you planning on working in retirement?
This statistic may be startling to you, but it’s straight from the 2016 Retirement Confidence Survey. 67% of workers PLAN on working during retirement! That’s right – when doing their retirement transition planning they’re including work of some sort during retirement. I thought retirement was supposed to be about NOT working!
What’s even more shocking is this number is up from 56% nearly 20 years ago. I realize we’ve gone through a horrible recession and a timid recovery, but going from 56% in 1998 to 67% today is a 20% increase. So 20% MORE workers plan on continuing to work during their golden years.
Take a look at how it’s grown over the years:
There is a silver lining
On that graph above you’ll notice the red squares below the blue line. The blue line is year by year how many soon-to-be retirees plan on working. The red line is how many retirees actually are working.
So while 2/3 of workers plan on it, only about a quarter of workers actually do work during retirement. That’s the good news.
But there’s better news to go along with that statistic! Most retirees are actually working because they want to work – not because they have to necessarily.
Take a look at the stats:
- 82% – wanted to stay active and involved
- 80% – actually enjoy working
- 49% – a job opportunity came along
But they also listed other money reasons to continue working during retirement:
- 57% – wanted to buy extras
- 51% – need the money to make the budget
- 43% – their portfolio decreased
- 32% – health insurance reasons
Get your retirement plan in order early!
If you do end up working in retirement, you’ll want it to be by choice – not necessity. If you don’t have a retirement plan, you’ll never know if it’s going to be optional, or required!
You should have a comprehensive retirement plan created for you at least 5 years prior to your retirement day. Failure to do so, and you’re far more likely to work out of necessity – not fun!