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There is talk all around the globe, now, about raising the retirement age in countries, counties, cities, states.
You've probably heard the "raising the retirement age" arguments that people live longer and governments can't afford to be paying out retirement benefits for such a long period of time. The systems are going broke. There are fewer younger working people funding retirement. It has been said that some people may be retired for as long as their working years.
On the other hand, if the retirement age is raised that means less jobs will be freed up when we're in an unemployment crisis because older workers will stay on the job, longer.
In Europe and Asia, raising the retirement age is a big issue right now. Just do a search on Europe "retirement age" to see all of the articles on the subject.
So, should The US raise the retirement age for federal workers and social security? Should state and local governments raise the retirement age for their government employees?
Consider federal, state, county, city government pensions, social security and private retirement age eligibility requirements when responding and tell us if you are still in the workforce or already retired or whether you are still in the workforce but close to retirement. If you will not be collecting social security or a pension, and your company has no mandatory retirement age (meaning you can go whenever you're ready) tell us that, too.
Here's a potentially radical idea: why not let people work as long as they are willing and able? There must be millions of people in their late 60s who'd be better workers than some others in their 20s and 30s. If you've got a good worker who happens to be 65, why cut him or her loose?
Of course, what would I know about such things? I'm not a corporate bigwig or a government official.
Retirement age should be 80. This would save much money: people working until 80 would continue to pay into the system and hopefully die before they can draw any money out.
The age for receiving social security retirement benefits should be moved sooner rather than later to about age 70. If we were to do this one simple thing, the social security system would probably return to actuarial solvency in a short period of time.
It makes sense too. When social security was enacted in 1938, the average man lived until age 62, the average woman until age 65. In other words, the program was set up with the notion that less than one-half of the people in this country would live to obtain benefits. In 2010, the average life expectancy for a man is 76 years old. The female life expectancy is 82.
People who think social security can just continue paying out benefits without any changes given the increase in life expectancy are either dumb or delusional.
I think some thought may have to be given to the person who has a very physically demanding job. Perhaps, a provision for early retirement should exist for him/her. And, retirement on disability could be an option for others. For the most part though, we all need to buckle down and understand that there is no God-given right to a government funded retirement that lasts 20 to 30 years.
Social Security should not be looked at as a sole means of income. It's not a pension. People should better prepare themselves for retirement so they don't have to struggle with shrinking SS benefits.
I think all civil service jobs should have a minimum 30 years of service before you can retire with a pension, and allow the employee to continue working for as long as they can. I don't believe in forced retirement by a certain age, some folks age better than others.
There are plenty of young people waiting to do those jobs, move over and let them have a chance, they have families to support
Actually there is not. We hardly have enough new workers in the pipeline to take over for the old ones. Our labor force growth rate is almost zero.
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