Americans are changing their retirement plans because of recent changes in the economy. A new AARP survey of workers age 45 and up found that if the economy does not improve significantly, most will probably spend less in retirement (69 percent) and delay retirement and work longer (65 percent). Fewer Americans (37 percent) said they will save more for retirement.
Saving more is considered out of the question for many families who are already strapped for cash. The telephone survey of 1,628 workers in September by AARP and International Communications Research showed that many older Americans have found it more difficult to pay for necessities like food, gas, and medicine (56 percent), helped a family member pay bills (47 percent), and found it hard to pay for utilities like heating, cooling, and phone services (45 percent) in the past year. To cope with rising costs, some workers have increased the number of hours they work (20 percent) and stopped contributing to their retirement accounts (20 percent).
Tell us: Have you changed your retirement plans?
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Sally Suburbanite in COLO of CO 1:41PM March 02, 2009
Tonia Martin 6:34PM October 27, 2008
Tonia Martin 6:33PM October 27, 2008