Will the old thirtysomething gang still be showing up for work at seventysomething?

That could be the case for many of their real-world contemporaries if they hope to enjoy financially secure retirements.

Baby Boomers, with their inheritances, homes, and old-fashioned pensions, may appear to be on track for a solid retirement - but some experts say the forecast for the generation born from 1946 through 1964 isn't necessarily so rosy.

While Boomers are more likely than younger workers to have defined-benefit pension plans and certain other advantages - that's particularly true of older Boomers - many may wind up financially ill-prepared for retirement unless they work longer and save more.

The recent financial crisis took a toll on wealth; inheritances on average won't be that big; traditional pension benefits are phasing out; and many shop-till-you-drop Baby Boomers simply haven't saved enough money to last through retirements that should stretch beyond those of previous generations, economists note.

"The majority of today's retirees are able to afford a decent retirement. However, this group is living in a 'golden age' that will fade as Baby Boomers and Generation Xers reach traditional retirement ages in the coming decades," states an October 2009 report led by Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

"This gloomy forecast is due to the changing retirement income landscape. Baby Boomers and Generation Xers will be retiring in a substantially different environment than their parents did," the report notes, citing longer life spans and retirements and declining "replacement rates" - retirement income as a percentage of pre-retirement income.

As of 2009, in the wake of the housing and stock market crises, some 51 percent of U.S. households were at risk of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living at age 65, the authors calculated in their report, "The National Retirement Risk Index: After the Crash". Some 41 percent of early Boomers, 48 percent of late Boomers and 56 percent of Gen Xers were at risk, they said.

The financial crisis, however, can't be blamed for everything.

"They weren't prepared even before the crisis," Munnell told CNBC recently. The report noted that two years earlier, 37 percent of early Boomer and 43 percent of late Boomer households were at risk

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Retirement Bliss May Turn to Blues for Some Boomers

Lets get the bad news out of the way first: 51% of households below the age of 65 are at risk of not having enough income to enjoy the lifestyle theyve been looking forward to in retirement. In fact, according to Tony Webb, research economist at the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College, other than the value of their home, about half the population has basically nothing saved for retirement.

Scary.

Indeed, this years annual Retirement Confidence Survey produced by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 30% of todays workers have $1,000 or less in savings and/or investments, and 60% have less than $25,000 in their savings accounts. However these numbers include workers of all ages, ranging from the very youngest-whom you would expect to have little in savings- to those on the cusp of retirement.

Unfortunately, a significant portion of older workers have next to no savings or investments. Harris Interactive reported last year that, shockingly, a significant portion of nearing or already in retirement have no nest egg set aside at all. Generationally, one in four (25%) baby boomers (aged 46-64) have no retirement savings, with 22% of Matures (aged 65 and over) stating the same. (1)

Heres the good news: Theres a simple fix. Work a few years longer. (I didn't say you were going to like the solution)

How much longer? By expanding upon the National Retirement Risk Index, analysts at CRR, including Webb, determined that 85% of us would have the financial resources needed to maintain the standard of living were enjoyed prior to retiring if we worked until age 70. (Gasp.)

But I hate my job! Theres no way I want to keep working for that company for another ___ years!

Deeeep breath. You dont have to continue to slog away in the job you currently have. (Although if you enjoy it, thats your best option.) All you have to do is work someplace where you can earn enough money to cover your daily living expenses.

70 = the New 65

The key to this strategy is two-fold: Once you reach age 62, a) resist the temptation to file for Social Security benefits, and b) dont take any withdrawals from whatever personal assets you have, such as a 401(k), IRA, etc.

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Easy Fix for Retirement Problems: Work Longer

PEORIA, Ill., June 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Alliance Benefit Group (ABG), one of the nation's largest retirement plan providers serving small- and mid-sized companies through a national network of independently-owned, full-service licensees, has taken a leadership role in advocating for the retirement industry. ABG recently submitted an extensive request to the Department of Labor (DOL) seeking clarification on the new DOL regulations impacting employers in 2012 as reported by PLANSPONSOR, a leading retirement industry publication.

ABG's independent retirement administrators serve over one million participants across the country through approximately 13,000 plans, representing over $38 billion in assets under management.

