Retirement 3.0 Includes Working, But With Lots of Flexibility

The Retirement Reset study is a joint effort by the Sun Financial Group and Age Wave.  Their key study finding is we are entering a new phase of retirement they call Retirement 3.0, which they define as:

"A productive, purposeful and challenging new chapter in life - blending work and leisure - with opportunities for personal reinvention and continued social engagement."

A big part of this new retirement is the inclusion of work.  Their survey showed 65% Americans aged 55+ plan on working in retirement. 

But most people don't want traditional jobs.  They want very flexible work.  According to the study, only 4% want full-time work and only 25% want part-time work.  Key quote on the the largest group, 36% of respondents:

"...want to go back and forth between periods of work and leisure to suit their new lifestyle needs"

This is a degree of flexibility not often found in today's workplace.  But we've seen examples of people creating this type of work.  It will be interesting to watch this trend and see if it takes off. 

The other interesting finding is the expected age of retirement has increased substantially over the last decade.  According to the study, the respondents expect to work to age 69.  This is up 5 years from a similar study done by Age Wave in 2001. 

Aging baby boomers choosing to work for or start small businesses instead of pursuing traditional retirement is topic we've written a lot about over the years.  This study shows this trend continues to gain strength.

Comments

[elder abuse california]

One should not see retirement as the days left by to do nothing. I've seen alot of baby boomers become more successful after retirement.

[retirement planning advice]

Is that fact they are working past the typical age of retirement impacted by the type of retirement plan they are using? I'm trying to set up a plan for my small business and make sure that my employees are covered and will have a choice with working that late in their life.

[Tim P Sykes]

My thoughts here would be, if people want to work after they retire then does this create a job shortage for the school leavers.
If a 65 year old teacher stays on till 69 then the extra 4 years he works would not leave a job vacancy for a graduate teacher. Times this by 1000 and this causes a problem.
If there is not a shortage in the pacific area then this is not relevant and people should be able to do as they please.

[Geri Stengel]

Not only are they continuing to work, Boomers are also starting their own businesses and nonprofits as well as volunteering for substantive jobs at nonprofits. (The key word there is “substantive.”) Some use well-honed skills; others seek training so they can follow a passion they couldn’t indulge while pursuing a career.