Retirees’ ill health derails plans, study says

Americans shouldn’t count on making up for inadequate savings by planning to work into their retirement years, since such plans are often doomed by unexpected health problems, Fidelity Investments said Monday in releasing findings of a retirement planning survey.

The study found the typical American working household was slightly better prepared financially for retirement than it was a year ago.

It also revealed 63% of today’s workers planned to work in retirement on at least a part-time basis to supplement their income.

However, nearly one-fourth of current retirees questioned in the survey reported they were left without expected income when they had to leave their jobs early because of unexpected health problems.

“When planning for retirement, it’s more than about just money, it’s also about health,” said Guy Patton, executive director of the Fidelity Research Institute, which Boston-based Fidelity created last year to study personal savings issues. “One can certainly significantly impact the other.”

The study found that the typical working American household was saving at a rate that would allow it to replace about 58% of its income in retirement – up from 57% in the 2006 survey and 56% in 2005. The figure factors in private savings, Social Security benefits and pensions.