The standard retirement age in America has traditionally been 65 years of age. According to a University of Michigan Health and retirement study, that number only continues to increase as financial and personal stability are becoming more and more concerning to Americans at more advanced ages.
As reported by WWLP, the study found that more than one third of people who set a goal for their retirement age were not able to retire as young as they had hoped. Although Americans can technically start collecting retirement benefits at the age of 62, you don’t become eligible for the full benefits package until 70.
However, a recent move by the Social Security Administration moved the retirement age for people born after 1960 to 67-years-old. It’s the age-old argument that people are simply living longer. Currently, there are approximately 40 million Americans age 65 and older. Overall, this group makes up about 13% of the population.
“Depending on social security and 401k and with the way the economy has been. They have lost a lot of money, and they just feel like they can’t afford to retire,” said Mary Bironas, a Retirement Administrator for the Hampshire County Retirement System.
Thanks to things like technological and medicinal advancements, the good news is there are many Americans in this age group who feel great physically and have no problem continuing to work a little longer than they might have originally hoped.
“We are younger and energetic. We have interests. We are not like out parents who were older earlier,” said Kandy Blackwell of Easthampton.
Of course this also brings up the question of what retirement age will look like for those in the younger 20 to 30 age demographic that’s still at the relative beginning of their careers.
“My grandpa still works and he is 85,” said Dana Wood of Northampton. “I think that I will be able to. It’s more of a question of if I want to or not.”