At what age will you retire?
65 has been the standard age for retirement in this country since 1935. But that specific age has come into question as states hit economic hardships and more and more people live longer. Lawmakers in about a dozen states are looking to increase the retirement age or modify the way benefits are given out. These states might increase the qualifying retirement age for state employees, despite the fact that public-sector workers already retire, on average, earlier than workers in the private sector. Is this fair? We’re looking into what the “right” retirement age is in this new age of longer life span and tighter budgets.
We want to know from you: Whether you’ve retired already or are just making plans, what is the retirement age for your household? And if you retired early during the boom years, how has it been going? What’s a few extra years?
Alicia Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, says its necessary to raise the retirement age to contain skyrocketing pension costs.
Frank Todisco is a Senior Pension Fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries, says its too simple to lump state and federal retirement ages into one policy solution.
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