In 1991, 35% of employees were participating in defined benefit pension plans. By 2005 that number had fallen to 21%. In March of 2018 only 17% of American employees had access to some sort of defined benefit pension plan. Companies are getting rid of their defined benefit pension plans, fast. If you rely on your company to save for you, it's time for a dose of reality, you must save for yourself, because no one else will. Pensioners from legacy companies Sears and Xerox are watching as their benefits are being stripped away. Around 100,000 pensioners from Sears are hoping the Pension … [Read more...]
How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Part IV
When Laura Sexton retired as a senior chief hospital corpsman in the US Navy, she applied her Navy skills to her new job: Lead ski-run groomer and snowcat operator at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Park City. According to Sexton,” writes Nancy L. Anderson in Forbes “the Navy uses a three-step approach to learning anything that could serve us all well: See it, Do it, Teach someone else. First, you physically observe how to complete a task as it is explained (see). Second, you perform the task (do). Then, show someone else how to do it (teach).” The article continues: Many people want to (or need … [Read more...]
How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Part III
In my series this week about retirees working through retirement I told you first that 79% of retirees expect to keep working in retirement, but many find out that they cannot. Then I told you that 73% of Americans 50 and over are planning to delay retirement altogether. Now I'm turning the focus away from America's Baby Boomers, previously the nation's largest generation, to Millennials who are now America's largest generational cohort. Millennials are people born between 1981 and 1991 (though definitions vary). They are well educated, but thanks to a variety of factors, they are getting a … [Read more...]
How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Part II
Of Americans aged 50 and over who are still working, 31% haven't even prepared a retirement budget. Of that same group 73% prepare to delay retirement according to a survey performed by the NHP Foundation. Many of the people in this group, encompassing many Baby Boomers but also some older Gen-Xers, are wishful thinking. Lee Barney writes for Plan Adviser: Thirty-one percent haven’t prepared a retirement budget. Among those that have tried to figure out a retirement budget, 62% say that Social Security will comprise half or more of their monthly income. Sixty-five percent have not budgeted … [Read more...]
How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?
The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) reports that 79% of workers expect to keep working to supplement their retirement incomes. That's a plan for those who haven't saved enough to enjoy their golden years. But what happens if you can't work in retirement? At the Washington Post, Michelle Singletary explains what happens when retirees who expected to work more, simply can't. Yes, more seniors are staying in the workforce past 65 and happily so. But many others are finding themselves in a retirement quandary. They thought they had more time, but the reality is they are forced to … [Read more...]