Retirement used to be rather simple. You went to college. You found a job, got married, worked and then retired. You were set financially because of pensions and savings. Your family law attorney would ensure that your legal paperwork, such for irrevocable trusts, was set up for your retirement years. Today, retirement isn’t as easy as it once was and it is important to break through the myths to ensure you are left with something to show for your years of hard work.
First, the set age of retirement is no longer set in stone. The fastest growing demographic for employment today are those over the age of 55. Early retirement is not happening as frequently as most people hoped in the 1990s.
Second, many people don’t want to simply quit working once they reach that magical age. According to one expert, 39 percent of people want to continue working part-time and 8 percent want to continue to work full time.
Third, many people today see retirement as a time when they simply disappear from society. This is not what they want; instead, they want to be active in their communities, to reconnect with their families or to learn something new.
Finally, with the economy growing so slowly, investment portfolios are not growing as they once were. Only 7 percent of workers have a guaranteed pension and one expert says one-third of baby boomers will end up in poverty. Retirement funds may not hold out as long as expected, so it’s important to think ahead for such things as long-term care planning. More retirees are finding themselves in the unique position of raising their grandchildren or at the very least, providing more support than what they had originally planned for in their retirement budgets.
It is important to speak with an experienced family law attorney to ensure your retirement affairs are in order to deal with whatever bumps in the road you may find as you navigate these later years in your life.
Source: forbes.com, “Five retirement myths worth changing” John Wasik, May. 14, 2013