THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: GOOD ECONOMY ALLOWS MANY TO RETIRE EARLY

Minnie Hammonds is enjoying being a retired grandmother in ways she was never able to enjoy being a working mother.

As a single mother raising four children, Hammonds happily took an assembly line job at Procter and Gamble in 1969. The job required swing shifts, which meant Hammonds often needed to sleep while her children were awake so she could go to work while they slept.

Hammonds often left the daily supervision of her children to a sister who lived nearby, and she rarely was able to attend extracurricular events or parent-teacher conferences.

"I used to leave notes for them, and I would get up before they went to school to say 'hi,'" said Hammonds. "I regret that part of not being with my children all those years."

Everything changed in May, when Hammonds, at age 52, showed up for work one day and gave notice of her plans to retire. She worked just one full day after that, and in the past five months has spent much of her free time caring for her grandchildren and stepson, organizing the new home she shares with her husband of just two months, and performing volunteer work with the children who attend her church.

"Now I can go to football games, PTA meetings and parent-teacher conferences without any problem," she said. "Maybe these children need me more than mine did. I don't know."

Hammonds is one of thousands of Americans who are leaving the labor force earlier than planned. More than one-third of all working Americans expect to retire before 60.

According to the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average age of people collecting retirement benefits has declined from 68 years old in 1950 to about 62 years old today. And federal workers retire at an average age of 61, according to the Office of Personnel Management.

It is possible the national average retirement age could be even lower than reported, because the youngest age at which a person can collect federal retirement benefits is 62 years old.

Why the trend?

According to Retirement Age magazine's Web site, the trend to retire at earlier ages has been widespread over the 20th century. Analysts and financial planners believe a robust economy and well-organized retirement investments have had a lot to do with the trend toward early retirement.

"It's money accumulated in retirement plans that's letting them do it for the most part," said Philip Dame, certified financial planner and branch manager for Raymond James Financial Services in Cape Girardeau. "Company plans are getting more liberal and allowing people to have more choices within the plans."

In the past, most early retirees were upper-level or management employees who planned their retirement options, Dame said. Blue-collar employees often worked longer because their relied on pension plans or limited portfolios that only included company stock.

The new trend arose about 15 years ago, and employers turned to mutual funds and other retirement systems as a means of helping all employees plan for their retirement.

The change occurred largely because employees realized there would not be enough in employer plans to sustain their standard of living, and because the federal government made it less and less attractive for employers -- especial small business owners -- to offer a retirement plan.

"It's never been true in history that the blue-collar worker could retire early. It's happening in a lot of countries today," Dame said. "Around here, a lot of them are regular employees, not executive employees. They have a lot more money today to invest and take advantage of opportunities that just weren't there in 1985."

Dame said the majority of larger employers are investing in 401k and other retirement investment programs. But people should monitor their investments rather than relying on plan managers to ensure their money is being handled wisely, he said.

"There are some people here who have become millionaires through retirement planning," said Dame. "In this area, particularly, it's P and G people. A lot of them, they're very fortunate because their retirement plans accumulated lots of money."

Combination plans

Not all retirees are taking advantage of large portfolios. Some, like retired teacher Mark Springer, have benefited from a combination of private retirement plans and early retirement incentives.

Missouri public school teachers receive full retirement benefits after teaching 30 years, and partial benefits if they retire up to five years earlier.

Missouri teachers pay about 10 percent of their salaries into the private plan, about 4 percent more than employees pay into federal retirement systems. Upon retirement, they receive a monthly benefit derived from an average of their first, second and third highest consecutive annual salaries.

Springer, who had taught physical education and health classes in the Cape Girardeau School District for 37 years, was one of about 17 teachers who accepted a retirement incentive package from the district three years ago.

In recent years agencies -- especially schools -- have been actively encouraging senior workers to leave through both early-out and buyout offers. That was the reason behind the Cape Girardeau schools incentive package, which was offered as a budget-cutting measure by the district to teachers who had worked at least 25 years.

Springer, who retired at age 57, said she didn't dwell much on her decision to retire, either beforehand or in the years since. She said her decision was economically sound and has enabled her to spend time with her husband, aging mother and young grandchildren.

She also has enjoyed favorite pastimes like reading and even took up piano lessons for a year.

"I keep busy all day," Springer said. "People have asked me if I want another job, and I tell them I'd have kept teaching if I'd have wanted to work."

Although some analysts expect the average retirement age to drop to 61 within the next five years, a combination of changes in public policy stances and individual attitudes toward work at older ages may be responsible for the halt in the falling age of full retirement.

Social Security Amendments, signed by President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s included a provision for gradually raising the age when Americans can receive full retirement benefits from 65 to 67. The changes, which are becoming effective now, begin with people born in 1938 or later.

Congress cited improvements in the generally better health of older people and increases in average life expectancy as primary reasons for increasing the normal retirement age.

The changes may cause some early retirees to work at least part-time to supplement their income.

Hammonds won't be one of them. Like Springer, Hammonds said she doesn't foresee another job in her future.

Instead, she plans to take a computer course in January "just because," and will continue her work with her family and church.

"I'm living up my retirement," Hammonds said. "I have not had a dull day. In fact, I continue to say I'm going back to work so I can rest. But I won't."