Traditional retirement is 'obsolete' now for Americans

PHILADELPHIA - A growing number of Americans plan to work beyond retirement age because they have not saved enough money and cannot afford to stop working, a survey shows.

According to the Rutgers University poll, 12 per cent of people say they will never be able to retire, up from 7 per cent five years ago. The number who plan to work full-time or part-time after they retire from their main jobs was nearly 70 per cent of American workers.

Those planning to work full-time specifically for economic reasons doubled in the last five years to 6 per cent, while those planning to work part-time out of necessity jumped to 18 per cent from 10 per cent.

Other reasons people listed for working in old age included furthering their own interests or setting up their own businesses.

Just a quarter are "confident" they can retire when they want, down from 29 per cent in 2000.

"The traditional notion of retirement, where one stops working completely and enjoys leisure time with friends and family, is obsolete," said survey director Carl Van Horn.

"Workers in 2005 feel less confident than they did in 2000 that they will be financially able to leave the workforce ahead of traditional retirement age."

Only 13 per cent expect to stop working completely.

The number of people planning to work part-time to pursue their own interests, meanwhile, dropped to 27 per cent from 42 per cent in 2000.

Van Horn said the changes largely reflected a decline in the sharemarket since the last survey in 2000, taken when people felt better about their retirement savings.

"A lot of people were feeling, in the words of [Federal Reserve board chairman] Alan Greenspan, some irrational exuberance," Van Horn said. "They now have a much more realistic picture of retirement."

Confidence in the ability to retire has also been hit by the national debate on the future of Social Security and by corporate bankruptcies that led some companies to renege on pension obligations.

The survey also found 40 per cent of workers do not believe Social Security will still be available when they retire.

It found 39 per cent of workers accept responsibility for their own retirement income, yet 35 per cent save nothing to supplement Social Security.

The number who felt they were doing a good job of saving for retirement dropped to 46 from 52 per cent in 2000.

- REUTERS