There is thought-provoking column in the Washington Post about why, when it comes to retirement, it isn't good news that "70 is the new 60."
Essentially, what it comes down to is that almost 25 percent of American workers expect to have to stay in the workforce until they are 70 or older, mostly because the economy has not fully recovered from the so-called Great Recession of almost a decade ago. These expectations can be traced back to the fact that many corporate safety nets collapsed as the economy did, along with retirement plans and pensions; many Americans simply are not financially prepared for retirement, which means they are going to have to stay in the workforce longer.
When reading the story, it is worth considering it within the context of what it will do to the retail economy. If so many baby boomers are going to be living with reduced means, they're going to have even less money to spend as they age than they might have expected. This, in turn will create job pressures for some younger Americans, who will be looking for jobs that older folks won;t want to give up.
(Then of course, there are some of us who won't want to retire because we're having too much fun working ... but that's probably a subset that won;t impact the economy all that much.)
Less money to spend means that value-driven retailers - think Walmart and Aldi and Lidl and WinCo, for example - may have a real competitive advantage over the next few years. It won't be the only approach that will work in, say, 2020 and beyond ... but it certainly could be a powerful one.
Check out the story here.
Essentially, what it comes down to is that almost 25 percent of American workers expect to have to stay in the workforce until they are 70 or older, mostly because the economy has not fully recovered from the so-called Great Recession of almost a decade ago. These expectations can be traced back to the fact that many corporate safety nets collapsed as the economy did, along with retirement plans and pensions; many Americans simply are not financially prepared for retirement, which means they are going to have to stay in the workforce longer.
When reading the story, it is worth considering it within the context of what it will do to the retail economy. If so many baby boomers are going to be living with reduced means, they're going to have even less money to spend as they age than they might have expected. This, in turn will create job pressures for some younger Americans, who will be looking for jobs that older folks won;t want to give up.
(Then of course, there are some of us who won't want to retire because we're having too much fun working ... but that's probably a subset that won;t impact the economy all that much.)
Less money to spend means that value-driven retailers - think Walmart and Aldi and Lidl and WinCo, for example - may have a real competitive advantage over the next few years. It won't be the only approach that will work in, say, 2020 and beyond ... but it certainly could be a powerful one.
Check out the story here.
- KC's View:
