Why are there so many media articles telling people to wait to retire until they are 70+? (pension plan, move)
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No guarantees you are going to live to 70. I have been to many funerals of people in their 50's and 60's. These people never got the chance to collect a dime. We never know when we are going to get cancer or a brain tumor . Chemo is very costly unless you are on Medicare. You won't have much quality of life when the hospitals put a lein on your house for failure to pay. Good luck....
I may get jumped on for saying this and that's okay. We are mostly Boomers posting on this thread. I think a lot of Boomers are in denial about the prospect of actually working and/or living to 70 or beyond.
As you mentioned lots of us are already gone, never to have gotten SS benefits.
Consider that the statistical probability of a couple having at least one of them live past the break even point is probably higher than for a single person. That is why having the one with the highest benefit wait to age 70 becomes more key for married couples than singles. Again for us and others we knew it wasn't about break even point but fixed income at age 70 and beyond. You only have to wait up to 8 years from 62-70 to lock in the higher income for the rest of your life. Sorta like investing for retirement in your 20's not knowing if you will live to retire. Oh wait that was an even longer wait.
You are correct, it does bring the odds up some. Still not night and day, slam dunk, stupid not to do it but a little more likely to work out better for one of you. Still probably should not trump other considerations IMO.
I wouldn't say low income/low wealth (meaning retirement income and savings) people only got that way by a lifetime of bad decisions. Sure, many did, but that includes many good earners, whose largest fault/excuse is/was living above their means. (Which is the bad decision). Or if they did, it wasn't intentional. Many are/were uneducated or, bluntly, unable to physically, financially, socially, or intellectually handle a career that paid enough to have excess to save adequately for retirement. It is near impossible to make a "good" decision when unequipped to do so. How bright are the masses that watch Jerry Springer? Would you expect any of them to comprehend planning and saving for their future, understanding inflation, and the cost of healthcare? All they want is the latest iphone, cigs and booze, and anything they can get from the government. They would laugh at the concept of taking care of their own financial destiny when young enough that making the decision would have significant effect. My own "well educated" 26 year ol step son is too lazy and mentally incapable of making intelligent decisions about his financial future, as are many of his friends. The future is too far away and only a concept to them for some reason. Laws are often made by intelligent people, assuming that other intelligent people understand and think a like,mand thats the farthest from the truth.
I'll never understand why there's so much drama in this forum over this issue.
It's one thing when a poster facing the decision presents their scenario and asks for feedback from their age-level peers. It's quite another when a known troll posts unsubstantiated statements like those in the OP and people start trying to convince everyone else that their approach is the "best".
Everyone's "best" differs because there are so many factors. Ofttimes it's just a matter what makes one "feel secure", for some that means starting early, for others it means delaying as long as possible.
DH & I both retired in our early 60's but are opting to wait until 70 to draw SS. My older brother turned 69 last month, started drawing his SS at FRA, but will continue to work another few years. My younger brother is 63, still working, plans on working until he is old enough to draw his FRA, although he is already eligible for a comfortable work pension.
We all are doing what works best for us.
5 more years for them to do what they've set out to do: redistribute your SS and (very soon) your IRA money to a bunch of useless lazy bums who don't want to work and think a $230 EBT "check" each month will get them all they want. Yeah. Just sucker up to it.
If you're half smart you'll empty those IRA accounts, like, ASAP, babe! Whilst you may! That money wasn't taxed. It's their money! The "Supremes" will rule it that way if they have to. Empty it. Coffee can - whatever - just get it out of there.
My question is where on earth are all these people going to work between the ages of 45 and 70. I think the media is portraying a crock of $h!t. I don't think it's possible for many to work past 60. Ageism is rampant in this county and we have found it to be incredibly difficult to get hired after age 50 or so, depending on one's skills. My white collar husband is 8 years older than me and approaching 60. We have 2 teens not yet in college and it has been terrible trying to get hired. Older employees always seem to be the first to be let go in layoffs etc. It is so tough and we are trying to hang on and get our kids launched.
It all depends on your field and your repution in that field.
Many were let go because they were not the best of breed to that company.
Most company's have to be going out of business before they would ever let their best of breed go .
If they do go out that core group usually gets snatched up by competitors before their body's hit the open market.
We had resumes and applicants coming in all the time but few make the grade. On the other hand if one of those core employees walk in they are hired in a heartbeat.
We all like to think we are in that catagory as employees but the reality is most are not and the reasons we think we may be out of work are not the actual reason.
I think there are a lot of people [politicians, corporations, groups] who are all trying to do social engineering, to influence what we do. Why? I can not say. But it seems obvious.
Retire when you want to.
If you wait too long, you will be tired and disabled, or dead already.
If you want to enjoy retirement, then somehow you need to retire while you can enjoy it.
It all depends on your field and your repution in that field.
Many were let go because they were not the best of breed to that company.
Most company's have to be going out of business before they would ever let their best of breed go .
If they do go out that core group usually gets snatched up by competitors before their body's hit the open market.
We had resumes and applicants coming in all the time but few make the grade. On the other hand if one of those core employees walk in they are hired in a heartbeat.
We all like to think we are in that catagory as employees but the reality is most are not and the reasons we think we may be out of work are not the actual reason.
Right or wrong, we have to have a society where more than the top performers avoid a cull.
Right or wrong, we have to have a society where more than the top performers avoid a cull.
I repped you for this, because I am on the fence and you stated the one side pretty well for a sound bite. The other side is that there really aren't enough jobs to go around and it will only get worse as we automate more effectively and increase manual effort efficiency, so instead of trying to employ everyone we need to provide for those who are rotated out and remove the stigma associated with public assistance. In a few generations - maybe 4 tops - this will be the norm. We are in an awkward stage right now as the work ethic that served us so well for so long is oddly now an impediment (IMO).
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