Most Senior Adults Who Retired Early Want To Return To Work

This week two articles caught my attention about senior adults and early retirement. One was a report on a recent CNBC survey about returning to work. In the second post the Springfield News Sun discussed some pros and cons of early retirement.

I reflect on these in light of today’s news with regard to inflation spiking again with the 1% rise in inflation since May. Overall inflation has risen 8.6% over last year which is the largest annual increase since December 1981. Source:?Consumer Price Index Summary, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 10, 2022.

I am sure that these statistics are on the minds of fellow senior adults and the effect it will have on our retirement savings. This well may be especially concerning for many older workers who retired early and are living on fixed incomes.

CNBC surveyed a cross section of people currently employed, others who retired during the pandemic as well as some who claim they are neither retired nor active in the workforce.

Would These Entice You To Return To Work?

Over two-thirds of those retirees would return to work for the right job and compensation. Some of criteria which will affect their decisions include flexible work schedules, compensation and work-life balance. “Most retirees said they would prefer to come back part time.”

Did you retire earlier than planned? 62% of those retirees surveyed reported they had, many as a result of being laid off.

Reasons for an early work exit from senior adults included:

• Laid off during restructuring caused by the pandemic.
• Moving to remote work on a full-time basis.
• Health reasons.
• Concerns about COVID.
• Caring for an ill family member.

The CNBC article concluded that returning to work may help to ease the inflationary pressures caused by worker shortages in many industries. They cited the labor force participation rate still is under pre-COVID figures.

Two financial negatives of retiring early included in the Springfield News Sun article were:

• Inability to finance an extended retirement with “around 50 percent of working families face a significant decline in their standard of living during retirement.”
• Higher out-of-pocket medical costs as compared to employer contribution plans.

Note: One of the positives was the opportunity to pivot to a new career. I know this appealed to me when I called it quits from the corporate sales jobs I had been in working at for over 30 years. Although I grew to enjoy the work, ultimately it became less satisfying when completing paperwork became more important than actual sales.

Read the entire articles at:

• Many who lost jobs during pandemic would return for the right pay and position, CNBC survey finds
• IN YOUR PRIME: Early retirement offers pros, cons

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For links to the references in the above article look in comments below