Workers are retiring earlier than planned
Posted on 15 July 2009
By Mark Miller
Permanent URL of this article: http://retirementrevised.com/money/workers-are-retiring-earlier-than-planned
When it comes to retirement plans, people say one thing but doing another. The Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) compared the dates when workers said they planned to retire with the actual dates they left their jobs. EBRI found a a sizable gap between worker expectations on retirement dates compared with actual experience.
EBRI’s research shows that a large proportion of retirees leave the work force earlier than planned–47 percent in 2009. The top reasons cited include:
–Health problems or disability (42 percent);
–Changes at their company, such as downsizing or closure (34 percent);
–A need to care for a spouse or another family member (18 percent).
–Others say work-related reasons (22 percent) or outdated skills (13 percent) played a role.
–Some retirees mention a mix of positive and negative reasons for retiring early, but just 10 percent offer only positive reasons.
There’s an important retirement planning message in the data. There are all kinds of great reasons to stay on the job as long as possible as a way to boost your retirement security, including higher Social Security benefits and returns on retirement investment accounts. But you can’t necessarily count on that happening.
Here’s some detail from EBRI’s 2009 Retirement Confidence Survey on planned vs. actual retirement dates.
