That might be a bigger part of it than we think. Many that I know that had planned to retire in the last few years are too worried to do so.
I would guess they’ve also taken quite a hit with their portfolios and aren’t in the financial shape they thought they would be in at this point in their lives.
Yep. My "Greatest Generation" grandfather quit working in the mid-1970s, able to fund a comfortable 30-year retirement on the rising values of his stock and real estate investments until passing away in 2005. Forty years of selling insurance afforded him 30 years of playing golf. There were millions his age who were able to do the same thing.
Not so for their boomer offspring. They work not because they want to but because they have to. They have little saved and little invested. They've taken on additional mortgages on homes that should have long ago been paid off. They've seen their paltry investments crumble and, in many cases, they've had to support children who can't find jobs that don't require wearing a name tag while trying to pay off student loans that cost as much as a house.
Most of human history showed that we worked until we dropped. The "Greatest Generation" was able to avoid this but it looks like we are returning to what has always been the norm.
We get a lot of great consultants because their portfolios are busted and see no sign of recover. Most are simply doing good to stay even and being engineers can do the math to see when the nest egg runs empty far before their life force does.
They are in demand now. I hope it holds out long enough for some kind of true recovery but I am afraid it will not hold out and any recovery will be long in the making.