Work longer. That’s both both the advice and the forecast from BMO Financial Group executive vp and global economic strategist Sherry Cooper today during a luncheon discussion today about her recent book “The New Retirement”.

Cooper cites BMO surveys that “consistently find about 80% of pre-retiree boomers suggest that they want to work in retirement.” And these same boomers claim that money is the least important reason for this desire. Instead, a sense of purpose, helping others and social contact top the list of incentives to continue working.

Cooper notes statistics that show the only demographic that boasts a growing workforce is the 55-65 group, as both early (in their forties) and late (in their sixties) boomers begin making the choice to work later in life.

Cooper adds, however, that people also might think twice about calling it quits early as savings requirements become a reality. “The rule of thumb is for every dollar earned pre-tax in retirement you’ll need 20-25 dollars in saving,” she says. “Or, if you want pre-tax income of $50,000 over and above your pension, you will need to save at least a million dollars.”

But boomers generally aren’t under any delusions about saving, she says. “Though these numbers are large, I believe in Canada that most boomers who are affluent have some sense of the magnitude of the savings required,” she says. “And most boomers will look for other opportunities to work flexibly well into what we used to consider old-age.”

Cooper’s book outlines a number of calculations that show “the power of working longer.”

People will need more money than they think, she says, adding that the ability to live on home equity is a popular misconception. In fact, most people find it very difficult to successfully downsize with increasing housing prices as they stand now. “Space is relatively cheap per square-foot in single family homes, and relatively expensive in condominiums.”

According to Cooper, it’s the poorest Canadians who will be the most secure in retirement. The transition will be relatively painless for low-income earners due to the health care system and the implicit value of social benefits in general, including mandatory retirement. “The household that earns less than median income ($58,000 annually) can expect to see replacement of about 89% of their income in retirement,” she explains. And those earning six-figure salaries can only expect to see about 30% replacement.

Cooper is convinced that retirees should be holding onto their equities for longer. Cooper notes that there are, in fact, a number of reasons why boomers should remain invested in growth situations: bond yields being so low; rising prices (especially on goods seniors tend to purchase); and the fact that the stock market is the only investment vehicle where significant gains can be made at a tax-preferred rate.

The average retirement age in the business world is 61, while its 56 in the government sector. Cooper sees these ages rising rather than falling, as they have of late. The entrepreneurial/self-employed sector, however, has an average retirement age of nearly 70, which studies attribute to personal satisfaction.

“The whole word retirement should be banned because in the general lexicon it means moving back, decline, leisure without purpose and that is not what retirement is when life expectancy is so long and getting longer.”

In general, Cooper is optimistic about the period of boomer retirement. “I truly believe that it is a wonderful time of life, provided you are healthy.”