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MAKING CENTS OUT OF THE NEWS
Blog #32
(October 6th, 2011)
Partial Retirement Can Bring Total Rewards
By Tom McAllister, CFP®
Ever since the first “Baby Boomers” came on the scene post World War II, 65 has been considered the “normal” retirement age. As the first wave of “Boomers” have begun reaching that “magic” age, I am seeing more and more articles discussing the wisdom of taking full retirement at age 65 – or ever! While health, family concerns, and the financial condition of employers will all influence individuals’ decisions, generally speaking, I believe it’s best to defer full retirement at least until age 67, the age at which younger participants can now get full social security benefits. In fact, where finances and health allow, I recommend that even those retiring earlier wait until age 70 to take Social Security benefits.
In fact, more and more seniors are choosing another option, semi-retirement or working part time. In my own case, I’ve been semi-retired since 1995. For the first 17 years, my lecture cruises have been combined with some hours of regular work each week. For a number of those years, I accepted various additional part-time challenges, supporting tax advantaged investment securities brokers, and taking over the management of a broker dealer after a friend has passed away. Except for an occasional week or two, none of these undertakings, when combined with my own practice, took as much as 40 hours per week. Today, I am down to 10-12 hours of work each week.
A year before her death in 1994, my mother asked me a question; “Do you expect you will ever retire?” I gave it a few moments thought and replied, “No, not as long as my mind allows me to do what I do.” Her response was; “I thought you would say that. You have always worked, since you were ten.”
Apparently I’m far from alone in my thinking. Even before the recession battered nest eggs, before many people found they needed to keep working for financial reasons, a study from the Families and Work Institute in New York revealed that “Many non-financial objectives motivate older people to continue working. 31% of respondents said they would be bored not working. 18% said “I want to feel productive, useful, helpful.” 13% claimed “I want to interact with people”, while 12% said “I want to stay physically/mentally active.”
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2010/10/07/10-reasons-seniors-continue-to-work
Semi-retirement has been working well for me. My lecture cruises over these past 17 years have allowed me the pleasure of sharing my 49 years experience in the financial world with my audiences, educating them, motivating them, and perhaps entertaining them a little, too.
Is mine an unusual case? Perhaps: I’m fortunate in that my reduced duties range from worthwhile to downright enjoyable. But so long as a person is physically and mentally able to do worthwhile and enjoyable work, albeit part time, I think that is the best way to go, offering financial along with psychological and emotional advantages. In my Jaycee years we used to proclaim that; “Service to humanity is the best work of life.” I think they still do. It has certainly proved to be the case for me, and I consider myself blessed.
I hope many of our baby boomers make similar choices. Our country needs their contribution!
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