Reply to Working well into your 70s because you can’t afford to retire.

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[quote=Anonymous]Part of the problem is that our concept of retirement age, while increasing, is not increasing as quickly as life expectancy.

In the 1950s, life expectancy was around 65.  You could retire at 60, and SS could handle 5 years (on average*) retirement income vs 40 years of wages.

Today life expectancy in the US is closer to 80.  If you retire at 65, you're looking for SS to cover, on average*, 15 years retirement income vs 45 years of wages (less if college / grad school delayed entry into the workforce).  It doesn't add up - so of course people are working longer, to keep pace with the longer life expectancy.  This idea of covering 30 years of retirement is an fairly new concept.

*I know it's not really that simple, since the total life expectancy includes childhood mortality and others who die before retirement age - the expectancy for someone who has already survived to 55/60/65 is higher than the overall LE.  But that's as true now as is was in 1950, so the concept holds.[/quote]

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