Most pre retirees plan to extend working years

Among the survey’s key findings:

• Thirty-eight percent of pre retirees expect to retire by ages 65 to 67 while 15 percent do not expect to retire at all. Of the surveyed retirees, nearly 30 percent retired under the age of 55 and another 24 percent retired between ages 55 and 59.
• Forty-one percent of pre retirees plan to stop working for pay all at once, compared with 78 percent of retirees who stopped working for pay all at once. Another 35 percent of pre retirees plan to work for pay part-time or periodically.
• Health problems would be the primary reason for an early retirement, according to 42 percent of the surveyed pre retirees.
• One-quarter of both pre retirees (25 percent) and retirees (27 percent) say disability, or no longer being able to cope with the physical demands of the job, would lead to an early retirement.
• Both the surveyed retirees and pre retirees plan to reduce spending, increase savings and reduce debt to manage retirement risks. More than 90 percent of both pre retirees and retirees plan to eliminate all of their consumer debt.
• A majority of pre retirees (93 percent) plan to save as much money as possible and 88 percent of pre retirees plan to cut back on spending to manage risks.
• Both retirees and pre retirees have a median planning horizon of ten years. Around 45 percent of pre retirees think it is very possible to plan for day-to-day expenses, though they are less likely to plan for other issues in retirement. 

“What is…troubling is that many retirees end up retiring much earlier than planned,” says actuary Anna Rappaport, chair of the SOA’s Committee on Post Retirement Needs and Risks. “In the 2013 survey, pre retirees expect to retire at a median age of 65, but the surveyed retirees had retired at a median age of 58.”

Read the full report here.