My six-year-old recently asked my mom how she had money if she didn’t work anymore. I didn’t expect to explain the concept of pensions, 401(k)s, and social security to my first grader, but in doing so I also summarized the very different positions my mom—a boomer born in the 1950s—and me, a millennial born in the 1980s, find ourselves in when it comes to saving and planning for retirement. I told my kid in essence: “Grandma, her job, and the government all saved money while she was working, but I just have to save money by myself.”
While this is a cynical and overly simplified explanation, it’s also a pretty accurate description of how retirement has changed over the last few generations.
Traditional pension plans funded by employers that promised workers guaranteed income in retirement were common in my grandparents’ generation. But employer-funded pension plans were already diminishing for boomers and Gen X who worked in the private sector. Now only a quarter of employees have traditional pension plans, and it feels like an equally bleak story for Social Security, which is only guaranteed to be fully funded through 2035.
All of this means that most of us are in the position I described to my kid: Left to save for ourselves. While nearly 70% of private industry workers have access to workplace retirement plans like 401(k)s, employer matching isn’t a given and even so, just 51% of employees even participate in employer retirement savings plans.
On the latest episode of The New Way We Work I spoke to author, money coach, and retirement expert Emily Guy Birken to find out how is retirement changing for those with a few years vs. a few decades left in the workforce, how can you plan for retirement at any age or career stage, and how is retirement likely to change over the next generation.
Retirement changes as work changes
Birkin’s view isn’t that retirement is getting worse for different generations, simply that it’s changing as work changes. Years of fully funded health care and leisure time after decades of service at a single company is a concept that didn’t exist 70 or more years ago when most people worked demanding jobs until they were physically incapable. Outside of factors like the disappearance of private sector pension plans and social security, there is a positive reason retirement looks so different for the current workforce: We are living longer and healthier lives.
That pop culture picture of retirement she concedes is likely only realistic for baby boomers. But Gen X through Gen Z aren’t staying at one company for 30 years anyway. Which means for those of us who were born after what she calls “the golden age of retirement,” we have to take a DIY approach.
Since many employees now work for several different companies over their careers, the first step is to keep track of, and roll over, all 401(k) accounts. But since so many people are working in non-traditional ways whether freelance, gig work, or entrepreneurial ventures Birkin advises setting up an IRA or Roth IRA and figuring out an amount of money that you will not miss from your bank account and setting up a regular automatic transfer.
The case for hope
While many Gen X and younger don’t feel optimistic about retirement, Birkin does. “I truly believe that it feels better to plan as if things are going to work out well,” she says. “I think it’s the more responsible choice, too.” She says that the kind of nihilistic approach many younger people take toward retirement planning is the same as giving up on recycling because you think climate change isn’t going to get addressed.
“That is a completely understandable and human reaction to something that feels overwhelming, but it kind of abdicates the responsibility,” she says. Her advice to anyone feeling cynical about the future of retirement is to say “Things are bad, but I’m going to plan as if they’re going to get better.”
Listen to the full episode for more on how to plan for unexpected expenses and long-term health care in retirement, how the sandwich generation can help their kids and parents’ expenses while saving for retirement, and why Birkin thinks Social Security retirement benefits will still be there for younger workers.
You can listen and subscribe to The New Way We Work on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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