America Faces A Retirement Crisis

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Retirement used to mean packing up and buying a home in Florida, but not anymore according to Retirement Plan Partners president and financial advisor Joe Connell.

"The trend is that people are going to have to extend their retirements mostly due to things outside of their control," Connell said.

According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Monday, 82 percent of workers 50 and older say it's at least somewhat likely they'll work for pay in retirement, while another 47 percent plan to retire later than they previously thought.

Connell says his clients used to retire around 62 or 63. Today, the age is pushed back three years.

Today, with people having maybe not saved as much as they'd like to and with layoffs and things like that, people are finding that they don't have the money to feel comfortable in what could be a 25 to 30 year retirement," he said.

Americans list financial needs, health, ability to do their job and benefits such as health insurance as the top factors for their shift in retirement decisions. Connell says people simply need more money for retirement than previous generations because we're living longer.

"That's the biggest concern," Connell said. "We're just living a lot longer than we used to and a 30-year retirement means you have to save a lot of money," he said.

While the addition of a few years in the workforce may not be a huge burden to some, for many it's part of a problem that could affect future generations.

"The age group '65 plus' makes up the greatest group today that's at poverty level or below, so we do have a retirement crisis in America right now."

Connell advises to start saving early on in life and aim to save at least 10 percent of your income to have enough to live on post-retirement.