Gazette opinion: Baby boomers retiring slowly, but surely
Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 12:00 am
Americans born in 1946 will turn 65 next year — at the rate of 7,000 per day.
About 9,600 Montanans will mark their 65th birthdays in 2011, according to AARP researchers who extrapolated estimates from U.S. Census data. The number of Montanans aging into Medicare eligibility has been increasing rapidly, according to AARP estimates. In 2009, about 9,400 Montanans turned 65 and in 2007 only 8,700 did.
Asked about their outlook on what traditionally has been the U.S. retirement age, the oldest baby boomers reported being generally satisfied and optimistic about their personal lives, according to a recent survey conducted for AARP.
Doubts about governmentInteresting too.
However, a majority of the random sample of soon-to-be-65 folks said their confidence in the federal government is waning.
The government in Washington accomplishes less for the country now than it did five years ago, according to 63 percent of respondents.
Washington is less civil, according to 76 percent.
Fifty-six percent said Democrats and Republicans are less likely to work together than they were five years ago.
Sixty percent had less confidence that the government would do the right thing while 10 percent said they have more confidence in government.
Those opinions should weigh heavily on the nation's elected leaders because older adults tend to be regular voters.
Regarding their personal finances, 32 percent said they are worse than they expected at age 64 while 25 percent said they are better. Similarly, 31 percent said their physical health is worse than they expected while 26 percent said it's better.
Majority retired at 64
Among those surveyed, 54 percent were already retired at age 64, another 12 percent weren't working and 3 percent were looking for work. Among the 31 percent still working, more than half work full time.
It's probably not a coincidence that the same proportion — 31 percent — said they plan on saving more aggressively for retirement in the next few years.
Among respondents still working, 49 percent described their retirement attitude as: “I plan to quit working as soon as I can” while 40 percent said: “I plan to work till I drop.”
The survey, which is said to be accurate within 3.5 percentage points, was conducted in mid-November with 801 people answering questions by phone.
The fact that many boomers are working longer than their parents' generation is significant.
“As they approach a birthday that was synonymous with retirement for their parent's generation, many boomers are still working — and plan to keep at it for the foreseeable future,” AARP said.
In conclusion, AARP noted the anticipated problems the baby boomers' retirement will cause for Social Security and the U.S. health system.
“Fortunately, members of the baby boom generation will be around and working in order to be part of the solution,” the researchers said.
However, as the AARP survey shows, more than half of the 1946 babies are already retired. Presumably, they are drawing early Social Security benefits, which are available at age 62. The costs of the boomers' golden years are already mounting for American taxpayers.