"As a growing network of independent retirement administrators, ABG embraces its leadership position in addressing retirement issues that not only impact independent recordkeepers but the important small employer segment," said John G. Hopkins, IV, Executive Director of Alliance Benefit Group. "ABG is uniquely positioned to be the collective voice to Washington on independent employee benefits consulting and administrative issues that are critical to the 50-to-5,000 participant retirement plan."

"While ABG provides the scale and technical expertise for licensees to share best practice ideas as well as greater buying power, the organization's larger mission is to shape the industry's identity with policy makers by filling an information void for both service provider and plan sponsor segments," added John Carnevale, President of Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group, ABG's newest licensee headquartered outside of Boston, MA.

About Alliance Benefit Group, LLC

Alliance Benefit Group, LLC is a national network of independently owned retirement plan consulting; investment advisory; health and welfare consulting; and benefits administration firms that operate as "Licensees" of Alliance Benefit Group, LLC. Collectively, Alliance Benefit Group is one of the largest retirement plan administrators in the country, providing administration services to over 13,000 plans representing more than $38 billion in assets and over one million participants. For more information, please visit http://www.abgnational.com.

About Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group

Headquartered outside of Boston, MA, Sentinel Benefits & Financial Group is a leading employee benefit consulting and administration firm. Our broad range of financial services makes Sentinel Benefits an excellent choice for clients seeking a single resource to manage all of their employee benefits including group insurance brokerage, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA), Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA), COBRA, retirement plan consulting and administration and investment advisory services. National in scope, Sentinel serves more than 3,500 businesses primarily in the New England and New York regions. For more information, please visit http://www.sentinelgroup.com.

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ABG Embraces Role as Advocate for Independent Retirement Administrators and Smaller Employers

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Transamerica Retirement Services today announced the introduction of Stash & Dash, a retirement savings game for users of Facebook. Stash & Dash allows players to enjoy a light-hearted game about saving for retirement. The goal of Stash & Dash is to navigate your piggy bank player around obstacles and collect as many coins as you can by the end of the game. The player controls the piggy bank to collect coins representing different ways of earning income, which then must be deposited along the way to earn interest. Throughout the game, players encounter and can escape money trolls, symbolizing monetary setbacks that can impact savings. Players can invite friends to try and beat their scores and have the ability to post their scores on their Facebook wall.

Stash & Dash is available online at http://www.Facebook.com/TransamericaRetirementReadiness and in the Apple iTunes store for iPad tablets.

Transamerica helps empower savers to make educated decisions about saving for retirement, said David Shute, vice president of marketing for Transamerica Retirement Services. We know that people love playing games on social media sites and Stash & Dash is designed for entertainment. By liking our page on Facebook, people can enjoy a fun game and access interesting and impactful content about retirement readiness from Transamerica and other well-known sources. Our Facebook page has a wealth of content to help savers prepare for retirement, and we hope Stash & Dash will attract Facebook users to check out the educational resources we offer.

About Transamerica Retirement Services Corporation

Transamerica Retirement Services Corporation (Transamerica or Transamerica Retirement Services), which is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, designs customized retirement plan solutions to meet the unique needs of small- to mid-sized businesses. Transamerica and its affiliates have more than 17,0001 retirement plans totaling more than $20 billion1 in assets. For more information about Transamerica, please refer to http://www.TA-Retirement.com.

1As of December 31, 2011.

TRSC 6298-0612

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Transamerica Retirement Services Creates Online Game to Illustrate the Journey of Saving for Retirement

MANY retirees, especially those in the lower income group, are at a crossroads in their life over how they would fund their golden years, but many dont consider the impact it would have on them emotionally and psychologically. It is just as important to consider the emotional and practical implications of these lifestyle changes, as many will be in for a shock when they reach retirement.

The following is based on Scottish widow research studies: while money worries were the biggest challenge retirees faced after they stopped working (30% of them stating that they did not have enough money to enjoy their new free time to the full), many people also highlighted the lifestyle challenges that came with the transition .

In Malaysia, when private sector retirees in the lower income group retire at 55, the most they would have in their EPF is about RM50,000. This amount of money would sustain them for between three and 10 years, depending on their lifestyle and spending pattern.

