Once you’ve retired, who would want to go back to work? Actually, quite a few retirees are doing exactly that! For a number of different reasons, about 1.7 million retirees had decided to go back to work as of March 2022.

But why? There are a number of reasons that the recently retired have jumped on board the “unretirement” trend.

It was already happening before the pandemic. Due to the rising cost of living compared to fixed incomes, many retirees were already going back to work before the pandemic began. We just weren’t talking about it much.

They weren’t actually ready to retire. During the Covid-19 pandemic, about 2.5 million older workers were forced into retirement. Some were laid off due to business closures, and some simply felt afraid of public spaces due to health issues or age. Some even struggled with the new technology related to remote work, and simply decided they would rather retire than learn new skills so late in their career.

Now that the pandemic feels under control to most of us, some of those early retirees have decided to return to work. Numerous job vacancies and rising wages add to the motivation.

Inflation impacts those on fixed incomes more severely than others. With inflation rising to a historic 8.6 percent, those on fixed incomes often can’t make ends meet. The solution is to go back to work, if only on a part time basis, to add income to the household budget.

So those reasons explain the millions of retirees who have headed back to work… But what else can we expect to see in the near future? It is possible that more workers will begin to “slide into retirement” rather than making a sudden leap. Gradually reducing work hours and responsibility will allow for a transition into this new phase of life, but without the harsh impact on household budgets during a time of unstable prices.

Remember to continue meeting with us regularly as you plan for retirement, and even after you retire. We can help you evaluate options such as “unretirement” in the event that you don’t feel like retirement is working out for you. Alternatively, we can explore different methods of establishing retirement income, so that inflation and other economic conditions hopefully won’t impact you too negatively.