Boomers Face Bleak Retirement

CPAs see a generation with underfunded plans.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

Not since the advent of the pill have so many Baby Boomers been caught with their pants down.

So say the vast majority of CPAs (albeit in other words) who see their clients as woefully unprepared for the financial rigors of retirement.

By “vast,” I mean 92 percent. By “pants down,” I mean caught by surprise and less than ideally positioned for a post-retirement trek that 80 percent of our survey respondents predicted will last at least 21 years. Forty percent, in fact, said Boomers had better be ready to fund themselves for at least 26 years after they retire.

CPAs can expect the so-called “silver tsunami” to start hitting their shores this year. It may have already begun when, a few weeks ago, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling filed for Social Security benefits. The 62-year-old New Jersey grandmother was born Jan. 1, 1946, in Philadelphia—the first of 80 million Boomers to be born from 1946 to 1964. She’s now the first of the generation to be eligible for benefits.