Age 65 and Not Ready or Able to Go

If employers get used to the idea that workers are going to be around into their middle and late 60s, then they may be more willing to take the chance on hiring someone in his 50s, he said. "You're not really old at 63, and that's when people leave the labor force," said Sass. And if they do, they may find themselves with inadequate incomes when they are much older.

The truth is, said Sass, retirement has become a much messier process than it used to be. Sure, it's always been a stressful transition, but at least it was more cut and dried in the past. With traditional retirement plans, there were incentives to not linger in the job beyond a certain age. If you could draw 100 percent of your benefit at age 65 and received no additional pension credits for additional years worked, why wait? Traditional plans were designed to replace a certain amount of income, and Social Security replaced a greater share of income in the past than it will going forward. It was the employer who bore the risks of bad years in the market, not the employee.

Well, that's all changed.

And it turns out that it has a downside for employers as well. The old system, with its orderly progression of workers leaving the workplace at a certain age, made it easier for companies to plan their staffing and to anticipate worker-training needs. Today, with more employees inclined to stay, some companies may use sweetened incentives to get older workers to leave. Others may try to find different means to push workers out while trying to steer clear of charges of age discrimination.

But as more workers in their 60s stay on the job, attitudes may change. Yet another study by the prolific Center for Retirement Research found that "employers with a relatively old workforce (more than 15 percent age 55 or over) had more positive views of the relative productivity of older workers."

"Employers will create opportunities for older workers if they think they're going to work longer," Sass predicted. "If you plan on staying till age 67, make sure your employer or potential employers know that." He recommended showing commitment to staying on the job by learning new skills, developing new sales territory, showing a willingness to move or taking on a project that will pay off down the road.

There used to be a country song called "Old and Tired and in the Way." Maybe we need to update it to "Working and Wired and Here to Stay."

Do you have any issues related to retirement that you would like to see explored here?

If so, I'd like to hear from

you. Please e-mailhamiltonm@washpost.com.