Most people still have a 20th century vision of retirement in their heads: an idyllic 20-plus-year vacation spent traveling, pursuing hobbies, and hanging out with grandchildren. As compelling as that vision might seem, there are game-changing challenges to the retirement of the 21st century.

Consider these trends:

Life expectancies from birth increased by more than 30 years during the 20th century, resulting in millions of retirees living well into their 80s and 90s. This is one of humankind’s greatest achievements, yet many people are wringing their hands over a “retirement crisis.” If you’re in your 60s or 70s, would you rather be dead, or roll up your sleeves and figure out how to plan for a long life?

Recent research points to a growing life expectancy gap based on income, wealth, and educational attainment. Career workers and professionals who’ve participated in health insurance and retirement savings plans throughout their working lives are likely to live longer than the average lifespans reported in the media for the population at large.

Even though Americans are living longer than prior generations, the average age at retirement of U.S. workers has held steady for many years between ages 62 and 63. The result is that many retirees will need to finance a retirement that could last 20 to 30 years.

Traditional defined benefit pension plans promised to pay workers a lifetime pension, yet they’ve largely disappeared in the private sector. The emergence of 401(k) plans as the retirement plan of choice require older workers to be their own investment managers and actuaries in retirement. That means they need to take it upon themselves to see if they’ve saved enough money to retire and how to make their retirement savings last the rest of their potentially long lives. These tasks are often beyond the skills and expertise of most older workers.

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