Do you expect to have to work beyond normal retirement age to enjoy comfort in your golden years? How much longer? I have info about the new magic number for most people.

Recent media reports scared people into thinking they will almost never be able to retire. Sure, a lot of people have trouble saving today for tomorrow. But in the midst of all the negative reporting on this, there are those who will be able to retire.

In fact, the overwhelming percent of Americans will be able to. The question is at what age?

We went through two generational cycles where people were able to retire at the youngest time versus average lifespan in human history. Some people were retiring in their 50s because they had a pension and then Social Security later in life. So they never had to work another day in their lives. That meant people having 20 or more years in retirement.

Today, though, pensions are mostly gone and people not saving enough. So the question then becomes at what age do you have enough money to get by? For most people, the new magic number is age 70.

In the past, it was very common to retire and take Social Security at 62. But every year you wait after 62, you have an imputed return on your Social Security lifetime benefit of roughly 8% per year. So if you wait from 62 to 70, the amount that Social Security pays climbs dramatically.

A new study out of Boston College finds that almost 90% of people will be OK at age 70 retiring. That's due in part to a bigger Social Security chunk, a shorter lifespan to cover in retirement, and people having more focus on saving for retirement the older they get.

So this is the counterpoint to, "I'll never be able to retire ever!!!" It's not that stark for most of us.