A new survey from AARP finds that just over half of Americans in their 70s (51%) and 80s (52%) rate their financial situation today as excellent or very good. When these same age groups were asked if their personal financial situation in the past decade had improved significantly, 18% of respondents in their 70s and 16% in their 80s said yes.
The “Second Half of Life Study,” conducted with National Geographic, surveyed thousands of adults aged 18 to 90 to explore how Americans perceive their current life, their expectations for the future and aging in general as we emerge from the COVID pandemic.
About two-thirds of adults over 80 said that they were living their “best possible life” or close to it, compared with just 1 in 5 younger adults. Other highlights:
- One quarter (27%) of respondents do not expect to be able to retire or do not want to ever retire (14%), mostly coming from those under 50 (13%);
- Personal choice is always the dominant reason for retirement, as opposed to age, health financial reasons; and
- Lower income households mostly expect to do hobbies (62%) and spend time with family (58%) and friends (44%). Higher income households expect to do the same at higher levels (85%, 73%, 62%), and also to travel (73%) and volunteer (50%)
