Since Social Security launched in 1940, andlater, Medicare in 1965, the generally accepted retirement agesettled at 65. That's when good employees who spent their lives atone company could—or maybe forced to—kick back and enjoy life.

What a difference a generation makes. Today advisors sayretirement ages and goals are all over the place, depending ontheir clients' financial and career status. The bigger trend,though, is retiring later, according to the Center for RetirementResearch at Boston College.

A small expression of this is the gradual delaying of fullretirement—for employees born between 1943 and 1955—to 66 and forthose born later the age creeps up by months. Employees can takebenefits earlier, but they will be less than the full amount andcould be taxed.

Perhaps a bigger incentive to hold off on collecting SocialSecurity is that since 1972, benefits increase each year you avoidtaking them from 62 to age 70.

“You really improve your retirement prospects by workinglonger,” says Steven Sass, program director of the FinancialSecurity Project at the Center for Retirement Research. “If youretire at 70, your monthly benefit is at least 76 percent higher.It's a crime nobody knows that.”

For him the ideal retirement age would be 67or 68, when a retiree could live on other savings while waiting thetwo to three years for the maximum payout.

Other factors have been pushing the retirement age upward, aswell. That includes the disappearance of defined benefit pensions,which guaranteed retired workers income for life, as well as ahealthier population that is generally living decades beyond age65.

“Today's grandparents aren't sitting on the front porch pouringlemonade and watching the grandkids,” says Pam Dumonceau, the ownerof Consistent Values Inc., a registered investment advisory firm inGreenwood Village, Colo.“They're going skiing with them or to theGrand Canyon. They're far more active than their parents.”

Greater education also has played a big part in delayingretirement, according to the CRR. More of the baby boomergeneration attended college than any previous generation. Thisrelieved them of the manual labor that often sidelined theirparents, but their skills often keep them in demand longer—orwanting to work longer at jobs they enjoy.

“They stay there because make more money and are moreproductive,” Sass says.

Nonetheless, 65 is still the age employees set their sites onprimarily because that's when Medicare kicks in.

“I frequently work with baby boomers who would have retired intheir early 60s if they were eligible for Medicare,” says LarryLuxenberg, a financial advisor in New City, N.Y.

Nonetheless, there are so many ways and means to retirement thatmany think there is no set retirement age anymore. That's at leastthe viewpoint of Laura Gilman, president of LGA Financial inLosAngeles. “People think it's 65, but some people work into their90s. It all depends on where employees are in their career, whetherthey like their job and their happiness level. There's no longerone age.”

For example, some employees are targeting a specific pension fortheir retirement date.

“I have a client, a judge who doesn't get full job-relatedbenefits until she's 70,” says Ken Waltzer of Kenfield CapitalStrategies in Los Angeles.

Many clients find themselves wanting to down shift in their 60s,and so are creating a semi-retirement, Dumonceau says. Oftencompanies will be flexible with hours and benefits to keepexperienced workers. Dumonceau says she had a client who wasworking in health care and wanted to work part-time to help withher cash flow.

“She was sure they wouldn't do part-time, so we put together aretirement plan for her,” Dumonceau says.

But when the client went in to retire, the firm asked her if shewould stay on part-time. In this way, many advisors report thattheir clients see retirement as a transition rather than adeadline.

“They're not jumping off the cliff but rolling down the hill toretirement,” says Barry Glassman, of Glassman Wealth Services inMcLean, Va.

Another reason people are working longer is because the crash of2008 left many people gun-shy, says Ken Waltzer of Kenfield CapitalStrategies in LA.

“Many people who retired then got a rude awakening and went backto work because they won't have enough money,” Waltzer says.

The dream of retiring in their 50s is far less common now, headds. They wait longer because fears of the bear market cause themto believe they can afford to retire anytime soon.          

Other woes delaying retirement indefinitely is the need for manyboomers to care for their parents and their children who may besaddled with college debt and poor job prospects.

“The retirement age has moved back because of rising health carecosts, rising living expenses, and new factors such as kids stillon the payroll,” says Taylor Gang, a financial planner at Evensky& Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. “Boomers have to take care ofelderly parents, too. That can be a game changer.”

Gang deems a client's retirement age to be their moment offinancial independence.

“It's based on your spending and your net need,” Gang says. Forexample, financial independence is achieved when a client whospends $100,000 a year, gets $30,000 from social security andproduces more than $70,000 [from savings or some other source]annually with ease.

His firm uses the “bucket method” where cash is meted out over asafe time horizon to keep clients going.

“The bucket method has two advantages: we harvest cash returnsopportunistically so we're selling high and buying low,” he says.And clients are less focused on the managed portfolio andpotentially scary market returns.

The bucket is implemented in reality about a year to two yearsahead of when clients actually retire. If a couple makes $100,000but only spends $85,000, the balance is redirected to thebuckets.

Of course, clients' biggest fear “is running out of money,”Waltzer says. “When I do the planning, I try to create a fairlyhigh success rate and use a longer life span than most people.”

For example, not too long ago Waltzer drafted a plan for a33-year-old, but extended his life span to 105. This might not beunrealistic given the pace of medical development and the healthconsciousness of younger clients. But to Waltzer, the extended agewas one way to create a cushion. He also works out plans that havea 90 percent “Monte Carlosuccess rate.”

The bottom line, experts say, is that a lot of the oldretirement rules don't apply. The situations vary as much as theclients. Like other advisors, though, Luxenberg finds clients arealways far more surprised that they have enough to retire than thatthey have too little.

“Two spouses with modest pensions can be making $150,000 inretirement,” he says.

Illustration by David Senior