4 Trends for the Coming Decade

From how long you work to where you choose to live, retirement will change in ways you may not expect.

- By Catherine Siskos

THE ERA OF TRADING A LONG CAREER FOR a pension and afternoons on the golf course ended long ago. In its place, today’s retirees face growing financial pressure from multiple directions, including the looming fiscal crises for Social Security and Medicare.

Retirement for the middle or working class is changing more than retirement for the wealthy. The imbalance starts with retirement savings. Although a robust stock market helped turn a record 334,000 people into 401(k) millionaires by the end of 2020, one in three Americans also report that the pandemic set their savings back a few years, according to a Fidelity Investments survey. Americans in their fifties had, on average, $203,600 stashed away in their 401(k)s as of the fourth quarter last year, with people in their sixties reporting savings of only $25,500 more, Fidelity says.

Although most Americans will need to work longer, you have a shot at striking a better work-life balance, allowing more time for other pursuits. That’s good, because the one thing the four following forces shaping retirement in the 2020s have in common is the need for a bigger nest egg.