Want to Live Happily to 100? Start Planning Now, Study Suggests

Following are the four paths identified in the research. 

Purposeful Pathfinders: These retirees enjoy the greatest sense of well-being. They are happy, engaged and productive and are making a contribution in an area they consider important. They are best prepared for life in retirement; 78% reported that they are in excellent shape financially. They began saving for retirement earlier than all the other groups, on average at age 34.

Relaxed Traditionalists: This group pursues a more traditional retirement of rest and relaxation, having had a smooth transition and being well-prepared. Eighty-one percent retired when they chose, and while they are the most open to relocating, they have fewer aspirations for personal growth or giving back than Purposeful Pathfinders.

Challenged Yet Hopefuls: These retirees are active and have focused on self-improvement, but their lives in retirement are constrained and uncertain because of insufficient financial preparation. Half said they often worry about outliving their money, and this taints nearly all their future hopes. They began saving for retirement later than all the other groups, at age 45, and 54% with retirement accounts have made early withdrawals along the way.

Regretful Strugglers: These challenged individuals, the largest of the four groups, are the least prepared for retirement, are the unhappiest and overall feel the least positive about life. Forty-three percent reported that they are financially worse off in retirement than during their working years. Fifty-nine percent said they have many regrets in life, and 42% felt that life has dealt them a lousy hand.    

"We are witnessing the birth of a new retirement with unique stages and journey paths for everyone," Age Wave's founder and chief executive, Ken Dychtwald, said in the statement. "Successful retirees have enjoyed a mostly positive, satisfying life and are looking forward to the years ahead." 

Dychtwald suggested that their emotional intelligence and hard-earned resilience can provide important guidance as tomorrow's retirees make plans to fulfill their hopes and dreams for retirement.

Early Action Is Key

Edward Jones and Age Wave said the research makes clear that retirees who reported better quality of life took more steps decades in advance to prepare and plan across all the four pillars of finances, purpose, family and health. 

The two firms laid out several steps pre-retirees and those early in retirement can take to make the most of their retirement.

Financial foresight is key, as the traditional three-legged stool for funding retirement — pensions, Social Security and personal savings — has become even wobblier, and unexpected expenses can arise in retirement. 

Working Americans must double down on the third leg of the stool: saving. According to the study, retirees said they started saving for retirement at age 38 on average, but in retrospect, they should have started saving nearly a decade earlier, at age 29. 

Besides saving, other important pre-retirement actions to take include tending to ongoing health and preventive care, discussing retirement plans and goals with family and friends, and beginning or expanding volunteering activity. 

They should also work with a financial advisor, who can help interpret current market conditions and develop a holistic financial plan to better financially prepare for a 100-year life span, as well as the expenses that come with it.