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Active Retirement, Here We Come

A pair of recent studies shows that boomer women plan to spend their retirement years expanding their horizons, both literal and figurative – if they can afford it.

According to "It's Not Your Mother's Retirement," a new study examining the attitudes of mothers and daughters concerning retirement planning, 75 percent of mothers said that they had retired before age 65 while only 37 percent of daughters plan on retiring before their 65th birthday. And 17 percent of daughters predicted not retiring until age 70 or later and six percent said they might never retire.

Released in early May by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, in cooperation with the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), the study found that, among daughters who do plan on retiring, 77 percent expect to travel extensively while 71 percent plan to pursue adult education opportunities.

"Today's younger women clearly do not see themselves staying home, caring for the house and relaxing," said Sandra Timmermann, director, MetLife Mature Market Institute. "These findings point the way to lifestyle changes for tomorrow's older women and may influence the growth of the education sector and the travel industry. There will also be an increased number of older people in the workplace, unless the younger generations' predictions for themselves are overly ambitious."

Not So Fast

Overly ambitious? Maybe when you factor in the small problem of consumer debt.

According to the study, only one third of mothers surveyed report having more than $10,000 in consumer debt, while more than half (55 percent) of daughters surveyed reported debts of more than $10,000. Among these debt carrying daughters, 22 percent owe $25,000 or more.

This isn't debt that will just go away, either. According to a new study by the American Bankruptcy Institute, "Bankruptcy by the Numbers: Aging and Bankruptcy," Americans 55 and over are filing for bankruptcy at a faster rate than that of the general population.

The study showed that, while the general U.S. population has seen three percent growth among those aged 55 and over, that same segment has seen an increase of 46 percent in bankruptcy filings.

"The implications are that the bankruptcy courts can anticipate an influx of new bankruptcy petitions as the baby boom generation continues to age," said U.S. Courts statistician John Golmant, citing the aggressive marketing strategies of the credit card industry over the past couple of decades as well as growing healthcare costs as a result of longer life spans.

"Certainly, senior citizens of the World War II generation faced reduced income in retirement and escalating health costs," said Golmant. "But the additional factors… have developed gradually over the past two decades and have pushed increasing numbers of retirees toward financial insolvency. These trends likely will persist in the foreseeable future."

Growing Older, Wiser

WISER president Cindy Hounsell says the large number of boomer age women carrying debt indicates not just a lack of sufficient retirement planning but a lack of discipline, which could lead to problems when it comes time to live on a fixed income.

"Older women, whose financial experiences are very much tied to the Great Depression and post-Depression living, have a conservative outlook toward saving and spending," Hounsell said. "Women heading toward retirement should be reexamining their financial practices."