80 is the New 65 for American Retirees: Wells Fargo Survey

Not only do Americans expect to work longer to save enough for retirement, they expect to work way longer. New research by Wells Fargo shows that the anticipated retirement age has now stretched as much as 15 years past age 65.

About 25% of middle class Americans expect to work until age 80, according to Wells Fargo’s seventh annual retirement survey, the company said in a press release. Meanwhile, 74% of the 1,500 respondents Harris Interactive surveyed by telephone said they expect to work in their retirement years, including 39% who said they would need to work to make ends meet. Another 35% said they would work because they want to, rather than out of necessity.

A larger share of older Americans surveyed said they would need to work in their retirement years. Of respondents age 40 to 59, 54% said they would need to work, while only 34% of the age 25 to 39 group said the same.

Of those respondents who said they would work in retirement, 47% said they do work that’s similar to what they were doing before retirement, while 42% said they will find work that requires “less responsibility.”

The bottom line: the notion of a retirement age is “going the way of the typewriter,” according to Wells Fargo.

Source: http://www.financial-planning.com/news/wells-fargo-80-new-65-retirement-planning-2675992-1.html