More Americans plan to delay retirement: surveys
Reuters, October 23rd, 2009
More Americans plan to delay retirement following steep drops in the
value of their savings accounts, data from several new surveys show.
A study to be released on Thursday by Canadian insurer Sun Life
Financial Inc found 65 percent of U.S. workers plan to stay on the job
at least one more year than planned, an 11 percentage point increase
from a similar survey in January.
"There is a huge drop in confidence that has taken place," because
of the fall of stock markets since 2007, Wes Thompson, president of Sun
Life's U.S. division, told Reuters in an interview. At the same time,
longer life expectancies mean individuals need to build up more savings
before they stop working.
"It's not retire at 65, get ready to die at 70," Thompson said.
The survey was conducted in September of 2009, when stock markets had already begun their recovery.
Also, a forthcoming study by Prudential Financial Inc found that 66
percent of respondents over the age of 45 said they may need to work
longer than expected to afford retirement.
And a recent survey by mutual fund giant Vanguard Group Inc of
Pennsylvania found that 45 percent of American investors said putting
off retirement was "possible" and the figure was nine percent points
higher among people in their fifties.
It was the first year Vanguard has done the survey and the results
were a striking reminder of the psychological impact of market
declines, said Steve Utkus, head of Vanguard's Center for Retirement
Research.
"There's this idea that more work is a way to remedy market losses or lack of savings," he said.
An obvious follow-up question he plans to explore is whether
investors who do not plan to work longer feel they still have enough
for a comfortable retirement -- or whether they have simply lowered
their expectations.
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