Retirement & Financial Planning Report

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About a third of workers say they are rethinking their retirement plans due to the pandemic and of those, twice as many are thinking of delaying it versus those thinking of advancing it, says a report from the TransAmerica Center for Retirement Studies.

The report found different impacts due to the pandemic among the four generations that now make up the large majority of current workers—in declining age ranges, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z. For example, the latter two are much more likely to say their financial situation has been negatively impacted, both 58 percent, compared with 46 percent for Generation X and only 34 percent for Baby Boomers. There was a similar pattern regarding whether they had had to make adjustments in their lifestyles due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, retirement confidence has remained the same for majorities in each age group—and increasing from 60 percent among the youngest to 76 percent for the oldest—and of the rest, only slightly more said their confidence has declined versus improved.

Among the generations, Millennials were the most likely to say their retirement plans have changed, with 28 percent saying they now expect to retire later, compared with a range of 15-19 percent for the other three.

However, overall, expectations of working past age 65 or never retiring increase with age. “More than seven in 10 Baby Boomers (72 percent) either expect to or are already working past age 65 or do not plan to retire, compared with 51 percent of Generation X, 37 percent of Millennials, and 36 percent of Generation Z. In contrast, approximately four in 10 Generation Z and Millennials (40 percent and 39 percent, respectively) plan to retire before age 65. Approximately one in eight workers across generations do not plan to retire,” it said.

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