The traditional view of a work-free retirement is fast becoming a relic of prior generations. In the 2022 Retirement Confidence Survey by Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 70% of workers expected their paychecks to be a source of retirement income.
The benefits of continuing to work are clear. You can keep contributing to your retirement account as you delay your retirement contributions. Working longer may also allow you to put off collecting Social Security – which will give you a higher benefit later. Unfortunately, working deep into your retirement years may not be a realistic plan, as the researchers discovered. Your body – or fate – may have a different plan.
The same EBRI survey asked retirees to weigh in on their experiences with work in retirement. More than three-quarters of retirees (78%) said they weren’t using work as a source of income. Further, 47% of retirees admitted to retiring earlier than expected. Of that group, a large majority linked their early retirement to circumstances outside their control. Specifically:
– 32% retired earlier due to illness
– 33% retired earlier due to corporate downsizing or restructuring
– 13% retired earlier to care for a spouse or family member
– 7% retired earlier because their skills no longer matched their jobs