Faced with a sudden lifestyle change, one in seven (15%) retirees said that one of the biggest challenges they faced was coping with their reduced social life after leaving work.

Further to this, nearly a quarter (23%) of retirees missed the sense of structure in their life that came with working, leaving them at a loss over what to do with all their free time, and three in 10 found they simply didnt have enough money to fully enjoy their new life.

The psychological effects of retirement are also a major concern with 29% of retired men, who say that the transition from working to retiring was hard to deal with, compared to 24% of retired women who felt the same.

Understanding the current situation with the rise in the cost of living and the increase in life expectancy of Malaysians to 75, the Government has proposed 60 as the retirement age for private sector employees, with a pension scheme plan at a discussion stage with various stakeholders.

However, the expectations prove to be worse than the reality, with the Scottish widow research studies revealing that more than two-fifths (43%) of over-50s expecting the transition to retirement to be harder than retirees actually find it to be.

This added anxiety can be seen in the increased concerns that future retirees have about the challenges they would face when they stop working, including more than one in eight (13%) who wont be in good enough health to enjoy their retirement, around one in five (22%) who dont want to leave a job that they enjoy, and a further one in eight (13%) wont know what to do with the extra time on their hands.

The magic formula is to stay healthy, maintaining social support, keeping spiritual life and finances in order, and developing a daily routine that can help prevent stress after retirement.

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Retirement challenges

Saving for retirement as a married couple is not an easy task. Add to that saving for college, while also paying for a mortgage, and you have a recipe for disaster if you don't have a well thought out financial plan. Often, many couples decide to have one partner stay at home once they have children. This means that the couple will have to handle saving for all life goals on a single income. To effectively prepare for retirement, you'll have to be very strategic and extra careful with your budget in order to increase your savings.

SEE: The Dangers Of Paying For Your Kid's College

Run Your Household As a Successful BusinessThe first way to get a hold on your finances in preparation for retirement is to trim your expenses. Write down all the items you buy on a regular basis and analyze this list with your partner. Be completely honest about your spending habits and thoroughly look at everything. Set emotions aside and look at your household as a business. You and your partner are the CEOs, and to effectively run this business you will have to turn a profit. So, limit your expenses and eliminate items you do not need. You know that you'll save in lunches and gas because the partner not working outside the home will need to spend less on these items, but look at items you can eliminate or minimize.

Boost ContributionsIn order to meet retirement goals, it's essential to boost the amount that you contribute in order to make up for the missing income. If you were planning to retire at 60, expect to work a few more years. Also, increase the amount you contribute to your retirement plan. If you were contributing 10%, find ways to increase this percentage to 15% or higher. Remember, you'll need to put a lot more away so you'll need to be aggressive. Try to max out your retirement plan. If you file a joint tax return, the working spouse can open a Roth or Traditional IRA and contribute the max amount of US$5,000, $6,000 if over 50. Once your joint AGI reaches $166,000, contributions will be limited. When it reaches $176,000, it is phased out completely.

SEE: How To Save More For Your Retirement

Minimize and StrategizeThe key to saving for retirement effectively on only one income is to stay focused on your long-term goal and rein in expenses. Begin saving early and minimize eating out as this expense can really add up. Get creative on clothing combinations so you don't have to buy new clothes frequently. Minimize going out to the movies and consider working out from home. Buy clothes at thrift stores. Many times, people donate brand new clothes with tags still attached. Also, don't add to your expenses by using credit cards. Make sure you have the discipline to save for items and pay in cash or at least be sure you can pay the credit card bill in full. It's important to be strategic about your budget and figure out the best way to get the extra funds you'll need for retirement. It might be necessary for the person still working to try and get a higher-paying job.

The Bottom LineSaving for retirement on just one income will be difficult, but it is doable. The best way is for the partner who is at home to stretch the dollar and get extra income from different sources. This will create a healthy financial life in the home and help you both reach retirement age with a hefty and comfortable nest egg.

More From Investopedia

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Retirement Tips For Single-Income Homes

Last week, I had the good fortune to attend a Retirement Issues program hosted by the National Press Foundation in Washington D.C. Along with a contingent of fellow journalists, I listened to the thoughts of influential policymakers, financial planners, retirement industry execs and the senior adviser to the Secretary of the Treasury about the state of America's retirement.

