The average retirement age for workers in the U.S. today is 62.
Just don’t tell that to the truck drivers who responded to a Truckers News survey.
While almost a third — 29.7% — of respondents said they have yet to decide when they will retire, almost as many — 26% — said they will continue driving as long as they are healthy.
Those who have decided, plan to work beyond that average age of 62. Fully 34.4% said they will plan to retire beyond the traditional age of 65. The breakdown found:
- 11.7% plan to retire at 65
- 10.2% chose 67 as their retirment age
- 12.5% said they will hold until they are 70
And, why are truckers continuing to work longer than others?
- They have to
- They want to
However, more than 40% said they will keep driving because they like their jobs (22.7%) or because they don’t want to not be working (18.6%).
Drilling down, our survey found that over half of drivers — fully 59.2% — said they do not have enough money so they can retire. That’s not too surprising when 53% said they are motivated to keep driving because they have bills to pay.
When we asked, “Are you saving for retirement with your own account?”, 24.6% said they weren’t. Slightly less — 22.5% — said they were and 17.4% said they had a 401K account, and 17.1% said they were using a traditional savings account.
Over half — 52.1% — said they have a retirement program through their jobs; 46.1% said their employers don’t have that benefit, while 3.8% said they were not sure if a retirement plan was available to them.
Just how much ought truckers — and others for that matter — count on having to live comfortably when they do stop working? According to data from Madison Trust Company, the average American will need $70,417 per year.
Our survey found that 27.3% said they earn between $75,000 and $100,000, while another 14.6% said they earned more than $100,000. How much of that can be saved or invested, of course, depends on the trucker’s spending habits and how serious they are about saving or investing.
Retirement is — or ought to be — a top of mind issue for truckers. Keep in mind, the truckers who responded to our survey were older than the average age of 47 cited by trucking organizations and the government. In fact, we found that of those who responded:
- 26.5% were 65 years old or older
- 38.6% were between the ages of 55 and 65
- 19.7% were 41 to 54 years old
- 13.3% were between 31 and 40 years old
Next in our series of articles from the Truckers News survey, we check out drivers’ views on trucking technology and the future of the industry.
Credit: Source link
