It’s Not Your Father’s Retirement

Sixty-seven percent of America’s middle-income Baby Boomers expect that their retirement experience will be drastically different from their parents’, a survey by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement found.

The study, “Middle-Income Boomers: Financial Security and the New Retirement,” surveyed 500 middle-income Americans between the ages of 47 and 65 with income between $25,000 and $75,000. Sixty percent said they envied the pensions and guaranteed income that previous generations received.

Rather than expecting to be taken care of by other family members, to slow down and possibly even move to a retirement community, 77% said they are interested in keeping up with technology, 78% want to work, and 81% will work at staying physically fit.

Nearly a third, 31%, expect they will have to financially support another person, and 15% expect that will be their child. Only 9% anticipate having to help an elderly parent.

While 72% of workers of all ages have a workplace retirement savings plan, only 56% of Baby Boomers have this option. Of those who do have a 401(k) or other employer-based savings plan, 24% are not getting a company match. Fourteen percent have nothing saved for retirement, and 55% have saved less than $100,000.

“The retirement of the Baby Boom generation will not only test the limits of government programs such as Medicare and Social Security, but also help shape the definition of retirement itself,” said Scott Perry, president of Bankers life and Casualty. “Boomers may have to take more personal responsibility for their retirement financial security than was the case of their parents’ generation and plan for the risks that may jeopardize this security, like long-term care, inflation and outliving their money.”

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