According to the latest survey by Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index in July of 2010, around 69 percent of business owners are planning to only retire or cut back after 65 years or older. There is change in the way that the business owners are approaching their retirement in the present economic conditions. Many of the small business owners are looking for later retirement. There is 17 percent increase in this category since December of 2007 and there is a 28 percent increase from September of 2005. There is decrease in respondents percentage from 27 percent to 21 percent who expressed that they wanted to retire earlier in their 60s or 64s than full retirement age. There was also decrease in the respondents who wanted to retire before they reached 60. It decreased from 21 percent to 11 percent in December of 2007.
Around 62 percent of small business owners who were surveyed expressed that they had made changes to their strategy of retirement because of downturn of economy. About 68 percent of small business owners are worried about not being able to recover back retirement savings which were lost because of downturn of economy and continued pressure of the current economic environment. Only fewer respondents were confident about about retiring and living comfortably since fourth quarter of 2007.