A recurring message imparted by the speakers over the course of four days: America is in a retirement crisis. It was enough to set us reporters and editors on edge about our own prospects for a successful retirement.(But I couldn't help notice that most of the male speakers were well into their 60s, and one was either a septuagenarian or an octogenarian. Evidently, retirement experts themselves are in no hurry to retire.)

The first speaker, Diane Oakley, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, began by citing a frightening statistic: 6 out of 10 households within 10 years of retirement have saved the equivalent of one times their salary or less. She is a proponent of traditional pension plans and spoke about the progress that states have made over the past two years to shore up their underfunded pensions. In 2010 and 2011, 41 states have made changes: 26 restructured employee contributions, 24 raised the retirement age and service requirements (in other words, cut benefits), and 18 reduced cost of living adjustments, she said.

So I had to find out her reaction to the Pew report released earlier this week, which my colleague Jennie Phipps blogged about. The report found a $1.38 trillion gap in fiscal year 2010 between states' assets and their obligations for retirement benefits in the public sector. The report cited "serious concerns" about pensions in 32 states, while 7 states were found to "need improvement," and only 11 were "solid performers."

Oakley said the Pew report fails to take into account the recent changes made by the states. "When the Pew report makes a pension-funding diagnosis using just your pulse and blood pressure from two years ago, it would be wise to get a more up-to-date opinion," she says.

For instance, both the Utah and Idaho state pension plans were downgraded from star performers to the "needs improvement" category, she notes. Utah has "made drastic changes" in its plan's benefit structure, yet was still downgraded in the report. Idaho's downgrade is particularly irksome to Oakley because its long-term funding practices have been exemplary. "Idaho is one state that has not made plan changes because they have been doing the right things year in and year out for the decade we looked at their plan."

Oakley's stance on pensions has not wavered since last week, when she said states will continue to take steps toward long-term sustainability of their plans and that these plans will continue to recover.

"Fine tuning may still be needed, but we are making progress that is not reflected -- and Pew acknowledges this -- in the results of the Pew study," she says.

Meanwhile, many of us who don't have pensions are in worse shape. "Last week, the Federal Reserve Bank released its wealth and income data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, and this highlighted to me the broad underfunding of retirement security in America that is not covered in the Pew report," says Oakley. "The median 401(k) account balance was down to only $44,000 and was less than one times the median income level. That account value is nowhere near what is needed to pay bills throughout retirement and remain self-sufficient."

What wouldbe better for your retirement planning -- a regular pension paycheck or a retirement account you can manage for yourself?

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America’s retirement crisis

(MoneyWatch) Working longer is now the "go to" strategy for affording retirement, as cited by many Americans in recent surveys. But it begs an important question: How much longer do you need to work?

One answer comes from a recent thought-provoking bulletin by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research (CRR). The bulletin describes the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI), a measure of Americans' ability to retire at different ages. The index considers retirement savings, pension benefits, and home equity, as reported in the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, and the amount of Social Security benefits someone might expect to receive at each possible future retirement age.

The NRRI then calculates when a person can retire and still maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed before retirement. That calculation factors in that their income and payroll taxes decrease, they're no longer saving for retirement, and that they've often paid off their mortgage.

Delaying retirement? Here's how to make it work A retirement plan for the working 99 percent Retirement planning: Just tell me what to do

For households headed by someone age 62, the NRRI indicates that less than one-third of people -- only 30 percent -- have sufficient financial resources to retire and maintain their standard of living. Of these households, 60 percent are covered by a traditional defined benefit pension plan.

For households headed by someone age 65, 49 percent of today's working households will have sufficient assets to retire and maintain their standard of living in retirement. The percentage of people who can afford to retire increases to 86 percent if they wait until age 70 to retire, leading the CRR to conclude that the vast majority of households will be ready to retire by age 70.

So according to the NRRI, you won't have to work forever -- just five more years after age 65. And this is consistent with my own analysis in a previous post, A retirement plan for the working 99 percent.

Before you decide you can afford to retire at age 70, though, you'll want to understand the assumptions that the CRR makes to develop its retirement index to see if the above conclusion might apply to you.

