By
Washington
In the year 2011, the first of the baby boomers will reach age 65 and retire. Some boomers will have retired early.
This will be just the beginning of what William Novelli predicted will be the nations rolling retirement.
The chief executive officer and executive director of AARP, Washington, Novelli keynoted the annual meeting here of National Association for Variable Annuities, Reston, Va.
Due to the graying of America, retirement is becoming as big an issue as youthfulness was in the 1950s and 1960s, when the baby boomers were children, he told the audience.
The boomer generation will change the nature of retirement in America, he predicted. They wont just retire, he said, "they will reinvent retirement."
For example, boomers have various options to consider in retirementteaching, volunteering, new types of work, travel, etc., he noted. Which options they choose will depend on their health, financial situation, the economy and many other factors, Novelli said.
Where financial matters are concerned, developing "financial literacy" among boomers is "imperative," he declared.
Factors that are propelling the new retirement lifestyle include the fact that boomers "are not as worn out" as former retirees were, according to Novelli. Throughout their lives, many boomers did "more brain work than back work," he explained.