Not only are they planning on retiring later, but Americans still in the workplace are expecting that their retirement will be filled with … work. Why? Most say they can't afford to do otherwise.
That's according to the Northwestern Mutual 2015 Planning & Progress Study, which found that working Americans expect to retire at age 68. That's a full 10 years later than those currently retired managed to leave their jobs behind.
In addition, 62 percent of those who expect to stay in the workplace past the age of 65 say it will be out of necessity—because they can't afford to do anything else. And 79 percent say their top worries are insufficient savings and a lack of confidence in social safety nets, such as Social Security. Fifty-three percent are also worried about increasing costs—health care among them.
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And they're not an overly optimistic bunch, either, about how they'll feel once they finally leave the workplace. Although 80 percent of those already retired say they're happy in their retirement, just 68 percent of workers anticipate being happy in their own retirement.
Of course, that could be because only slightly more than half (52 percent) think they're going to be able to maintain their quality of life in retirement. (Among current retirees, 61 percent say they've been able to do that—not a landslide, but more than those hoping to do so in the future.) Then there's the element of the unknown: 72 percent are anticipating "unexpected situations" in retirement—no word on what they are, but they don't sound good.
And it's not as if those future retirees are even expecting to be fully retired when they're finally out of the office. Although 79 percent of current retirees say they're completely retired—up from 72 percent in last year's study—only 12 percent of workers feel they'll do likewise.
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