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(NAPSI)-As the median age of Americans rises and more baby boomers prepare for important decisions--like when to take Social Security and when to exit the workplace--a new study called the Sun Life Financial Unretirement Index is finding that many of the traditional attitudes about retirement no longer apply. For example, almost half (48 percent) of the American workforce believes it will still be working at age 67--and four of the five top reasons given were not financial in nature. Instead, the most cited reason for continuing to work (83 percent) was "to stay mentally engaged." The Sun Life Financial Unretirement Index is a first-of-its-kind measure to track the changing attitudes and expectations American workers have regarding retirement. The Index gauges how economic, financial and societal forces are impacting working Americans' perceptions of their ability to retire, and as these factors and other market forces change, whether workers believe they will have a "traditional" retirement or will enter the ranks of the "unretired." Unretirement is defined as working at least 20 hours per week after the age when one is eligible to receive full Social Security benefits. "As our workforce evolves and attitudes are impacted by economic
conditions and world events, the nature of retirement in Nearly 40 percent of workers surveyed with household assets of more than $500K still plan to work at least part time, while overall, more than 77 percent of those planning to work beyond age 67 will do so to earn enough money to live well. The Index also examined a broad array of factors including economics, health care, personal finance and government benefits and their potential impact on Americans' plans for retirement. It found that only 46 percent of those surveyed are "very confident" that they will have enough money to take care of basic living expenses at the traditional retirement age of 67. Only 28 percent are "very confident" that they will be able to take care of medical expenses and 26 percent are "not at all confident" that they will be able to do so. To learn more about the Unretirement Index, visit the Web site at www.unretirementindex.com. More and more Americans plan to "unretire" and continue to work past age 67. |
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