Pushing Back Retirement, and Not Always for Money

Nowadays retirement is all over the map. It’s blurred, more elastic. Many people retire piecemeal. Or they retire and then unretire. Or they continue working well after they were supposed to have retired.

As part of a fast-changing retirement picture, many Americans leave their longtime job, but then, fearing that their Social Security benefits and nest egg will prove too small, plunge into part-time work — as a consultant, say, or a salesclerk at a big-box store. Others step down from career jobs but then conclude, after a year or two, that they are bored and want to start their own businesses. So they unretire and become entrepreneurs.

Not long ago, it seems, the typical American’s goal was to retire at 58, 60, 62 — certainly no later than 65. But now, more workers are pushing back retirement to 68, 70, 72 and even later.

Some delay retirement because they are still healthy and love to work. But many put it off instead because their 401(k)’s are so puny, or because their medical bills, even with Medicare, are so high. Or some delay because their stock portfolios haven’t fully recovered from Wall Street’s swoon five years ago, despite new highs set on the stock market last week — nominal records spurred by low-interest-rate policies that have at the same time hurt retirement savings.

Some baby boomers understand all too well why they are called the sandwich generation: they need to continue working far longer than they intended, either because the bill for sending their children to college is so steep or because the cost of keeping a parent in a nursing home is so high — or both.

Another twist is that many more Americans are living into their late 80s and 90s — and many of them are outliving their retirement savings. Some companies are rushing to plug this hole by offering annuities that don’t begin until age 80 or 85. The retirement picture in the United States has become so fluid that one survey found that while 43 percent of Americans say they can’t wait to retire, 41 percent don’t expect to ever retire at all. .

“There’s no consensus on what retirement is anymore,” said Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes, director of the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College. “We’re starting to rethink it. Truly, today’s grandparents are not like my grandparents. The experience of aging is different. People say, ‘I’m not done yet.’ ”

That’s certainly the case for Leon Burzynski, 71, an electrician for 35 years before retiring from full-time work eight years ago. Mr. Burzynski, a father of seven who lives in Pewaukee, Wis., said his Social Security benefits and $16,000 yearly pension were not enough to pay for living expenses, a secondary health insurance plan and the elder hostel vacations that he and his wife love to take.

So he has taken on two part-time jobs, earning about $4,000 a year doing bookkeeping for several small companies and $6,000 a year helping with returns during the peak tax season at an accounting firm where one of his sons is a managing partner.

“On one hand, I would like not to have to work, and on the other hand, it gives me something to do,” Mr. Burzynski said. “It’s kind of yin and yang. It allows my wife and me to maintain the quality of life that’s consistent with what we’ve always loved — to go to the theater, the symphony and to take trips.”

While retirement has assumed myriad forms across the country, many economists and other experts on retirement see some common, increasingly worrisome trends. A growing number of workers are convinced they will not have a comfortable retirement. A Boston College study in October found that 53 percent of Americans were “at risk” of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living once they retire, up from 30 percent in 1989. A study last May by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 44 percent may not have enough money to meet their basic needs in retirement.

It is well known that many workers live paycheck to paycheck and find it hard to save much for retirement. A result is that one-third of retirees in the United States rely solely on Social Security, with benefits averaging just over $15,000 a year for an individual and $30,000 for a couple.

A generation ago, most workers with employer-based retirement plans were enrolled in traditional pension plans promising a monthly stipend for life after retirement. Now, just 26 percent of all workers are in such pension plans, including 17 percent of private-sector workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most people whose employers offer retirement plans are enrolled in 401(k)’s instead, and 58 percent of workers are not participating in an employer-based retirement plan, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/13/business/retirementspecial/pushing-back-retirement-and-not-always-for-money.html?partner=rss&emc=rss