Study finds retirement age trending upward
Written on July 7, 2011 by Maragaret Harrison
They’re working longer, saving less and are worried about health care.
That’s what Eric Brucker, an economics professor at Widener University, determined in the latest and last round of his “Widener Elder Pennsylvanian Survey: Baby Boomers to Centenarians Vol. VI.”
Since 2007 through March, Brucker has been analyzing results found in telephone surveys of hundreds of adults born before 1964 on a variety of topics from job satisfaction to financial preparations for retirement to health care concerns.
In the most recent edition, 750 Pennsylvanians that meet the age requirement were randomly polled by telephone in March.
The latest survey evaluated the recession’s impact on retirement, public versus private sector retirees and concerns about health care costs.
“There’s no doubt that folks are more worried,” Brucker said of those surveyed four years ago and those questioned this year. “Clearly, they certainly need to be worried. The retired are not doing well.”
Brucker pointed to his finding that 46 percent of retired people reported having a net worth of less than $50,000 and only 11 percent say they’ve done an excellent job saving as much as they had planned.
He said the main reason people didn’t save was because they couldn’t afford it. And the increase in living costs is part of the reason that more have decided to postpone retirement.
His study stated that 42 percent of those working who fit the age parameters of the study expected to be retired at or before they hit the age of 65. Four years ago, 48 percent expected to do the same.
One item that’s been exponentially increasing is health care, as more than two-thirds of study respondents indicated they are worried or very worried about spending all of their money on health care before reaching the age of 75.
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