Retirement brings new opportunities and free time for retirees to focus on their life priorities.
Pre-retirees and retirees share a positive view of retirement as a time of freedom and enjoyment. They dream of travel, spending time with family and friends, and personal pursuits.
Planning assumptions have changed in recent decades. They are susceptible to inflation and volatility in the financial markets. Unlike younger workers with a long time horizon until they retire, retirees and pre-retirees have little time to recover from financial shocks. Despite these challenges, they are living happy, purposeful albeit financially vulnerable lives.
“Retirement” Word Associations. Workers and retirees age 50+ view retirement favorably. More than four in five people in this group cite one or more positive word associations with “retirement”, while fewer than two in five cite negative words. “Freedom” is the most common word association with retirees being more likely to cite it than age 50+ workers. Retirees are also more likely than age 50+ workers to cite “enjoyment” and “stress-free”.