For many older Americans, retirement is shaping up to not really be retirement at all.
In addition to those who continue working full-time well into their 60s and beyond, many who do leave 40-hour workweeks behind end up taking on part-time work even if it wasn’t part of their initial retirement plan.
“We’re seeing a trend of people retiring from a long-term career … and a while later deciding they want a part-time job,” said certified financial planner Julie Virta, a senior financial advisor with Vanguard.
“I still see people working at age 70, 71 or 72,” Virta said. “It brings them a sense of value that they had in their long-time professional career.”
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More than half (54.7 percent) of people age 60 to 64 were working at least part-time in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the 65-to-69 crowd, nearly a third (31.2 percent) were in the work force last year.
If you find yourself among those who return to work for any number of reasons — i.e., personal fulfillment, financial necessity — it’s important to be aware of the impact that the extra income could have on other areas of your financial life.
“If you choose to go back to work, there are probably a whole bunch of reasons it makes sense,” said DeDe Jones, a certified financial planner and managing director at Innovative Financial. “You just should know what to expect.”
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