Who doesn't have great dreams for their retirement, grandiose plans for what they're going to do with all that free time?
Well, folks, you might as well put those dreams on hold, because most of us are apparently only going one place after we retire: Right back to work.
According to a recent survey released by Putnam Investments entitled "The Working Retired," that much-anticipated phase of life that is retirement is increasingly proving to be nothing more than a very brief hiatus for much of America's working population. The survey found that seven million previously retired Americans returned to work for pay after a non-working hiatus that averaged only 1.5 years.
The number of working retired is only going to increase in the coming years, says David Tyrie, director of retirement services at Putnam. The survey states that 67% of the current workforce aged 40 or older plans to resume working after they retire, and in most cases, it is not because people want to, but because they feel they have to. "There are those who want to go back to work, and then there are those who have to," Tyrie says, and this should serve as a wake-up call to all. "If you have the money you need for your retirement, you are all set, and you are happy. If not–well, that's why people return to work."
Indeed, the fear of not having enough cash to fund the high costs of retirement (healthcare in particular) is pushing many people to rejoin the workforce, Tyrie says. Granted, many of us are still able-bodied and mentally sharp at the age of 65, and therefore perfectly equipped to take on full-time work, and many of us probably even want to return to work. "You're going to see more and more people returning to work after they retire because they haven't saved enough," he continues.
According to Tyrie, the main reason why people who return to work after they retire have not saved enough is because they do not have an adequate retirement plan in place. Certainly, the group surveyed by Putnam is in a advantageous situation vis-?? 1/2 -vis a large percentage of the American workforce, earning on average $87,000, per annum, a wage that is 60% higher than that of traditional non-working retirees (in their post-retirement jobs, though, these people make less than they did before). The working retired are, in general, also about twice as likely to have a college degree, but surprisingly, over half (60%) still carry a mortgage, a large percentage for people in their sixties and even seventies.
