While many workers expect to work longer as they realize that their retirement savings are not sufficient or because they enjoy working, a LIMRA study shows that nearly half of people who retire are actually forced to do so because of factors beyond their control. These factors include health issues (17%), job loss as a result of a layoff or buyout (14%) and negative work conditions. Only 45% of people retired when they had planned.
Early retirees face serious consequences, including lower Social Security benefits, diminution of retirement savings and loss of health benefits, which can be especially serious if one is forced to retire because of a health issue.
The lesson is pretty obvious: It’s important to plan for retirement and difficult to predict the future. People with limited retirement savings who expect to work longer may not be in a position to do so as they had once planned.
