Should You Wait Longer to Retire?
From Retallick Financial
America's changing demographics are straining its retirement system, as people live longer and spend more of their lives in retirement. As a solution, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has suggested* that Americans work longer before retiring.
"No one should have to work longer than they want to. But I do think it's a bit crazy that our anchor idea for the right retirement age — 65 years old — originates from the time of the Ottoman Empire," Fink wrote in his 2024 letter, focused on the retirement crisis as the populations of the U.S. and other countries age. "We should want more people to live more years. But we can't overlook the massive impact on the country's retirement system."
Fink's retirement crisis solutions come amid a debate over Social Security's eventual financing shortfall. Fink and many members of Congress and the Senate believe that as Americans live longer, they should work longer and that we should raise the Social Security full retirement age.
However, that ignores the harsh reality of aging in the workplace. A 2022 AARP survey found* that most workers over 50 experience ageism at work. Many elderly Americans quit early due to declining health or an unexpected job loss. The median retirement age for the U.S. is 62,* even lower than the “traditional” age of 65.
Additionally, a new report from the International Labour Organization** found that American workers tend to spend more time on the clock than employees in other developed countries, and that time adds up.
More specifically, this new report from the ILO found that the average number of working hours per year was higher in the U.S. than in six other developed countries used in the study, namely Australia, the U.K., Sweden, Belgium, France, and Germany.
The report ultimately argues that far too many people are working excessive hours in the US, even though average working hours in many other developed countries have been trending downward. With this, it’s a natural conclusion that setting the full retirement age higher would only add to this issue of ageism and overworking.
Ultimately, how long you want/need to work for comes down to you and your situation. If you don’t want to (or can’t) keep working longer than the current retirement age, you may be able to make up for it with the right retirement income strategy.
