Most professionals have long held the belief that at the age of 65 they would retire from their lifelong careers and get to do all the things they never had time to do when they were working so hard. Some people, especially those in high-paid stressful jobs, planned their retirement for an earlier age, perhaps at 60 or even while they were still in their fifties. If there was sufficient income to live on then a man or woman could expect to spend his or her golden years traveling and enjoying the fruits of his or her labors.

It’s not surprising that after the value of retirement accounts plummeted in the last year more Americans at or near the age of retirement plan to stay on the job longer than originally planned. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy, in a blog for Harvard Business Online noted that the percent of working Americans aged 65 and older climbed to 16 percent, up from 12 percent a decade earlier, and almost two-thirds of employed Boomers expect to continue working during their golden years. But financial need is not the only reason that Baby Boomers are choosing to work longer. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed by the Center for Work-Life Policy say they enjoy their jobs and feel they still have a lot to offer their employees. Says Hewlett, “47 percent of Boomers—whose median age is currently 54—see themselves as mid-career!”