Retirement Age Debates...

The next big debate coming soon: how to implement a higher retirement age. Of course, most people over aged 50 today now realize two things: with the housing and financial downturn, most of us are going to continue to work into our late 60s and, probably throughout our 70s.

And, let's face it, most of us are younger at our current age that our parents and certainly our grandparents were at the same age. I just completed a 5K race a few weeks before turning aged 50. Not a massive accomplishment, but one I know my dad, granddad and great granddad wouldn't have dreamed of.

So, for financial reasons and simply because, if we retire at 65, we may have 20 or 30 years left to occupy ourselves, retirement will pushed forward in our lifetime. Here are a couple of great articles about this topic.

In this NY Times Blog Opinion Piece, several influential "aging" observers give their take on changing the retirement age:

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/how-high-can-the-retirement-age-go/?scp=1&sq=retirement%20age&st=cse

Over the past half-century, life expectancy at age 65 has improved by about 1 month with each passing year. In 1950, 65 year-old men lived, on average, to age 78. Today, the average 65 year old man lives to about age 82.

The next article features Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Marco Rubio advocating raising the retirement age in Florida of all places. Of course, Florida is the state that has attracted a huge, huge percentage of retiree movers in the past 20 years. And, that pipeline has slowed. So, he may be irritating those retirees who have already settled in Florida and also may be discouraging more retirees into moving in retirement for a few years.

Here's the link:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/fla-gop-candidate-favors-raising-retirement-age-708092.html

The winners in this debate will be the locations that offer the best quality of life AND best economic opportunities. The numbers of second home buyers and 50+ folks who have unlimited retirement savings to spend in the mountains, the lakes and the coast has dramatically shrunk.

#### 30 ####