First, in assessing if people can afford to retire at age 70, the CRR assumes that you'll start your Social Security benefits at 70, the age that generates the highest amount of benefits. In reality, three-quarters of Americans start Social Security at age 62, the earliest possible age with the lowest amount of benefits. The NRRI also takes into account the prevalence of traditional defined benefit income. If you have a significant pension from such a plan, that's great, but if you don't, it's a strike against you.

Third, the NRRI assumes you'll buy an immediate, inflation-adjusted lifetime annuity with your retirement savings -- a strategy I agree with. Most Americans, however, don't buy such an annuity; instead, they use various methods of drawing down their retirement savings that produce different amounts of retirement income, with people who draw higher amounts running the risk of outliving their assets.

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How much longer do you need to delay retirement?

Retirement benefits for state and local employees have come under enormous funding pressure because of the recession, slow recovery in tax receipts, and cutbacks in federal stimulus and support spending. The 2010 shortfall in public pension and healthcare benefits was nearly $1.4 trillion, according to a report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. That's the difference between what the states have on hand and the benefit obligations they have promised to pay retirees.

[See Top-Rated Funds by Category Ranked by U.S. News Mutual Fund Score.]

The retirement prospects of public employees are, of course, directly affected by the adequacy of retirement benefit funding. But the health or weakness of state retirement benefits also affects a state's broader tax and spending environment. States with well-funded retirement systems are less likely to boost taxes on their residents than states with public retirement programs in poor financial shape. If you're nearing retirement, a state's fiscal health may play a big role if you're considering moving to a place.

Pew says 2010 is the most recent year when it could review data on all 50 states. It notes that nearly every state took steps in 2011 and 2012 to narrow its pension shortfall and that many acted on healthcare benefits as well. "States have responded with an unprecedented number of reforms that, with strong investment gains, may improve the funding situation they face going forward," Pew says, "but continued fiscal discipline and additional reforms will be needed to put states back on a firm footing."

Pensions. States set aside funds to cover future pension obligations. Pew says states' total funding shortfall for pensions was $757 billion in 2010. Closing that gap would mean states had achieved 100 percent coverage of their pension obligations. Pew and other experts say adequate pension funding should achieve at least an 80 percent ratio of pension plan assets to retiree payment obligations.

[See Avoiding Common Investing Mistakes.]

Here are the 10 states with the highest percentage of funded pension obligations in 2010:

Wisconsin: 100 percent

North Carolina: 96 percent

South Dakota: 96 percent

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State Retirement Benefit Gap Getting Wider

State workers will have to pay more for their retirement benefits and work more years before claiming them, according to changes to the states retirement plan that the General Assembly approved Thursday.

Working longer means state workers would withdraw less money from the states $25 billion retirement fund a taxpayer-supported fund that accountants estimate will run out of money sometime over the next 30 years if no changes are made. Having state workers pay more an extra $567 a year from the average public employees paycheck means taxpayers will pay less.

The changes plug the retirement systems projected $15 billion shortfall by making it nearly impossible for state workers to get a retirement check and a paycheck at the same time a practice critics refer to as double dipping.

This is a retirement system. And retirement system means that you retire. Its not an annuity that all of a sudden I get to a point where I can collect it, said state Sen. Greg Ryberg, R-Aiken, one of the authors of the bill. We want these people to retire. ... Its not a second income.

Lawmakers killed the controversial TERI program, which allows state workers to retire and return to work for up to five years while they earn both a salary and a retirement check.

Lawmakers also made it much harder for public-sector employers to hire retired workers back to their old jobs. Under the new law, retired employees who return to work would have to forfeit their retirement checks once they earn $10,000 in salary in one year.

And if those public-sector employees state and local government workers plus teachers want to buy so-called service time to retire early, the price is about to go up significantly.

The S.C. State Employees Association supported the bill but said the TERI and return-to-work programs are not the bogeyman that lawmakers made them out to be.

TERI is an incentive to get quality employees to come and work for the state, said Carlton Washington, the associations executive director.

TERI will be phased out over five years. The return-to-work changes and the service time requirements, which allow workers to buy credit for additional years of service, will not go into effect until Jan. 2, 2013. That gives current state workers who are close to retirement six months to make up their mind.

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Retirement system changes OK’d