Retire At 60: Many Americans Giving Up On Golden Years

The goal to retire at 60 may not be an achievable goal for many Americans. According to a report to be released Friday by the Conference Board, nearly two-thirds of Americans between the ages of 45 and 60 say they plan to delay retirement, with some thinking they’ll never be able to enjoy their golden years.

The 2012 survey of 15,000 participants found that those planning to delay their plans to retire at 60 are doing so because of “financial losses, layoffs and income stagnation sustained during the last few years of recession and recovery.” As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the US economy just had a pullback this past financial quarter. Even though the unemployment rate is down from its 2009 recession peak, the housing market is improving, and the stock markets recovered most of their losses, many American workers expect to stay on the job because they used up much of their savings during the lean years.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Kevin Cahill, an economist at the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College, says that having senior workers is a good thing for employers:

“Keeping older Americans in the work force is a good thing. Those workers have more financial security, employers have a larger labor pool to draw from, and we have more people to produce goods and services. There may be bumps like the recent contraction in the labor market, but we need to look beyond the short term.”

For those still looking to retire at 60 the Financial Post has several “commandments” that they recommend for meeting your goal. First, they say save money when things are good, but spend within a budget when things are hard. Look to the 30 year long term in the stock markets since overall they tend to go up; a 7.5 percent annual return will not you twice as much money as you started with. Watch the tax laws. For example, many of the new taxes desired by Obama and the Democrats led many to cash out their investments before the new laws went into effect in 2013. Lastly, do not panic; plan your retirement investments carefully.

Did you have plans to retire at 60 that were dashed by the realities of the great recession?