Half of baby boomers who have postponed retirement due to the economic downturn expect to work at least four years longer than they originally planned, according to CPA financial planners surveyed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
That’s even with resurging confidence in the stock market, which, with recent gains, is helping replenish retirement accounts. Fifty-two percent of CPA financial planners said their clients – who typically have between $500,000 and $5 million in assets – are at least somewhat confident in the stock market now. That’s a turnaround from a year ago when 54 %t said their clients were not very confident.
“Boomers have been scarred by the economic turmoil of the past few years and face complex challenges going forward,” said Clark M. Blackman II, chair of the AICPA’s personal financial planning executive committee. “While more optimistic about the markets, many Boomers remain uncertain about the U.S. economy and their own situations as they contend with job loss – their own and their children’s–lower home values and rising education costs.”
This year is a significant milestone for the baby boomer generation, the time when the first of them turn 65 and begin to retire. Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, number 77 million and represent about 37% of the nation’s total population age 16 or older, according to government statistics.
