Not Ready to Retire

A Hewitt Associates study has found 61% of U.S. companies have, or plan to have, programs to allow over55ers to retire in stages.

What a blessing for those of us who have found we are not ready to retire due to failing finances.

Working part time or being able to telecommute seems to me to be the next best thing to retiring. Many enlightened companies are concerned about this surge of baby boomers getting to retirement ages.

These boomers are the experienced back bone on which companies rely, losing that experience in one fell swoop would be hard to take; thankfully many companies are thinking about ways to retain the boomers and making it possible for them to retire in stages.

Programs designed to hold on to skilled baby boomers can ease the difficulty of preparing others to assume those responsibilities. Two thirds of the companies in the study said offering part time work the year around was the most effective way to keep workers near retirement.

Another strategy was to give workers access to retirement benefits while still employed.

Numerous studies have shown that longer lives and escalating costs mean over55es aren’t saving enough for retirement.

Some companies are also considering their “ban rehiring retirees” policy, which I feel should not have been implemented in the first place.

My recommendation to boomers is to talk with your company about a way that you can work on a part time basis or telecommute in order to ease into full retirement, thus providing additional time to train replacements.

Each additional year you work could bring more money into your social security and company retirement programs.