What Will You Do in Retirement? Your Money Depends on It.

How much time is 20 years? It’s the same amount of time since the dawn of what was once called Twitter.It’s the same number of years since the premiere of “The Da Vinci Code” and the debut of a promising newcomer named Taylor Swift.And it’s the number of years that many older Americans leaving work today will spend in retirement.On average, 65-year-olds are living longer than ever, an estimated 18.5 years for men and 21 years for women, according to the Social Security Administration.That’s five years longer than in 1970 for men, a gain of 41 percent, and nearly four years more for women, or 23 percent.Retirees in good health with adequate financial resources may spend as many years in leisure and other nonwork activities as the total time their grandparents remained alive after turning 65.

Those 20 years — or more — can leave people who haven’t planned their retirement with a lot of suddenly empty time to fill.“Most people have never been retired, so they can’t connect their present reality with their future unknown reality,” said Michael Crews, author of the retirement book “Saturday Everyday” and chief executive of North Texas Wealth Management in Allen, Texas.“The biggest question that people miss is the goal-setting and lifestyle for retirement,” he said.“In retirement, you still have to figure out what’s really important to you.

And people just aren’t having those conversations.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....