Schwab also found that paying off their mortgage was an important goal and milestone in reaching retirement for the majority of boomers. Sixty-three percent of investors aged 50 and older either have paid off their mortgage or are planning to do so before they retire.
However, the difference in the cost of living—and housing—in metropolitan and outlying areas revealed a logical gap, Schwab said: 53% of those who live in less developed areas are more likely to have a mortgage that is paid off compared with 39% of metropolitan residents.
According to the survey results, 84% of boomers have not yet retired and 20% in this age group have no plans to retire.
The Charles Schwab Retirement Survey was conducted by Kelton Research between Feb. 18 and Feb. 27, using Random Digit Dialing of listed and unlisted numbers.
The Charles Schwab Corp. is a leading provider of financial services with more than 300 offices and 8 million client brokerage accounts, 1.4 million corporate retirement plan participants, 710,000 banking accounts, and $1.6 trillion in client assets.
