A new retirement study conducted by Gray Hair Management (www.grayhairmanagement.com), the country's leading career coaching, networking and job search resource for professionals with base salaries of $75,000 to $300,000+, reveals that 75.2 percent of America's corporate executives plan to retire after age 60 and only half believe they are on course, financially, to retire at their planned retirement age. Gray Hair Management's 2007 Executive Retirement Survey was conducted in December 2007 and included almost 1000 senior level executives age 40 or older.
An Age for Retirement
The Gray Hair Management 2007 Executive Retirement Survey found that 28.2 percent of execs surveyed plan to retire between ages 61 and 65, 30.6 percent plan to retire between 66 and 70, and 16.4 percent plan to retire after age 70. Only 12.4 percent plan to retire before age 60, and 12.3 percent said they were undecided about when they plan to retire.
In a "perfect world," 16.2 percent of execs said they would retire now. Yet 10.5 percent would prefer to never retire, and 67.7 percent would prefer to retire within the next 5 to 15 years.
Gray Hair Management also found that only 24 percent of execs plan to retire at a younger age than their parents did, while 38.8 percent plan to retire at an older age, and 23.7 percent plan to retire at the same age. The remaining execs, 13.5 percent, have parents who never retired.
"Not too long ago, it seems, most corporate executives were retiring at a younger age than their parents did," said Scott Kane, founder and managing partner of Gray Hair Management and co-author of Winning the Job Race: Pathways Through Transition. "But we're seeing a shift. Either by choice, necessity or a combination of the two, today's execs will be in the workforce just as long or longer than their parents were."
Financially Speaking
Slightly more than half, 53.2 percent, of executives believe that they are on course, financially, to retire at their planned retirement age. However, 34.4 percent believe they are not on course, and 12.4 percent admit that they don't know.
"Like other baby boomers, health care and financial security are at the top of the execs' concerns about retirement," says Kane.
Almost a third of executives, 30.3 percent, said that health care is their biggest concern regarding retirement. Another third, 29.9 percent, are most concerned about financial security. Other top retirement worries include the cost of living (15.8 percent) and long-term care (9.1 percent).
Gray Hair Management's 2007 Executive Retirement Survey was conducted in December 2007 and included 992 senior level executives aged 40 or older who are members of the Gray Hair Management network.
About Gray Hair Management
Gray Hair Management® is the country's leading career coaching and networking resource for executives and senior managers. Founded in 2000, Gray Hair Management holds monthly face-to-face networking sessions around the country, has more than 6,500 executives and senior managers in its worldwide database and sends over 1,500 monthly job leads and networking opportunities to its Gray Hair Management Network. The company's mission is to help professionals get jobs. Gray Hair Management does this by helping organizations and recruiters around the country find qualified candidates, providing members with networking events and job leads and by coaching clients using its proprietary Pathways Through Transition™ program. Through its corporate services division, Gray Hair Management also offers outplacement and human resource solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. Partners Scott Kane and Jack Heyden speak regularly to corporate executives around the country via networking events, speaking engagements and radio interviews. For more information, please visit www.grayhairmanagement.com.