Some people worry that retirement will be boring
Today, lots of people over age 60 are saying they’ll never be able to retire. Lots, however, is one thing; seventy-two percent is quite another. According to a new survey conducted by CareerBuilder, 72% percent of workers over age 60 are now delaying retirement because they cannot afford it, and need more time to come up with a cash advance towards their own retirement.
Pessimism is on the rise
The 72% figure is significant increase over survey the results from CareerBuilder’s survey on the same subject last year. According to last year’s survey, 60% of retirement-aged workers were postponing retirement due to economic conditions. They may not be candidates for debt settlement relief, but older workers are worrying about money now.
Women have more to worry about
The new survey, which included more than 700 U.S. workers age 60 and older, was conducted between November 5 and November 23, 2009, showed that pessimism about retirement is higher among women than men. Seventy-six percent of women and 64% of men surveyed said they were not financially secure enough to stop working.
According to Tom Warschauer, a finance professor at San Diego State University, who was recently interviewed by CNNMoney.com, Women may have good reason to be more worried about retirement than men are. “Women live 4 to 5 years longer than men on average,” Warschauer said. “If men and women save the same amount, women would be less prepared.”
Pessimism is only one reason for putting off retirement
Clearly, people of retirement age are worried about the economy and afraid to leave their employers, although may of the workers who said they are not ready to retire cited additional reasons. Seventy-one percent said they enjoy their jobs and don’t want to leave them. Other reasons for continuing to work included the continued need for health insurance and other employer benefits (50%); the fear that retirement may be boring (24%); and the desire to feel needed (15%).
There’s some good news, too
According to the survey many employers are happy to keep experienced retirement-age workers onboard. Twenty-seven percent of hiring managers surveyed reported that they been approached by workers within the last year about continuing their employment beyond retirement age and were amenable to retaining them.
Put off retirement, don’t put off talking about it
Jason Ferrara, senior career adviser at CareerBuilder, advises retirement-age employees who do not wish to retire to speak up. Experienced and mature workers have much to offers employers in the way of intellectual and training abilities. “The key,” Ferrara says, “is to let your employer know sooner [rather] than later that you would like to put off your plans to leave.”
