The Find: It’s not just middle managers who are having to put off dreams of lazy days on the golf course since retirement savings took a beating – executives are delaying their retirements too.- The Source: A new survey by executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry.
The Takeaway: With the carnage in the stock market, just about everyone’s 401k has taken a hit. But if you were thinking that top management was insulated enough so that they wouldn’t have to alter their retirement plans despite the steep decline in the markets, think again.
When Korn/Ferry recently asked executives from 70 countries and a variety of industries and functional areas about their retirement plans, 52 percent said they planned to retire at age 64 or higher. That’s a jump of eight percent compared with the firm’s last such survey in 2004. Among the other concerning findings:
- 63 percent of executives are planning to work later in life than they expected to just three years ago.
- Only 25 percent of respondents have not changed their retirement expectations recently.
- When asked if their company provides adequate retirement benefits, 53 percent of executives said no, and a surprising eight percent said they were not sure of their company’s retirement program.
If the top rungs of the career ladder are so severely impacted, than exactly how dim are the retirment prospects for those a few rungs down?
