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PHOTO & SLIDESHOW GALLERIES
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| Last updated at 8:35 AM on 04/09/08 |
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Sherry Cooper, executive vice-president and global economic strategist with BMO Financial Group, is author of the book "The New Retirement." Cooper has been in St. John's for speaking engagements this week. - Photo by Rhonda Hayward/The Telegram |
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Rethinking retirement 
Economist says boomer generation will reshape labour market
ROB ANTLE
The Telegram
Baby boomers will reshape how retirement is viewed, with many continuing to toil in the labour force beyond the traditional age associated with the end of working life.
That's according to Sherry Cooper, author of the book "The New Retirement."
Cooper is executive vice-president and global economic strategist with BMO Financial Group. She has been in St. John's for speaking engagements this week.
"It will be a new kind of retirement," Cooper tells The Telegram. "It's not the traditional retirement of our parents or grandparents. Boomers will work longer."
Cooper says a recent survey showed that 80 per cent of respondents between the ages of 45 and 55 said they wanted to work in retirement.
Is it through choice or necessity? "A bit of both," Cooper notes.
Older baby boomers are 62 this year, but the bulk of the cohort remain in their 40s. The crest of boomer retirements is expected to happen around 2025, Cooper notes.
Retirement was never intended to last for decades, she says, noting that life expectancies were much lower when the retirement age of 62 to 65 was chosen.
Households with incomes at or below the median earnings of about $70,000 should be adequately covered by government pension programs.
But those in the bracket above that could find themselves short of cash. Cooper estimates that half of those households are not properly financed for retirement. "It's amazing how people live beyond their means. I mean, it really is."
With the lack of defined benefit pension plans for the majority of workers, many people don't feel secure enough in their savings to retire young, she notes.
A tight labour market will allow retirees to continue working - whether as contract consultants, freelancers, or flex employees.
"There are going to be, and there are already, labour shortages," Cooper notes.
That is of particular interest to Newfoundland, with the promise of oil-fuelled growth on the horizon.
Cooper says it's vital for governments to "plan, plan, plan" for the changes that could result from that growth.
"The government knows that it's going to come into enormous royalty income, and profit income, general tax revenues. So instead of kind of randomly spending the bounty as the needs are created, it's much more important, I think, to anticipate the needs and plan accordingly."
That includes investments in airports, public transportation, schools, hospitals, other infrastructure and health-care needs, she says.
rantle@thetelegram.com
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04/09/08
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GrumpyBear from NL writes: This is why young people have trouble breaking into all but the lowest-paying industries without having to move away. Because of these baby boomer dinosaurs who didn't plan for their retirments holding onto their jobs for longer than they should.
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| Posted 04/09/2008 at 10:32 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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