You may have noticed some faculty in your school continuing to work past 65, or some applicants in their golden years looking into your open positions. This potentially changes the way you balance faculty evaluations, your school's culture, and how you handle dismissal practices.
So, the baby boomers are doing a little more than reinventing the retirement age—they're reshaping we way we perceive, and function within, our work environments.
If you're wondering why this generation wants to work longer, the survey offered a few perspectives. One of which is, they're living longer. The normal life expectancy has increased by over seven years. As a result of living longer, boomers plan to be "younger" longer and work longer.
Interestingly enough, another reason given for boomers continuing to work is not money, but mental stimulation. Thirty-seven percent of respondents indicate continued earnings as a reason, however; 67% asserted that challenge and stimulation is what kept them going.
The report went on to list several other reasons for this generation remaining in the work force.
- The unpredictable cost of illness and healthcare. They are three times more worried about a major illness (48%), their ability to pay for healthcare (53%), or living out their remaining years in a nursing home (48%), than about dying (17%).
- Baby boomer women are better educated, more independent, and are more financially engaged than any other generation in history. According to this survey, married baby boomer women are more than six times more likely to share responsibility for savings and investments compared to their mothers' generation (33% now vs. 5% then).
- Financial preparedness is the antidote to retirement phobia. Accumulating the resources baby boomers believe they need for retirement freedom (81%), rather than age (56%) or any other variable, was cited as the most decisive factor in choosing when to retire. And recognizing the growing uncertainty of government entitlements like Social Security, boomers who have a plan and feel prepared are twice as optimistic and far less fearful compared with those who do not.
