Friday, October 30, 1998

Some Baby Boomers don't want to retire

By JOHN AUTHERS

The Financial Times

NEW YORK - The overwhelming majority of wealthy Americans do not want to retire at 65, according to the latest survey of investor optimism by PaineWebber, the Wall Street brokerage.

Only 15 percent of the investors contacted by Gallup, the polling organization, all of whom had invested assets of at least $10,000, wanted a "traditional" retirement by the age of 65.

A further 15 percent intended to carry on working full-time "as long as they can," while 60 percent looked on retirement as an opportunity to seek new jobs or become entrepreneurs. Another 10 percent wanted a "work/life balance," which would include working on a consultancy or part-time basis.

The survey reflects the already well documented competitive work ethic of the postwar "baby boom" generation. It appears not to be strongly motivated by nervousness about finances, although some research suggested this age group did not save heavily in earlier years.

PaineWebber's findings will bolster optimism that savers will continue to inject funds into the equity market, as many of them have ambitious plans for expenditure in later life.

"American values regarding retirement are changing significantly. The hallmark of a new generation of retirees, who place a premium on life after 50 is a clearly defined idea of living life on their own terms."

She said that the "work ethic" was important, and that "we look at our productivity as tied to our work."

The 15 percent of the people surveyed who wanted never to retire had average total savings of $197,000. Their average age was 45.

Some 34 percent of the would-be entrepreneurs wanted to turn their hobbies into ways to make money, and many of them already have made some money from hobbies. The majority expected to spend more than $50,000 to start a new business when in their 60s, and 8 percent intended to spend at least $500,000.

Those who wanted to retire completely wanted to do so, on average, by 62. They tended to be younger and to have slightly more savings than the others, and were less worried about finances.

Gallup contact 986 investors across the United States for the survey.

All had investable assets of at least $10,000, and almost half had assets of more than $100,000.