IB#35  

Introduction

If individuals continue to withdraw completely from the labor force in their early 60s, a large and growing number will be hard pressed to maintain an adequate standard of living throughout retirement. Economic and demographic pressures are gradually eroding key sources of retirement income at the same time that increases in life expectancy mean that people can expect to live for 20 years, on average, after they stop working. And averages do not tell the whole story. Nearly one third of women and almost one fifth of men will live into their 90s...

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Alicia H. Munnell is the Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences in Boston College's Carroll School of Management and Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Mauricio Soto is a Senior Research Associate at the Center. The authors would like to thank Peter Diamond for helpful comments and Roberto Medina for explaining Social Security rules.