Boomers to put off retiring, since they have to
MSNBC, June 12th, 2007
As the baby boomers begin to ease into their 60s, most expect to delay retirement longer than their parents or grandparents.
That’s good, because many can’t afford to stop working anytime soon.
Two
new reports portray aging boomers as better educated, with higher
incomes and longer life expectancies than the generations that preceded
them. They also have fewer children and are less likely to be married,
leaving them with fewer options if they need help in their old age.
“That one child they had will be very valuable,” said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.
Frey
is releasing a report Tuesday that says higher rates of divorce and
separation could result in greater financial hardship for aging baby
boomers. In 1980, about two-thirds of Americans age 55 to 64 lived in
married-couple households. That percentage fell to less than 58 percent
in 2005.
Americans
had been retiring at ever-younger ages since the growth of private
pensions and Social Security began more than 50 years ago. However, the
retirement trend appears to be reversing.
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