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Baby Boomers Are Redefining Retirement

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

Retirement for many baby boomers is becoming a-work-in-progress. Scores of reports zoom in on several new trends. For example, many boomers plan to retire and move. According to a new TIAA report titled, Voices of Experience Survey, women and men are retiring earlier. But both are preparing differently for retirement. Specifically men begin planning around age 30, while women begin later.

And here is another trend. Baby boomers whose numbers total about 78 million could live to be 10 to 25 years older than their World War II era parents. Take a quick look at other trends in the new TIAA report, 22 percent of men said they began planning before age 30, compared to only 12 percent of women. Specifically, the total number who retired before age 65 jumped from 39 percent in a 1982 TIAA survey. Compare that rate to 54 percent in TIAA’s latest survey released in April. And while 70 percent of those in the latest study said they expected to work until age 65, only 45 percent actually did. Meanwhile, 6 percent said they delayed retirement because they couldn’t afford to retire.

“A typical retirement may now stretch on for decades,” the new, 44-page TIAA report noted. “As a result, what we think of as traditional retirement has largely changed and is no longer viewed as a familiar destination at the end of a clearly defined journey. Instead, it is uncharted territory—perhaps a little frightening, but a little exhilarating as well.”
Debt makes retirement a-work-in-progress for many baby boomers. According to a recent TD Ameritrade survey, the average baby boomer has about $500,000 less than is needed to retire comfortably. Blame the 2008 subprime meltdown and the stock market crash.

So, many baby boomers will work a few more years. Meanwhile, many boomers are launching new careers after retiring. The reality is that working 20 hours a week at $12 an hour comes to about $1,000 a month, Mark P. Cussen, certified financial planner noted in, Is a Retirement Career Right for You? “Numerous studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between continued employment and one‘s health and mobility,” Cussen wrote. “Working a second job in retirement can provide you with the opportunity to do something that you‘ve always wanted to do, such as serve a cause that you believe in or indulge in a hobby.”

Here are some jobs that baby boomers can consider after retirement: Be a bartender- The job allows you talk to others and collect tips. Be a makeup-artist—The job is an ideal part-time gig that pays up to $40 an hour and requires only about 20 hours a week. Also consider work-at-home-jobs, and IRS seasonal work. If you decide to relocate, consider the top 20 places that Black Enterprise chose. Durham ranks as the No. 1 best place to retire because it offers affordable health care. The other top locations are Charlottesville, Va.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Nashville; Lexington; Roswell, Ga. and Columbia, Mo.

Derek Dingle, editor in chief at Black Enterprise said the list was designed so that readers could get the facts on retirement options. The magazine lists cities that have high quality of life standards, quality health care and low taxes. Factors that stretch the retirement nest egg. In addition, many of the cities are near metropolitan areas and HBCUs are nearby. ”They can engage in leisure and arts and cultural activities,” Dingle said.

If you retire and relocate, consider more trends. Blacks in 2000 began a reverse migration trend, leaving not just the Northeast or Midwest, but the West Coast as well. Blacks have increasingly ranked Atlanta as No. 1, according to a Jan. 15, 2015 Forbes magazine report titled, The Cities Where African-Americans Are Doing The Best Economically. The No. 2 relocation area is Raleigh, N.C., according to Forbes. The Washington, D.C., area ranks No. 3. Baltimore ranks No. 4. Charlotte ranks No. 6. Orlando ranks No. 7. Three cities rank No. 8–Miami; Rich.

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