‘I’ll Never Retire’: Americans Break Record for Working Past 65

[donnay]

‘I’ll Never Retire’: Americans Break Record for Working Past 65

Ben Steverman
May 13, 2016 — 5:57 AM EDT

Almost 20 percent of Americans 65 and older are now working, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the most older people with a job since the early 1960s, before the U.S. enacted Medicare.



Because of the huge baby boom generation that is just now hitting retirement age, the U.S. has the largest number of older workers ever.

When asked to describe their plans for retirement, 27 percent of Americans said they will “keep working as long as possible,” a 2015 Federal Reserve study found. Another 12 percent said they don’t plan to retire at all.

Why are more people putting off retirement?
They need the money

Three in five retirees surveyed by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies said making money or earning benefits was at least one reason they had retired later than they planned to. Almost half said financial problems were their main reason for working past 65.

The financial crisis, and the tech bust before it, devastated many baby boomers' retirement savings. That's if they had any to begin with. Today, 60 percent of U.S. households have no money in a 401(k) or similar retirement account, and the benefits of 401(k)s are skewed toward the wealthiest Americans, a recent report by the Government Accountability Office found.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...orking-past-65

[timosman]

The retirement plan for most Americans? Death.

[tod evans]

This ought to piss off the younger generations, you know our kids......

The ones we supported who now can't find work that'll let them start their own families...

The same kids who keep parroting how cheap China goods are good for society, how such things "raise our standard of living".....

[Carlybee]

I'll be working until I drop dead.

[heavenlyboy34]

Meh. That was the norm before the Industrial Revolution. Life expectancy is much longer than it used to be, so I don't see working longer as "bad". I'll be working till I die myself. Don't have time for retirin' while I'm alive. :P

[erowe1]

This is basically good news I think.

[phill4paul]

I thought this was the "norm?"

[donnay]

[Zippyjuan]

Some work longer because they live longer. Some work longer because they want to (and it helps keep them busy or just like their job). Some work longer because they cannot afford to retire.

[oyarde]

I am never going back to work .

[TheTexan]

It's a good thing we pay into social security so we can retire

[oyarde]

It's a good thing we pay into social security so we can retire

I have been asking them for mine back , lump sum.

[heavenlyboy34]

I have been asking them for mine back , lump sum.

What was their response?

[phill4paul]

I am never going back to work .

Nor will I. But, I'd bet you will do "stuff" for a fair "trade."

[Zippyjuan]

What was their response?

They offered a few lumps?

[oyarde]

Nor will I. But, I'd bet you will do "stuff" for a fair "trade."

Yep , busy most days .

[angelatc]

Meh. That was the norm before the Industrial Revolution. Life expectancy is much longer than it used to be, so I don't see working longer as "bad". I'll be working till I die myself. Don't have time for retirin' while I'm alive. :P

This. Up until Social Security, the idea of stopping production once you hit a certain age was unheard of.

[sam1952]

Meh. That was the norm before the Industrial Revolution. Life expectancy is much longer than it used to be, so I don't see working longer as "bad". I'll be working till I die myself. Don't have time for retirin' while I'm alive. :P

"if I live to long I'm afraid I'll die" ~ The Kinks

[Zippyjuan]

This. Up until Social Security, the idea of stopping production once you hit a certain age was unheard of.

Of course when Social Security was started in 1935 life expectancy for men was only about 59 years for men and for women 64.

[angelatc]

Of course when Social Security was started in 1935 life expectancy for men was only about 59 years for men and for women 64.

What's your point here? The average life expectancy was only 59, but that still means half of all men lived longer than that. And I am fairly confident that the advances in medicine have more to do with longevity than SS.

[Zippyjuan]

Meaning most were dead before they got the option to retire and collect social security.

[heavenlyboy34]

What's your point here? The average life expectancy was only 59, but that still means half of all men lived longer than that. And I am fairly confident that the advances in medicine have more to do with longevity than SS.

Not all averages are median average, you know.

[MelissaWV]

This. Up until Social Security, the idea of stopping production once you hit a certain age was unheard of.

Kind of. It was more about switching to doing something else, which is healthy but it's still work. Elders would move in with family and help with the kids, or they'd "retire" but stick around to help whomever was taking over the business. There wasn't too long for them to do it for, but there was certainly acknowledgement that you might not be able to work in your career after a certain point.

Of course when Social Security was started in 1935 life expectancy for men was only about 59 years for men and for women 64.

And with the elimination of some of the things that made an early death a bit more likely, people are also working until later in life. They're also starting employment much later. There are several new-to-college sorts around here who are at their first job at 18, which is crazy to me. Things change.

[oyarde]

I had a full time job @ 15. I suppose these days kids start looking for work @ 22 , so that is interesting .

[angelatc]

Not all averages are median average, you know.

I thought about that before I posted it, but I do seem to recall that that particular age statistic is indeed based on average, not median or mode. But I didn't look it up and could be wrong.

[DamianTV]

I had a full time job @ 15. I suppose these days kids start looking for work @ 22 , so that is interesting .

Ditto.

One big problem is there are simply not enough good paying jobs to go around. People get stuck having to work until they die because the jobs that are available to them do not pay well enough to afford any form of retirement as an opportunity. It may be possible to employ everyone right now, but they would all have to be minimum wage jobs. Alternatively, we could have good paying jobs, but then a lot of people would have no job at all. The result is at 65, (or 69 or 74 or whatever age is the new "retirement age"), a person may not have a job, thus, there is no job to retire from. If they do have a job, they cant afford to leave that job.

I remember back during the last Crash there was a proposal to lower the retirement age from 65 to 55 (or there about) to "create" jobs for the young. Just like "wealth distribution", it would not have actually created anything. More like "job redistribution", another form of "wealth distribution".

The real solution would be to get govt out of retirement and allow people to open their own businesses. But we know how that goes. Collect rainwater = go to jail. New mom and pop businesses are strangled out of existence due to govt interference. Lemonade Stand = go to jail. Existing businesses and protectionism make opening a new business so hard that we now have fewer businesses created than are closing every year. This is offset by the size of the mega corporations who employ a greater percentage of the population, and even that isnt so great since they want to pay jack $#@!, and jack left town. Layoffs are coming back as strong as they were in 2008, and every time a person gets laid off, they get kicked right back to the bottom of the ladder. Over the course of a persons lifetime, many end their careers at the bottom of the ladder because people are disposable to Corporations.

As always, Corporations blame their victims. The very notion of retirement in the next 20 years may very well be dead.

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The Dismal Retirement Picture For America's Older Generation
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-0...der-generation



Theres a bunch of charts like this on the link...

[Pauls' Revere]

I'll be working until I drop dead.

The joke at work is: When are you leaving? "In a box".