POLL: half of older workers delay retirement plans

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AGING_AMERICA_DELAYING_RETIREMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-10-14-06-27-19

CHICAGO (AP) -- Stung by a recession that sapped investments and home values, but expressing widespread job satisfaction, older Americans appear to have accepted the reality of a retirement that comes later in life and no longer represents a complete exit from the workforce. Some 82 percent of working Americans over 50 say it is at least somewhat likely they will work for pay in retirement, according to a poll released Monday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey found 47 percent of working survey respondents now expect to retire later than they previously thought and, on average, plan to call it quits at about 66, or nearly three years later than their estimate when they were 40. Men, racial minorities, parents of minor children, those earning less than $50,000 a year and those without health insurance were more likely to put off their plans.

"Many people had experienced a big downward movement in their 401(k) plans, so they're trying to make up for that period of time when they lost money," said Olivia Mitchell, a retirement expert who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.

About three-quarters of working respondents said they have given their retirement years some or a great deal of thought. When considering factors that are very or extremely important in their retirement decisions, 78 percent cited financial needs, 75 percent said health, 68 percent their ability to do their job and 67 percent said their need for employer benefits such as health insurance.

[Victor_c3]

1. My parents have given up on retirement

Prior to the collapse, they had big plans of selling their restaurant that they had been running for 35ish years and retiring in a little house in the woods down south somewhere. Now, they realize that will probably never happen.

[davidpdx]

2. My mom just turned 65 and got her medicare card in the mail

She's putting off retirement until she is 67. Thankfully she's in good health and can work. The stress is awful though as the hospital she worked for used to be one of two in the town where I grew up. Those two merged and then merged with the larger hospital. Now the company is a network of hospitals, labs, clinics, etc. Of course when this all happened the hospital consolidated the departments. The office she has been in has moved four times in 20 years and she's been there through it all.

On top of that it may not be over, there is talk of an even bigger hospital buying this company down the road. Of course when that happens lots of jobs will be gone.

[Javaman]

3. Retirement? that the hell is that?

I just bought a burial plot, it's called my desk.