\n Nearly half of people surveyed by Edelman Financial Engines want to reinvent retirement even as money, inflation, and Social Security fears weigh on their plans.\n <\/p>\n
Americans are rewriting the script on retirement, trading the sun\u2011setting-on-the-beach fantasy for something more active, personal and time\u2011rich \u2013 but money stress and inflation<\/a> are still in the way, according to new research from Edelman Financial Engines.<\/p>\n The \u201cWhat Money Means\u201d study, conducted with Greenwald Research, surveyed 2,000 Americans age 30 and older in October.<\/p>\n Nearly half said they want a retirement that looks different from that of previous generations, with many prioritizing adventure, athletic pursuits and passion projects over a traditional slow\u2011down.<\/p>\n The survey also called pop-culture representations of retirement into question, with only 14% feeling that pop culture depictions of retirement closely match their own vision.<\/p>\n Ralph Haberli, chief executive officer at Edelman Financial Engines, said the industry needs to move past treating retirement as a hard stop<\/a>. \u201cFor too long, the retirement industry has treated this stage of life like a finish line,\u201d Haberli said, calling that mindset \u201coutdated.\u201d<\/p>\n The survey suggests advisors are meeting clients at a moment when time, health, and meaning are increasingly competing with income and portfolio size.<\/p>\n Forty\u2011four percent of respondents said money is the biggest roadblock to doing what they want outside of work, compared with 21% who cited a lack of time. Yet behavior tells a more nuanced story: 42% said they have turned down a higher\u2011paying career opportunity in favor of preserving personal time, a trend that is especially strong among younger workers and people of color.<\/p>\n That preference shows up in specific trade\u2011offs. Among full\u2011time workers, 44% said they would rather work one day less per week for the same salary than take a $20,000 raise. Parents were particularly willing to sacrifice financially for meaningful experiences: more than half said they would pay to relive a day with their kindergarten\u2011age child, and nearly one\u2011quarter would give up a significant amount of retirement savings to do it.<\/p>\n Health eclipsed wealth in many of the study\u2019s hypotheticals. Nearly two\u2011thirds of respondents said they would rather never have to worry about their health than never have to worry about money again. Fifty\u2011eight percent said they would trade $1 million in retirement savings for five extra healthy years, a preference that climbed to 77% among those with more than $1 million in assets.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople aren\u2019t just telling us they want more time \u2013 they\u2019re telling us they want more time with the people that matter most, and that has financial implications,\u201d said Michael Liersch, chief planning officer at Edelman Financial Engines. He added that \u201cfinancial planning<\/a> should feel just as personal as the life it supports.\u201d<\/p>\n