How high will the retirement age go?

In June, Robert Benmosche, the chairman of the insurance giant American International Group, said an increase in the retirement age was unavoidable. "Retirement ages will have to move to 70/80 years old,"
Benmosche told Bloomberg. "That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth." Currently, Americans are eligible for early retirement at 62, and full retirement at 66. The loss of retirement funds during the economic downturn forced many to acknowledge that they would have to work longer. But Benmosche's statement shocked many. Will people really have to work a decade or more longer than they expected to make ends meet in retirement? The answer is yes, according to some retirement experts. A number of factors, accelerated by the Great Recession, are now forcing people to change the ways they save for and think about retirement.


Vernon, the president of Rest-of-Life Communications, a company that helps people adjust the way they save for their post-work years says there are two primary reasons for the change:

• Workers don't have enough saved to meet their needs after they stop working, so they need the
additional income.

• People are living longer and want to be more engaged with life.

According to Vernon, this change will happen to all workers, not just those in lower-income brackets. Even people with healthy retirement savings likely don't have enough to maintain their lifestyle. Tresidder says this change does not have to be a bad thing. People can work in fields that engage them and provide personal satisfaction. Just because a person's first career was a grind doesn't mean the second one will be the same.
"People are really embracing (working later in life) because it's really about fulfillment," he says. But the question remains: How long will someone have to continue working to achieve a secure retirement? Unfortunately, it's impossible to answer conclusively, because it depends on individual circumstances and needs.

How high will the retirement age go?