Purpose and a Paycheck: How an Aging Workforce Will Transform

Our Communities

American Association of Retirement Communities

2018 Annual Conference

Elders Drag Down The Economy

“In coming decades, many forces will shape our economy and our society, but in all likelihood no single factor will have as pervasive an effect as the aging of the population.”

Ben Bernanke, 2006

Workers Stay Employed Longer

The Unretirement Years

• Many boomers both want and need to work longer• Boomers are well educated and healthier than

previous generations• Economic changes encourage longer work lives• Experienced workers and entrepreneurs want to keep

tapping into their skill and knowledge• A portfolio of active engagement

The Household Finances of Unretirement

Continuing to earn a paycheck boosts household income

Earnings allows for adding to savings or to defer tapping into a retirement portfolio

You need to support with savings and Social Security for a shorter period of time

A paycheck makes it practical to delay filing for Social Security. Benefits are more than 75 percent higher at age 70 than at age 62.

Entrepreneurship is Popular

• More than a quarter of new entrepreneurs last year were in the 55 to 64 age group vs. nearly 15 percent in 1997

• Older entrepreneurs have advantages starting a business

• The rise of the artisan economy• The startup enterprise is increasingly

multigenerational—parents going into business with their adult children

What Kind of Work?

• Many jobs will be in services and social services--less physically demanding work

• Many older workers bring existing skills into new settings. There is reassurance from tapping into accumulated knowledge and creative push from moving into a different sector

} Bloomberg headline: Senior Citizens Are Replacing Teenagers as Fast-Food Workers. Amid a tight U.S. labor market, restaurant chains are recruiting at churches, senior centers and AARP.

A Tighter Labor Market

Iris Shiraishi, took up Japanese Taiko drumming in her

forties. Now, in her early sixties, she’s taking creative risks

Paul McCartney: Unretirement Model

Lessons From The Pensioner’s Line

The Transition Into Unretirement

Unretirement has important implications for thinking about the retirement years

The key question: What’s Next for you?

Embrace planning and experimentation

The Home

• Work will influence living choices• People want to learn• Entrepreneurial ecosystem• Older American embrace technology• Multigenerational living increasingly

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