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I am in IL - the only way any companies in chicagoland here want over 60 workers is to work at Walmart. Over 45 and you are discriminated against terribly. They want you to hit the bricks...
Don't think the media is pushing older folks to keep working, I think inflation and financial reality is what's doing it. The media is just reporting on this...
I was hoping for an explaination of why the media is promoting (hyping) late retirement, not people's own stories of poor financial planning.
I think that it isn't pushing anything, just reporting a current trend. One of the reasons for this trend is the changing nature of work, much work is less physical and repetitive than many past jobs. Computers and derivative technologies, such as the internet, have changed much of the nature of work and allowed folks to work longer, should they choose, due to less physical demands.
As far as the media goes, the changing nature of pensions and health insurance is just something they report on, just like the ongoing debates about retirement age, income and social security. Some folks, like me, can retire in our mid-50's, the media isn't pressuring me to work.
I can, of course, only comment on personal experience, but we are in no way ready to retire if it means retiring in Washington State because it is way too expensive. Were we to move to SC, we could afford to retire, or at least my husband could (he is already retirement age). This marriage is the second for me, the third for him. We were both on the "losing" ends of our first marriage, and that meant paying the "other party" for years and years. Then we had to "collect" all the things that we would have had if we had been married for 30 years. Now we have to pay off the debt incurred from our "collecting." Hence, we are still working.
All that shows is complete stupidity on our part for the choices we have made thus far. After we get everything paid off, we will need to sell our home, which hopefully will stand us in good stead to buy--or at least put a good down payment on--another home in an area that is easier financially to live in.
The trick is going to be deciding where to live--hence, my finding this board and reading it daily--or I should say deciding where both of us can live happily together, since my husband hates the South, and Washington is definitely not for me.
To all of you who made good choices/better decisions throughout your life such that you all are financially sound and can retire, more power to you! To those, like us, who have made decisions that have caused us to have to work harder and longer than had we made better decisions, remember that it is never too late to make a better decision or better choices; the later one makes decisions that could positively influence one's ability to retire, the longer it will take one to retire.
It would be very difficult to save for retirement now. When we did most of our saving, there was no Cablevision. We had rabbit ears antenna and all we could get were 4 local stations. Nor did we have cell phones or a zillion different electronic toys to by for the children. No Computers and Internet Service either. I could take a trip around the world if I could get money from all the grandkids electronics.
We didn't even have Air Conditioning and I hung my clothes on a clothes line. I know myself well enough that if all the things that are available now, were available then, we probably wouldn't have a dime saved.
What's the answer? I sure don't know. I don't think that people today will give up the things that have become a regular part of life. I don't think I would. In fact, sometimes I think of all the things I have today that I could give up in order to be very sure that there was enough money, and I KNOW without a doubt, I couldn't and wouldn't save a dime. Especially on A/C.
I totally agree. We are retiring early next year, both 60. We want to enjoy our time together: traveling, motorcycling, family, wood-working, gardening, quilting, volunteering, etc. Unfortunately we see a lot of people continue working well beyond when they could retire or retire from the company and go back as consultants. It seems many people think their "life" is their jobs. One has to wonder why.
And? I often wonder why the judgement about people who continue to work, or rather their life is their job, so people like their life/job. Everyone does not have the same picture of what a happy life looks like.
OK. And you felt it necessary to revive this old thread to make your point?
Necessary? No. Nothing any of us write or do here is necessary.
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