Most workers in their 50s and 60s enjoy their jobs and most feel their experience puts them ahead of the competition, according a survey released by Charles Schwab & Co.
Schwab's Older Workers & Money Survey found that three-quarters of workers over 50 wanted to stick with their job because they enjoyed working. According to the poll, nearly 60 percent of respondents said they liked what they were doing at work, while nearly 50 percent liked who they worked with. A majority felt that their years of experience put them ahead of the competition. Additionally, workers felt they were being intellectually stimulated and working to their potential. Nearly 30 percent of workers said that this was the happiest time in their career and an additional 11 percent believe the best is yet to come in their jobs.
"Working is clearly about more than the money," said Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, senior vice president of Schwab Community Services. "Being in this age group myself, I can say from my own vantage point that the older segment of the work force has a wealth of experience, perspective, talent and energy to offer their employers, and it's great to get that validation from our survey."
Based on Schwab's survey, more than 75 percent of middle-income Americans between the ages of 50 and 69 say they're sticking with their current jobs because they prefer to rather than because they feel stuck financially and cannot leave. Women are even more likely than men to stay with their jobs because they like what they do -- 63 percent responded positively compared to 56 percent of men.
The survey found some differences between people in their 50s and those in their 60s. An estimated 34 percent of 60-somethings say they don't plan to stop working, while only 25 percent of 50-somethings gave that response.
Nearly twice as many workers in their 60s as in their 50s say they just don't want to retire. The study shows that people in their 60s are more likely to be working part time and enjoying the flexibility of doing so, liking the people they work with, feeling they would be bored if they weren't working, and not feeling ready to retire or simply not wanting to.
Conversely, more 50-somethings than 60-somethings indicated that they feel stuck in their jobs, perceiving greater barriers to making a job change. An estimated 64 percent of 50-something workers surveyed said they're sticking with their current employer because they need the money compared to 55 percent of 60-something workers. An estimated 52 percent of 50-somethings indicated they believe it would be tough to switch jobs in this economy or because they don't want to lose seniority, compared with only 29 percent of 60-something workers.
When it comes to their families, older workers worry most about the prospect of needing to take care of a spouse or other family member (67 percent), with more than one in every three respondents (37 percent) believing they'll be faced with care-giving obligations in the next decade. With respect to personal responsibility for care-giving, more women than men see this looming in their future (42 percent vs. 33 percent).
The majority of all respondents also worry about their children's ability to succeed on their own (58 percent). Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed still have children living at home.
The prospect of leaving a legacy, however, doesn't keep many people awake at night: Along a continuum of what worries them most, "leaving an inheritance to [their] heirs" falls right between the prospect of global climate change and a large meteor hitting the earth.