Visions of retirement 4

Many Workers Prefer to Transition into Retirement at Current Employer. When thinking about working past age 65 or working while transitioning into retirement, about half of workers would prefer to stay with their current employer (52 percent). Baby Boomers (63 percent) are significantly more likely to prefer this, compared with Generation X and Millennials (both 47 percent). In contrast, Millennials are more likely to expect to either change employers or start their own business while transitioning into retirement (both 24 percent), compared with Generation X (16 percent for both) and Baby Boomers (15 and 8 percent, respectively). Approximately one in five workers across generations is not sure how their employment-related scenarios will look when transitioning into retirement.

Reasons for Working in Retirement Include Financial and Health. Among workers who are or plan to work in retirement and/or past age 65, somewhat more would do so for financial reasons (80 percent) than for healthy-ageing reasons (72 percent). The top financial reason is that workers want the income (53 percent), while the top healthy-ageing reason is to be active (47 percent).

Generations Share Common Reasons for Working in Retirement. Across generations, workers who are or plan to work in retirement and/or past age 65 more frequently cite financial reasons than healthy-ageing reasons for doing so. Millennials have the narrowest gap between the two types of reasons, with 78 percent citing financial reasons and 76 percent citing healthy-ageing reasons, compared with Generation X (83 percent financial, 67 percent healthy-ageing) and Baby Boomers (81 percent financial, and 69 percent healthy-ageing).

Workers Can Take More Steps to Continue Working Past 65 Workers need to be healthy enough and have access to employment opportunities to fulfill their aspirations and expectations of working past age 65. However, when asked what steps they are taking to help ensure they can continue working, 27 percent of workers say they have not taken any steps. Among those who are taking proactive steps, workers most frequently cite that they are staying healthy (48 percent), performing well at their current job (43 percent) and keeping their skills up to date (40 percent). Baby Boomers are more likely to cite staying healthy (56 percent) and somewhat more likely to cite performing well at their current job (48 percent) than younger workers. In contrast, Millennials are more likely to be networking and meeting new people (23 percent) and going back to school (19 percent) than older workers.