Wealth Insights
A look at retirement: Tips for Baby Boomers

Article 8 min read Updated October 1, 2025

Baby Boomers are living and working longer. Income has become harder to find, and health care is a bigger financial concern than ever before. Here’s how to keep your retirement dreams alive.

Baby Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, have reached the traditional age of retirement, only to find that the social and economic landscape of that retirement is very different from what they came of age expecting. While each person’s retirement plans and priorities are unique, for Baby Boomers, the landscape into which they’ve been retiring—one of longer lifespans, higher health care costs, unexpected familial pressures and a changed investing environment—created something new. Here’s some of what that might look like.

How a landscape changes

The change begins with much longer life expectancies, “which is the real game changer when it comes to retirement,” says George Linardos, a Portfolio Manager with Regions Asset Management. When the first Baby Boomers were born in 1946, a man of 65 could expect to live to age 78, just 13 more years. But now a man born in 1946 has already surpassed that. That means individuals who plan to retire at 65, as many of their parents did, may well need the accumulated wealth to pay for a 20-plus yearslong retirement.

In addition to longer life spans, people entering retirement age now are doing so with different kinds of retirement assets. Unlike their parents, who frequently relied on defined benefit plans like pensions, fewer Baby Boomers have access to such plans. “While some percentage of Baby Boomers may receive pensions, it’s going to be a whole lot less than the Silent Generation that preceded them,” explains Alex Gonzalez, a Regional Executive for Regions Private Wealth Management. “So personal wealth accumulation and retirement planning plays a much bigger role.”

Longer life spans often bring with them increased health-care costs. And while Medicare covers some expenses, it doesn’t cover many others, such as long-term care. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), more than 40% of retirees report that their health-care expenses in retirement are higher than they expected, and 25% say that long-term care costs were also higher than they expected. A 2025 estimate shows a 65-year-old would need $172,500 on healthcare and medical expenses through their retirement.

At the same time, the investing environment has changed, especially for would-be retirees.

“Many years ago, we had much higher expectations for market returns—high single digits to low double digits,” Gonzalez says. “Today we have a much more conservative perspective—we plan for mid-single digit returns.”

This is the retirement environment today’s retirees face. But here are a few strategies that the newest wave of retirees are employing to take on these challenges.

A more active, engaged approach

Baby Boomers have realized that, unlike the generation before them, no one is going to look out for them in retirement, and they’ve adapted accordingly. “This generation has really experienced a shift from employer-based planning to an emphasis on personal planning and responsibility,” Gonzalez says. As a result, they’re actively engaged in every facet of retirement planning, making provisions for personal long-term care and care for their families through thoughtful investing options, careful drawdown strategies and other tactics. In many cases, they’ve been collaborating with a financial advisor for years before they cash their final paycheck.

One way many Baby Boomers plan to make the most of a longer life is to make it a fuller life—with more work and more engagement. A full 66% of Baby Boomers plan to work past 65 or not retire at all. “I’ve seen clients with second, third, and even fourth careers,” says Linardos. “To call it quits at 62 or 65 is hard for most Baby Boomers.”

The financial benefits can be profound. For starters, it may help you to delay claiming social security benefits, which increase each year you delay until age 70. And if you contribute to a workplace retirement plan, it can also give you a chance to make sizable “catch-up” contributions starting at age 50 – and again from age 60-63.

The American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries refers to a recent study noting many of today’s workers expect to work beyond the traditional retirement age of 65, or they do not plan to retire at all. The majority plan to continue working at least part-time in retirement. Notably, among those planning to extend their working lives, most plan to do so for both financial and healthy aging-related reasons.

“For some Baby Boomers, working longer is more about the desire to stay active and engaged,” adds Ray Hand, Market Executive and Private Wealth Executive for Florida. “This generation has led the way in understanding that there is more to life than leisure. Retirement is about finding new ways to fulfill one’s purpose in life. Many of whom have found that some level of gainful employment, while optional, is a key part of that fulfilment.”

But keep in mind that working longer may not always be an option. “You could develop health issues that prevent you from working, or encounter employers reluctant to hire older workers.”

According to the 2025 EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Survey, 75% of workers think that they will work for pay in retirement, while only 3 in 10 retirees say they actually have worked for pay since retiring. Working longer is a great idea, but you do need a backup plan, notes Gonzalez.

Riding off into a new sunset

For Baby Boomers, retirement has the potential to be tremendously fulfilling.

“Most Baby Boomers will be able to continue to work if they want to, or to return to work if they need to,” Linardos says. “They’ll likely be healthy enough to spend time taking care of their grandchildren, if that’s something they want to do. They’ll have the opportunity to do the fun stuff.”

It’s just a question of approaching retirement much like this generation has approached everything else—by rethinking, reworking and reimagining it. Their retirements won’t be like those of their parents, but with some extra thought, care and planning, it can be something exciting and new.