Working past 65: you may be in the labor force longer than you think. Here's what you need to know to prepare.

Publication: Consumer Reports

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.

Back when JFK was just a senator, Betty Varner, now a 76-year-old grandmother, started her job as a program analyst for the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, in San Francisco. Today, with 43 years under her belt, she has no immediate plans to put down her finely sharpened pencil. "I've been a widow for 26 years, so I guess I kind of got wrapped up in my job," she says. "My health has been good, so I haven't seen a reason to leave."

Roughly 4.3 million people age 65 or older are in the work force. That's about 48 percent more than in 1985, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And as the senior population swells, the number is bound to grow. What's more, beginning next year, the age at which workers qualify for Social Security will gradually rise to age 67 for those born after 1959.

Anemic retirement savings and the disappearance of pensions may also force people to delay the day they hang up their work duds. Almost 1 in 5 U.S. investors out of 1,001 polled by Gallup/UBS last January said they planned to postpone their retirement an average of 4 1/2 years because of the recent market downturn.

The moral: People of all ages should be preparing for the possibility that they may still be in the work force well into their 70s.

Although working beyond the traditional retirement age sounds like a bummer, it has inarguable advantages. Not only can your nest egg grow because you continue to add to your employer's retirement plan, but you may be eligible...

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