Thanks to everyone who answered the poll on when you have or expect to be able to retire. The biggest takeaway is that 1 in 4 never expect to be able to retire.
Full results:
Retire before 65: 20%
At 65: 20%
At 70: 20%
At 75: 4%
Over 75: 8%
Never: 25%
(Total does not equal 100 due to rounding.)
This underscores just how dire our retirement crisis will be. As I explained in my last post, the decline in defined benefit pensions from 38% of private sector workers in 1980 to 20% in 2008 means that Generation X will be particularly vulnerable to poverty in retirement, yet Republicans want to kill Social Security and Medicare. We see their efforts as well to eliminate defined benefit pensions for public sector workers.
Baby boomers, especially younger ones, will not be exempt from the crisis. But Generation X and beyond will be the hardest hit. More on the retirement crisis soon.
Not being able to afford to retire is going to be a real bitch when they 'find' a reason to can you and hire a young person in your place and then you can't find another job because of age discrimination. I fear there will be lots of us poor old unemployed folks living under bridges...
ReplyDeleteThat's certainly been a danger for people laid off during the recession when they are over 50 years old. No new job, scrape by (often burning through savings) until early retirement or early Social Security, and have reduced benefits the rest of their life. It's a scary future for a lot of people.
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