According to Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), Americans' confidence in a comfortable retirement declined the most in 2023 since the 2008-09 financial crisis.
As the EBRI's chart below shows (click to enlarge), only sixty-four percent of workers feel at least somewhat confident about living a comfortable retirement, down from 73% in 2022.
The reasons, according to Barron's The Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis Is Here. Why the Richest Generation Is Struggling, are:
- A lack of retirement savings by many baby boomers
- Debt levels at retirement age are higher than in prior generations
- Recent stock market declines
- Rising costs, especially for healthcare and long-term care
- Concerns about the viability of social security and Medicare
One way to help, according to many sources, is to work a bit longer - full-time or part-time - in retirement.
The New York Time's How a Solo Gig Can Give You a Stronger Retirement says:
Adding a few more years of work to your retirement plan can be one of the best ways to improve retirement security, and some find that the best way to keep income flowing in one's later years is a sole proprietor business.
The Motley Fool's Here's Why It Pays to Join the Gig Economy Before You Retire suggest starting a side gig before retirement. This gives you time to build the side gig into a successful business before entering retirement.
As we've noted in the past, older Americans have the highest rate of self-employment.
And the growing interest -and need - by baby boomers to work in retirement is one of the reasons we continue to forecast growing numbers of independent workers.
See our Baby Boomer section for more on this topic.
