A business reporter from The News will field your questions each week about a given topic. See more coverage on our Business page.
On Sept. 23, 2002, Jennifer Chamberlain wrote about financial planners taking a new tack in investing called life planning.
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Q: The oldest of the baby boomers will be eligible to collect Social Security as early as 2008. That’s when they turn 62. What do the experts expect will happen? Are boomers going to follow the practice of past generations and take that option? Or do they have something else in mind?
MOOS: A fair number of boomers no doubt will call it quits early. But a number of recent studies suggest that baby boomers aren’t going gently into retirement. In fact, a study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research has found that men and women in their 50s today are much more likely than earlier groups of fiftysomethings to say they will be delaying retirement until after 65. Another report, by AARP, asked 1,200 boomers about their expectations for retirement and found that about 80 percent plan to work in some capacity during retirement.
Q: What’s the cause for boomer's commitment to work? Are they more industrious than their parents? Are they reviving the Puritan work ethic?
MOOS: Boomers are a diverse lot, so the reasons for their delayed retirement vary. Some plan to remain on their jobs out of economic necessity. Many took a beating when the market tumbled several years ago, so they no longer have the retirement nest eggs they once did. In working on a story on this topic this week, I spoke with a number of older individuals who continue to work in order to pay for their high medical costs. One women who’s 67 said her out-of-pocket medical expenses consume about a third of her income, so she has no choice but to supplement her Social Security check with a paycheck. That’s likely to become even more common among boomers, whose generation hasn’t been known as big savers.
Other boomers, though, want to continue working beyond the traditional retirement age for the joy and satisfaction they derive from a job well done. There is a whole industry emerging to tell boomers how to do that. Everywhere you look, you’ll find books, Web sites and newspaper stories on how boomers can have the best of both worlds - work and retirement. One I particularly recommend is Marika and Howard Stone’s just-published book, “Too Young to Retire: 101 Ways to Start the Rest of Your Life.” The Stones (who also have a Web site, 2young2retire.com) walk readers through a variety of retirement alternatives. The Stones are an interesting story themselves - they retired early and discovered the “golden years” were boring. So they have returned to the workforce - he as a motivational speaker and she as the editorial director of their Web site.
Q: So boomers aren’t necessarily thinking about working full-time after the traditional retirement age?
MOOS: Boomers want to continue working, but on their own terms. They want “post-retirement” jobs that aren’t as stressful as their careers were. They want jobs that allow them to pursue their personal interests. And it’s a safe bet that many will be able to do so. That may seem strange, given how difficult it is for older workers to find jobs - any jobs - at the moment. But economists predict that employers will become more willing to accommodate older workers in the years ahead, as the economy begins to face a labor shortage. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortfall of 10 million workers in the United States by the end of this decade. There won’t be nearly enough young people entering the workforce to compensate for the large number of baby boomers leaving it. So those boomers who do want to remain in the labor force are likely to be welcomed.
Q: As boomers stay in the workforce longer, will ageism wither away and die?
MOOS: That remains to be seen. But best-selling author and “Age Wave” guru Ken Dychtwald, who testified before the Senate aging committee this week, had an interesting comment about the age discrimination taking place in some businesses today. Looking ahead to the job shortages anticipated in some fast-growing technical fields, he said, “Ageism may be causing many managers to march their companies or organizations straight off a demographic cliff. …We must realize that in this new era, people don’t suddenly lose the talent and experience gained over a lifetime at the flip of a switch. It’s not good business to push people out the door just because outdated policies say it’s time.” It’s time, he said, to “retire retirement.”
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