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The headline said "Maybe" you should never retire. Maybe you should and maybe you shouldn't.
Also, the illustration in the article on the OP showed an artisan working on something creative, likely in his own studio, on his own terms, doing something he loved where he can extend his creativity. He's also likely dressed in a way that he feels comfortable.
The work world (and the prospect of retirement) looks very different with autonomy than it does with every move being scrutinized and micromanaged.
Exactly. If I was a self-employed, financially solvent artist/writer and could basically work at own pace and under my preferred conditions, of course it wouldn't feel like work.
I'd wager a small percentage of workers (if that) are able to work under these conditions. Most of us are doing some job in the corporate world that gives us little to no fulfillment personally, and oftentimes work creates a significant amount of stress.
ncole1 at #49, no need to speak to me in that way with your condescending last sentence and symbols, as if I'm naive and unintelligent. I just posted the article to stimulate a discussion and give something to post about.
I am much more interested in ideas about retirement than the living longer part. I actually do not care about the living longer part. And it's not a serious nor very substantive article....but it has caused some discussion and thoughts about peripheral ideas surrounding it.......so it has served a purpose.
Last edited by matisse12; 06-08-2016 at 10:17 AM..
Surprised at how much who saves, exactly? I have no reason to doubt your personal experience, but you are generalizing it to everybody.
....(edited)....
I don't know why people talk about savings resulting from retirement as if they were universal, because they aren't.
True...I should have said how much one MIGHT save by retiring. Everybody's budget is different. We may be outside the norm, but the thousands of dollars of SS and medicare deductions we would stop paying made a big difference. When we were considering our ability to retire, I was comparing our gross income pre and post and realizing that those deductions would stop was like finding "extra" money in our budget.
ncole1 at #49, no need to speak to me in that way with your condescending last sentence and symbols, as if I'm naive and unintelligent. I just posted the article to stimulate a discussion and give something to post about.
I am much more interested in ideas about retirement than the living longer part. I actually do not care about the living longer part. And it's not a serious nor very substantive article....but it has caused some discussion and thoughts about peripheral ideas surrounding it.......so it has served a purpose.
Sorry, I've been debating futurists too much...
Ultimately retirement is about not having to work isn't it? If the job is also fun, I don't see the problem, but at the same time why not have the option of not working if the job is not so fun?
My dad formally retired when he quit liking his job. But you could say he actually retired in spirit much sooner, when he was eligible for a full pension but kept going because at the time he liked the job.
For me one of the best things about retirement is the freedom we now have to go where we want. Not just for travel, but when working we were always choosing where to live with the big glaring factor of availability of work in our fields and ease of commute. Those can be pretty big filters.
A longer retirement just means that much more time where my physical location isn't dictated by the need to earn a paycheck, which I believe will give that much more opportunity to scratch the "movin on" itch and see/experience more of both the world and USA the greatest country in it.
Interesting that location is a big factor to you. I always moved to where the job was that I wanted, factoring in location. I started looking for another job 2 years after I moved to the Detroit area early in my career, when I moved there for a larger salary. And that was after I had moved from the East Coast to Colorado for my first job out of college, convinced that was where I Wanted to live, and found I did not care for it after the initial newness wore off. Some people love it, & I could stand it, but it wasn't as good a fit as I had hoped. Swore that was the last time. Maybe not the decision to make to maximize ones career, but I would rather love where I live first.
To ER: what one's reduced costs are in retirement are hugely variable based on income level, total taxes, mortgage, senior exemptions and breaks, & retirement benefits. I've calculated at age 65 my take home spendable income based on those reduction and benefit factors will be the equal of an extra $42k/yr EASILY, in gross income, compared to today. That is very important to me because a large part of that may be needed much later in life when medical costs will likely eat that up.
Perry,
I have done that same calculation. It gives me pause about maybe working one more year than planned after downsizing and possibly moving (short term contracts in my area of expertise are easy to find if you aren't too greedy). We had kids late so they will barely be out the door when retirement comes. I could also spend some of that first year helping one or more kids launch. I mean spending more time than money if that happens; I will help find a job and place to live. They have already been forewarned if they seem to be drifting in the last year or two I have a couple of friends that teach trades at the community college that can get them trained and placed in a job they might not care for so they better find one they do by then.
All these numbers made me check mine. This year will make 43 years total that I have SS income, 38 full time, 37 in my field. No gaps. I took a 3 week vacation in the late 80s; all other breaks under 2 weeks. So if I work 6 more it will be 44 full time years. I am ready now.
I'm already at 44 years working (22 years of two jobs at same time) and it will be 46 years before I am out of this prison, IF (if, if, if, if) my plans work out and I can leave before FRA. Otherwise, I will have to work 49 years to FRA and 53 years to age 70. I don't think I can do that. 53 years is a lot of wasted life
I enjoy nothing about this career or the people I am trapped with all day. I put my mind on auto pilot at 7 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
Last edited by Red On The Noodle; 06-09-2016 at 11:06 AM..
I'm already at 44 years working (22 years of two jobs at same time) and it will be 46 years before I am out of this prison, IF (if, if, if, if) my plans work out and I can leave before FRA. Otherwise, I will have to work 49 years to FRA and 53 years to age 70. I don't think I can do that. 53 years is a lot of wasted life
I enjoy nothing about this career or the people I am trapped with all day. I put my mind on auto pilot at 7 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.
The part I bolded is an understatement. Why didn't you try to find something that you liked better early on? Pay too good to comtemplate a change? Other?
....I don't know why people talk about savings resulting from retirement as if they were universal, because they aren't.....
I agree it doesn't apply to everyone that they save more but I sure have. I'm weak. I couldn't resist lunch out almost everyday to escape the pressures of the job. I succumbed to Starbucks pastry. Some of my clothes required dry cleaning but I had to buy more of them and a better quality to look presentable at work.
So I am one of the ones who actually has found living retired is less expensive than working.
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