A lot of us boomers have some of the last old school retirement plans. Defined benefits that you can rely on are huge. Even smaller pensions, if you can rely on them, are extremely valuable. The good news is that those of us with such plans probably won’t starve. The bad news is that the retirement promoted in the brochures doesn’t fit the reality.
The big issue is health. When people are socking away money, scrimping and saving, they think of those healthy looking older people walking on sunny beaches. That does happen. What happens more often is that instead of beaches you are more concerned about good doctors and hospital access. You aren’t taking a lot walks on the beach when in the middle of chemotherapy for cancer. Even some of my healthy looking friends are dealing with diabetes and other conditions. It’s not uncommon to be taking handfuls of medications every day.
Another big issues is the age difference between spouses. I’ve buddies who’ve retired but their spouses still have another seven or eight years to work. By they time their partners retire they’ll be well into their 70s . . . or dead. Who knows? For some they have plenty of other things to do before their partner’s retire. Others just don’t know what to do with themselves. Many end up going back to work just to keep busy.
That’s another issue: some people have no lives outside of work. When they retire they lose their whole identity. No one in the retirement park cares that you were a big wheel in the Midget Widget Company. These people are lost.
It’s funny the number of people who retire and think they have to either by an RV or go on a cruise -maybe both. They might not even be all that interested in doing it but because it’s someone else’s dream they think they should do those things. Once they do them they can feel kinda let down and then they have to figure out what’s next.
Do what you actually want to do. A former classmate just took an early retirement. He’s doing something he’s wanted to do for some time. He bought a comfortable chair and put in a quite room far from electronics. That’s his place to read books in peace. That’s the big thing he never had time to do while working.
There are young people today who know the boomer retirement won’t be there for them. With that in mind they are enjoying life now. If that involves a spotty work record and less savings, so what? You can do a lot more things at 30 than 70. Money does not buy youth and energy. Those people see that even the “good” boomer retirements have downsides. Often it’s working 40 years in a job you hate for people you don’t respect.
In the end it’s not about retirement, jobs, or money -it’s about life and living.
-Sixbears
The concept of 'retirement' is a very recent addition to society. For the vast majority of time almost all humans had to work...usually quite strenuously....till they died or became incapable of working....and then died.
ReplyDeleteSo I'd call retirement progress. Actually, most of human history we were hunters and gatherers -which is what some people are happy to retire to. Look at those who retire to hunt, fish and take care of their gardens.
DeleteRetirement is my escape. To some, I might have retired early, but to me, I didn't want to be carried away in a body bag on my last day on the job.
ReplyDeleteI get that -having been carried away in an ambulance. Not the best way to retire but beats the heck out of the body bag.
DeleteI changed jobs alot in 35 years in construction mgmt. I never worked for or heard of any construction or owner/builder companies (even big nationwide ones) that ever had a pension plan. That was only Guv jobs that provided those.
ReplyDeleteBefore the mills around here closed they used to provide some decent benefits. Sadly, those days are long gone.
DeleteWhen Dad retired in '92, I thought he was going to go nuts with all his free time. He told me he had been working continuously since he was 10 years old (even working part time during college0 and 55 years in the harness was all he was going to do.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't much for traveling (except for going to the big city and looking at inexpensive book - record stores. His big passion was classical music. And with all of us out of the house most of the day, he could play as much and as loud as he wanted. He had a blast ! I'd sometimes hear something in middle of the night, get out of bed and go to the living room to see my old man sitting there in recliner and headphones, having a great time listening to is records.
He only had 5 years to live before a heart attack took him at age 70. But those five years were probably his best - he really did seem content. RIP Dad/
I'm glad he got to enjoy his passion. Shame it didn't last longer, but we never know the count of our days.
DeleteRetirement is in the works. A day spent sliding around a dojo floor and working with other like minded floor sliders, yeah, retirement.
ReplyDeleteAhh, lucky you. I had planned for that but my body has other ideas. Instead, I am slowly winding down and only take on work that is interesting to me. That includes much volunteer work to make my locale a nicer place to live. Whatever age you are...
DeleteHealth issues upset the best of plans, but it's how we deal with it that defines us.
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