70 Is The New 65

Look on the bright side: Five more of these to look forward to. (Photo via Thinkstock)

How’s that desk chair treating you? Is it comfy? Because you may be sitting there a bit longer than you anticipated. A new study from the Boston College Center for Retirement Research finds that when it comes to retirement, 70 is the new 65. That five-year difference may be what it takes to have a solid, stable retirement versus one where you’re feeling the pinch, as just half of today’s households are ready to retire at age 65, but more than 85 percent would be prepared by age 70. The report’s authors are rethinking the retirement age in part because people are living longer and Social Security benefits relative to retirement are less now than they were in the past. They say tacking on a few extra years of working not only allows retirees to gain more benefits when they do retire, but it also allows them to sock away extra cash in their 401(k), and it shortens the length of time that you have to parse out your savings over your golden years.

So excuse us while we go buy a donut pillow to put on our seats, as we’re obviously going to be here longer than we thought.