For a number of reasons, the concept of stopping work completely somewhere around your mid-60s is quickly becoming outdated. For one, people are typically living longer. In 1935, the year Social Security was established, life expectancy for men in the US was about 60, for women, it was about 64. In 2011. it was about 77 for men and about 81 for women. That means Social Security, pension, and other retirement benefits have to be spread a lot thinner than they once were.
“Living for 30 years or even longer without an earned income is impossible,” Rick Edelman, a financial planner, told The Guardian in February. “Even if all you earn [is] $20,000 a year [in your later years], that’s going to have a huge impact on prolonging the lifespan of your money.”
What’s more, a growing number of Americans over age 50 expect to keep working well into their retirement years. In an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted last year, 82 percent of workers 50 and older said that it was at least “somewhat likely” that they would work for pay in retirement. Forty-seven percent of the study’s respondents also said they expect to retire later than they thought they would at age 40.
Still, the rise of part-time and contract work in the US over the past decade or so means there are plenty of varied opportunities for retirees who want to cut back, but not leave the workforce entirely.
