Retirement Then, Now, and Next
By Teresa Ghilarducci & The SCEPA Team
Late Baby Boomers (age 59-67), Generation X (age 43-58) and Millennials (age 27-42) are retiring under much worse conditions than Early Baby Boomers (between age 68-76 in 2022). This fact gets obscured by research that paints an optimistic picture of retirement security that only really existed for Early Baby Boomers. Later generations have been impacted by changes to the conditions of retirement that Early Baby Boomers did not experience. This includes: the shift from defined benefit (DB) plans to defined contribution (DC) plans; increasing instances of debt; financial strain due to increased longevity; and rising medical and long-term care costs.
This edition of Tracking the Retirement Crisis from SCEPA at The New School summarizes our research on the past, present, and future of retirement security.1 It examines how retirement outcomes have varied across generations and considers how current legislation may affect future retirees.
