Home > All articles  Your advertisement here   Boomers Revise their “Retire-By” Date as Financial Landscape Changes Not long ago, the future offered the baby-boom generation an exciting array of choices. Many dreamed about retiring on their own terms, creating a sustainable and meaningful time of life, and the decision to work longer often had more to do with self-fulfillment than financial preservation. Now, amidst severe market turbulence, the landscape has changed. Boomers, especially those five years before, or even five years into retirement, are finding themselves having to revisit their options. Working longer may become a necessity for some pre-retirees – even some retired Canadians are seriously considering returning to work. In addition to protecting their nest eggs from volatile market conditions, many worry about not having sufficient income from their RRSPs, CPP/QPP and OAS to afford daily living expenses. Added to the list of concerns are rising healthcare costs, outstanding debt, and the risk of outliving one’s savings. Introduction When the first cohort of Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) recently reached retirement age, they wasted no time altering perceptions about this much-anticipated stage of life. According to the 2006 BMO Retirement Trends Study, Canadian Boomers planned to work in some capacity after traditional retirement citing “staying mentally active” as the main reason, wanting to “keep in touch with people” was next and to “earn money” was ranked third. Today the top three reasons have been reversed, according to the January 2009BMO Working Longer Omnibus survey, 89% of pre-retirees and 84% of retirees who participated cited the main reason they would consider returning to work within the next year would be “to earn money”, with “staying mentally active” and “keeping in touch with people” identified as their second and third choices, a distinct shift from just three years ago. > Read the report     By KS Date 02-05-2009 Print this news| Send to a friend Your advertisement here