Workers Postpone Their Retirement Plans

Fifty-six percent of workers plan to work past age 65 and 54 percent said they plan to continue working after they retire, according to a recent survey.

The survey, by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, polled more than 3,600 American workers and found that only 39 percent of them believe they are building a sufficient nest egg for retirement.

For the past few years, the annual Transamerica Retirement Survey has seen an emerging trend of workers who plan to work past age 65, including some workers who do not plan to retire. This year's survey found that these expectations are prevalent to varying degrees among workers of all age ranges, not just older workers.

"American workers are adjusting their expectations of retirement, including working past age 65 and planning to work part-time in retirement," said Transamerica Center president Catherine Collinson in a statement. "American workers have reshaped their vision of retirement, now it's time to provide an updated roadmap to help them achieve retirement income to last throughout their lifetime."

The survey found that 57 percent of the workers polled have a retirement strategy, including 12 percent who have a written plan and 45 percent who have a plan that is not written down. Of those with any form of strategy, only 15 percent have factored in contingency plans for retiring sooner than expected and/or savings shortfalls. Among all workers, many still leave their future retirements up to guesswork; when asked how they estimated their savings needs for retirement, 47 percent admitted to guessing.

A significant majority of 84 percent of the workers polled prefers a do-it-yourself decision-making style regarding saving and investing for retirement, including 49 percent of workers who seek advice but make their own final decisions and 35 percent who do their own research and make their own decisions. Despite these decision making styles, 70 percent of the workers surveyed agree that they do not know as much as they should about retirement investing.

Thirty-four percent of the workers surveyed cited "friends and family" as a source of information about retirement. Nearly one in three workers (29 percent) expects to financially support their family members, other than spouses or partners, after they retire, while 13 percent expect to receive financial support from family in retirement. In contrast, only 10 percent discuss retirement planning frequently with family and friends and 27 percent never discuss retirement at all.

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