\u201cflextirement.\u201d<\/a> Some businesses offer formal phased retirement options to employees, but, in many, cases older workers create their own transitions to retirement.<\/p>\n\u201cYou have to really negotiate your own path, because there are no templates out there,\u201d says Phyllis Moen, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota and Cornell University, and author of Encore Adulthood: Boomers on the Edge of Risk, Renewal, and Purpose, which discusses the challenges and opportunities for older individuals working later in life.<\/p>\n
An estimated 10,000 boomers turn early-retirement age (62) every day, and the entire generation will be at least 65 by 2030, according to U.S. Census data. The Retirement Coaches Association says the oldest members of Generation X will hit 62 in 2027, and its research suggests that 75 percent of Gen Xers are likely to struggle with some part of the transition.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, statistics show older Americans now prefer to work later in life than previous generations did. About 19 percent of adults ages 65 and older remain employed, compared to 11 percent in 1987, according to the Pew Research Center. \u201cThe word \u2018retirement\u2019 is probably out of date in its usage,\u201d says Moen. \u201cMost people don\u2019t want to sit around and do nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Couchenour, slowing down means working 40 hours per week and using all his vacation time. \u201cI grew up in an era where the more you worked, the more valuable you were,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
But this year\u2019s corporate layoffs (notably, Microsoft, Starbucks and Walmart) and the federal government terminations are a reminder that workers can be unexpectedly thrust out of their jobs.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s among the reasons Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, an economics professor and research fellow at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, suggests getting in front of transition challenges. \u201cI always tell people to ask themselves if the job they are doing now, \u2018Can I do it when I\u2019m 65 or 67?\u2019\u2009\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Is Phased Retirement Right for You?<\/p>\n
Here are five steps you can take to find an off-ramp from full-time employment to retirement.<\/p>\n
1. Think about your interests and values<\/p>\n
While thoughts of having a more flexible schedule, enjoying your hobbies and traveling may sound appealing, many older individuals may face an identity crisis<\/a> without their full-time job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After leading Cogun, Inc., a national faith-based construction company, out of a large debt and into prosperity, Bill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64,63,99,3326,56886,56887,180,56884,56888,56889,56885,6541],"class_list":{"0":"post-72971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-career","12":"tag-full-time-work","13":"tag-job-downshift","14":"tag-jobs","15":"tag-phased-retirement","16":"tag-phased-retirement-benefits","17":"tag-phased-retirement-drawbacks","18":"tag-retirement-exit-strategy","19":"tag-retirement-planning"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}