Economic fears further retirees' pandemic-era plans to keep working

An ongoing survey of U.S. retirees and near-retirees suggests there’s a wide range of opinions on these fundamental questions and a rapidly changing perspective on what retirement will look like in the future.

Last July, about one-third of the 11,000 older Americans surveyed by financial advisor Edward Jones and consultant Age Wave since 2019 said they expected they would delay their plans for retirement. But when asked earlier this year, that number had ballooned to 59%, with respondents saying they expected to work in some way in their golden years, either full-time, part-time or cycling between work and leisure.

The respondents also didn’t agree on what retirement is. Some thought it began at a specific age; others, when they left their main job or began collecting their pension. Still others thought the milestone marker of retirement was when they achieved financial independence.

“Retirement is going through a period of transformation as people determine where they want to be and how they want to live,” said Ken Dychtwald, founder of Age Wave. “Covid disrupted a lot of lives, and many people decided they weren’t ready for retirement.”

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