Time to Rethink Your Social Security Plan

And work during "retirement" doesn't necessarily mean toiling at the same job you've hated all those many years. Thanks to a dramatic demographic shift that is just starting to play out, older workers with skills will be in demand in many professions and in certain areas of the country as boomers retire and the much smaller Generation X is unable to replace all of them.

It's already happening in places like Omaha and Pittsburgh, says Beverly Goldberg, vice president of the New York City think tank The Century Foundation, and author of Age Works: What Corporate America Must Do to Survive the Graying of the Workforce.

Outsourcing to other countries or relying on immigration isn't going to solve the problem, she says, because the demographics are the same globally, and all countries are competing for younger workers. What's striking about this shortage, Goldberg says, is that for the first time, companies cannot rely on the usual fallback -- female workers -- as in World War II. Rosie the Riveter is already otherwise well-employed in the workplace.

While workers in their 50s might worry that their employers are about to give them the ax at any moment, the bigger picture will get brighter every year, says Goldberg. Older, skilled workers will have the opportunity to take part-time work, flex time and consulting jobs.

"Keep in mind, you will have the upper hand," she says. "You will be in demand. They will want you. You might work -- but it doesn't mean you have to work nine-to-five on a killer schedule."

Even working part time after officially retiring from full-time work can help boost financial security.

Having income can help you forestall tapping your IRA or retirement savings, and allow them to continue growing tax-deferred. It can also let you postpone taking Social Security benefits, which pay out at a lower rate for early retirees, at least under the current rules.

Set a reasonable standard of living (read spending) well before you retire. "If you live paycheck to paycheck now, it's going to be tough," says Miller. "If you want to have control, you need to take control long before 62." Don't touch your retirement nest egg to pay for your children's college education. With many boomers having kids late in life, education and retirement savings often compete. And many parents feel obliged to underwrite the best college possible. Financial advisors strongly recommend against that, because while there are many ways to pay for college, there are few means to fund retirement. Some college alternatives: have children attend state schools, give them their lump-sum "inheritance" ahead of time for college, have them attend junior college for two years, then transfer to a name college, and of course, have them work and borrow to pay on their own.