By Susan Tompor

Many Baby Boomers head to work each day and wonder, "So what's the number?"

How many more years do they need to keep working? It turns out that if many of us could just keep working until age 70, we could be OK in retirement, according to a new study.

Sure, 70 isn't the magic number that most people want to hear. Even so, knowing any number might be reassuring, if you're worried that you'd never be able to stop working.

"My intention was to make people feel better," said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

After the Great Recession, more people fear the idea of retirement. But Munnell said many people will be able to retire - if they work a bit longer. "It's better to stay with your full-time job if you can," she said.

The trick is to delay dipping into savings as long as possible.

Munnell, a retirement expert, spoke to me by phone. I had to bring up a topic that's near and dear to many salaried auto retirees. What about those lump-sum offers?

A lump-sum payment in retirement is being offered to salaried retirees at General Motors and as early as August to many salaried retirees at Ford. (Not yet to hourly folks, but some say that could happen one day, too.)

She didn't mince words, calling the idea "terrible." She said she's hoping that retirees "don't fall for the trick" of accepting a lump sum.

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Working until 70 could ease retirement finances