Surprise! Retirement dreams fading

Whether it's because the baby boomers are all so passionate about contributing to the world--which I suspect is true about lots of us--and/or the fact is that incomes/savings are simply not adding up to "comfortable retirement" sums, the age at which people first retire is fading into the distance. Here's the scoop from the NAWBO Smart Brief:

The retirement age for U.S. workers is edging up after falling for 100 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says 29% of people in their late 60s still have jobs, up from 18% in the mid-1980s. More than 25% of baby boomers plan to never retire, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors.

For many single women this isn't a surprise. Making 70% of a what a man makes for the same work over a lifetime--and having to pay for so many services that many two-earner households either accomplish on their own or have two incomes from which to pay--cuts pretty seriously into what's left to put away for savings and retirement. Combine that with the virtual disappearance from many companies of retirement plans and what used to be callled "loyalty" to long-time devoted employees, and you've got a vivid picture of people working til old age. As Oprah once said to the financial expert on her After the Show who said people will be working into their eighties, "What're they gonna be doing? 'You want fries with that?'"

But since so many single working women have been using their passion and creativity all along to survive and thrive alone against the odds, these longer working years will feel like just another "day in the life."

Hmmm. Let's see, I can apply for 50% of my Social Security benefits when I'm 62 and all of it when I'm 66. Check out your eligibility here.