Guardian Life Insurance Company Polls Small Businesses

Guardian Life Insurance Company Small Business Research Institute has revealed owners of small businesses are not embracing the traditional idea of retirement anymore.  Many small business owners see themselves working 20 years or longer and some don't see themselves ever officially retiring.

The Institute's survey started in December of 2010 and looked at 1433 small business owners who have companies with 2 to 99 employees.  Many of these owners are planning on working well into the traditional retirement years, with about 1/3 saying they plan on retiring past the age of 70.  Of the people polled, the number one fear expressed was outliving they money they need to comfortably retire.  This makes sense since the general public overall have similar fears.

There are many reasons for the shift in retirement plans including longer life expectancy, the recession and the unknown future for Medicare.  Less than 10% of those polled see themselves stopping their work in their 60's to live a life of leisure, which is the traditional retirement plan in America.  Only about 45% feel they are well prepared for retirement which means 55% are struggling to get where they want to be.  39% expect to go back and forth between work and leisure for a period of time before stopping work altogether.

A surprising number of small business owners view traditional retirement as unrealistic.  Between saving for retirement, life insurance and inheritances, small business owners feel they need to make money as long as they can.  14% of this group plan on working part time in their retirement plan while 10% plan on working full time.  There's even a small percent of people who plan on starting up a new business venture once they retire their main business.  The shift in trends is evident that the recession is taking its toll and it will be some time before another shift occurs.