The future looks bleak for American retirees

Thanks to Rick for telling me about this data published in the WSJ.

A full copy of the research, upon which the article was based, can be downloaded from the Employee Benefit Research Council.

These are the points from the WSJ article.

• Among current retirees, only 20% -- versus 41% in 2007 -- are very confident of being able to afford a financially secure retirement.
• 25% say they expect to have enough to pay for medical expenses, down from 41% in 2007.
• 34% are optimistic about covering their basic expenses, compared with 48% two years ago.

The age at which workers say they plan to retire has crept up from a median of 62 in 1991 to 65 since 2004, with almost half of current retirees say they left the work force sooner than expected due to health problems, downsizings or obsolete skills.

Most worrying is that the survey has consistently found that about two-thirds of workers plan to work after retiring whist fewer than 35% of current retirees say they have actually held down jobs at some point during retirement. Where goeth the US the UK is bound to follow.

It doesn't need me to explain the impact this change of sentiment will have on consumer spending of retirees. Mmmm. Dick Stroud