Retiring isn’t what people expect

HSBC released a new study yesterday called “The Future of Retirement,” showing that early retirement is no longer very popular. They interviewed 21,000 people in 21 countries, and in the US, the study says that, “older people contribute $19.2 billion in income tax and $18.9 billion in voluntary work. The USA epitomises the global story, in which we find a picture of health, control and quality of life during later life.”

That’s good news on the financial numbers, especially given that we are headed for a social security crisis, but many people would take issue with the premise that older people in the US are healthy and in control. I guess it depends on your definitions of ‘healthy’ and ‘in control.’