Baby boomers could be in for a rude awakening when they retire—they’re planning on working once they hit retirement age, but they’re overestimating both potential pay and job flexibility.

That’s according to a new study from the Bankers Life Center for a Secure Retirement titled “New Expectations, New Rewards: Work in Retirement for Middle-Income Boomers,” which found that although 60 percent of boomers are planning on that after-retirement job, and more than half of nonretirees say they’re willing to take a pay cut to have it, their expectations are too high.

Read: Workers' income falls after 50

Only a fifth (21 percent) said they’d be willing to take a lot less in hourly pay, while 26 percent don’t intend to take a pay cut at all. But, according to retiree respondents in the study, those declarations just aren’t realistic

The good thing is that 80 percent of retired boomers who are working say it was very easy or somewhat easy to find a job. The bad news is that the money just isn’t there. Among retirees who are currently working, more than half (53 percent) are making a lot less per hour now than they were before they retired.

And that’s tough, considering that 39 percent of boomers working in retirement are doing so because they can’t afford not to—and 69 percent of those who have already retired when they didn’t want to said ill health (39 percent), a layoff (19 percent), or the need to care for a loved one (9 percent) made them do it.

If that’s not discouraging enough, there’s the whole flexibility thing, with 94 percent of boomers who haven’t yet left their primary workplace wanting something other than standard working hours, such as flex time (56 percent), telecommuting (20 percent), a compressed work schedule (17 percent), or even sharing a job with someone else (14 percent). However, only a little over a third of retirees who are presently working (37 percent) have any of those accommodations.

Instant Insights /

Working after retirement? Beware of high expectations

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