Will the old thirtysomething gang still be showing up for work at seventysomething?

That could be the case for many of their real-world contemporaries if they hope to enjoy financially secure retirements.

Baby Boomers, with their inheritances, homes, and old-fashioned pensions, may appear to be on track for a solid retirement - but some experts say the forecast for the generation born from 1946 through 1964 isn't necessarily so rosy.

While Boomers are more likely than younger workers to have defined-benefit pension plans and certain other advantages - that's particularly true of older Boomers - many may wind up financially ill-prepared for retirement unless they work longer and save more.

The recent financial crisis took a toll on wealth; inheritances on average won't be that big; traditional pension benefits are phasing out; and many shop-till-you-drop Baby Boomers simply haven't saved enough money to last through retirements that should stretch beyond those of previous generations, economists note.

"The majority of today's retirees are able to afford a decent retirement. However, this group is living in a 'golden age' that will fade as Baby Boomers and Generation Xers reach traditional retirement ages in the coming decades," states an October 2009 report led by Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

"This gloomy forecast is due to the changing retirement income landscape. Baby Boomers and Generation Xers will be retiring in a substantially different environment than their parents did," the report notes, citing longer life spans and retirements and declining "replacement rates" - retirement income as a percentage of pre-retirement income.

As of 2009, in the wake of the housing and stock market crises, some 51 percent of U.S. households were at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living at age 65, the authors calculated in their report, "The National Retirement Risk Index: After the Crash". Some 41 percent of early Boomers, 48 percent of late Boomers and 56 percent of Gen Xers were at risk, they said.

The financial crisis, however, can't be blamed for everything.

"They weren't prepared even before the crisis," Munnell told CNBC recently. The report noted that two years earlier, 37 percent of early Boomer and 43 percent of late Boomer households were at risk

See the original post here:
Retirement Bliss May Turn to Blues for Some Boomers