Posted on 08/29/2019 6:55:09 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Ah, those much-anticipated halcyon days of retirement — sleeping in, golf at will, travel too, leisurely day after leisurely day. No more whining colleagues, carping bosses, endless meetings with no result, tedious commutes.
Of course, few retirements turn out that way. And now a new Associated Press poll finds that for a variety of reason about a quarter of Americans have no intention of ever retiring at all.
That may turn out to be unrealistic too, given the vagaries of health for senior citizens and their family members, the rapid growth of robots and automation and the ever-changing work skill sets of each new age of technology.
Not to mention the cyclical swings of a national economy, which now currently happens to be on a hiring upswing.
The recent survey from AP and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of workers do not expect to stop working. This includes about two-in-10 workers already over 50 years old.
Another quarter of Americans said they intend to continue working well beyond their 65th birthday, once generally considered retirement age.
Many of these optimistic anticipated work plans involve — you guessed it — money. People are living longer now than their grandparents or even parents. So today’s retirement resources need to last longer too. Not to mention possible care costs for their aging parents, who also are living longer.
“People have to live in retirement much longer,” says Anqi Chen, a savings expert at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. “And they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement.”
About a third of respondents over 50 said they feel financially unprepared for retirement, while 29 percent said they feel well prepared money-wise.
Among those already fully retired nearly 40 percent said they felt very or extremely well-prepared when retiring and a quarter felt poorly or not at all prepared.
As for the effects on other workers of this growing phenomenon of aging workers, Americans seem pretty closely split.
About 39 percent thinks people staying in the workforce longer is a good thing for American workers; 29 percent thinks it’s more of a negative; and 30 percent say it doesn’t really makes any difference.
We all gotta eat !
Have a few friends that have retired and after a few months went back to work.
They could not take all the leisure time!.........their sense of self worth was way down, they felt worthless............
Dends upon what you do. If there’s a physical element to your work the post 60 years start getting very dicey. I’m 60 with a torn rotator cuff. The recovery period of this puts getting surgery out of the question. I need another 10 years minimum.
A person should stay busy. If you don’t have a purpose you die. But “experience never gets old”? C’mon. Much as we try to deny it, age takes a toll. Some of this stuff is aimed at keeping people working, and out of the social security. From the government’s perspective, hopefully you’ll die before you dip into the ss pot.
I’m still functional, and I do have traits that younger employees could learn from, but I have lost so much. I’ve lost the ability to deal with stupid corporate games created by some jerk for dubious purposes. I’ve lost some of my focus, my recall is slower, and at times unreliable.
Old people should retire, look at Biden.
* sleeping in - nope, up at 4 or 5, maybe the latest is 6.
* golf at will - nope, not a golfer
* travel - maybe some day. Too busy now and my wife still works
* leisurely day after leisurely day - nope. We bought a retirement house and I’m busy on extensive improvement and remodeling projects. Hardly any leisure.
* No more whining colleagues, carping bosses, endless meetings with no result - YES, YES, YES...don’t miss that one bit
* No more tedious commutes - YES, YES, YES...don’t miss that one bit either. We bought the retirement house in a much slower, much smaller and much more conservative place. It is SO NICE to get out of the crush, frenetic pace, and rudeness that is Silicon Valley.
I have no desire to retire. I may take a bit more vacation time when I am older, but I do not plan to retire as I enjoy working.
We are all different—retired last year and really enjoying it.
My “sense of self-worth” never came from my job—that was just my meal ticket.
Retirement is NOT Biblical-—actual the Bible speaks against it. Bottom line, the happiest, healthiest people I meet are those that are “retired” yet keep working in some fashion.
I have no intention of retiring. I like my work. I do intend to slow down and do less work but still pursue new opportunities.
Let's be brutally honest here: the modern definition of "retirement" would not exist without a massive nanny-state government and tens of trillions of dollars in government debt.
* sleeping in - nope, up at 4 or 5, maybe the latest is 6. ... same here
* golf at will - nope, not a golfer ... 3 times a week for me
* travel - maybe some day. Too busy now and my wife still works ... traveled for work ... don’t like traveling anymore
* leisurely day after leisurely day - nope. We bought a retirement house and I’m busy on extensive improvement and remodeling projects. Hardly any leisure. ... being lazy in this my first year of retirement
* No more whining colleagues, carping bosses, endless meetings with no result - YES, YES, YES...don’t miss that one bit ... don’t miss that either
* No more tedious commutes - YES, YES, YES...don’t miss that one bit either. We bought the retirement house in a much slower, much smaller and much more conservative place. It is SO NICE to get out of the crush, frenetic pace, and rudeness that is Silicon Valley. ... did that commute for 40 years thank goodness no more
* Golden years .... there’s no gold in the golden years
Old age is not for sissies.
Our recently retired friends are miserable, s you said the feeling of worth is also a factor. They keep imploring all their working friends to retire, misery loves company.
A better solution is to change the business culture so that people can work less, perhaps 2-3 days/week instead of 5. Many people at 65 and up have great value to offer as well as experience as well as reliability.
I was happy with the company I worked for. I was considered a high performer. But, I never got my “self-worth” from my job. I worked to provide for myself and family. I happily retired 5 years ago, and never once even remotely thought that was a mistake.
Some people, I think, need work in order to have socialization and contact with other people, and, when they retire, they lose automatic contact with other people which makes them feel isolated and unhappy.
Me, I’m too introverted, lol, so I don’t miss the social aspect of work, and like being alone.
I’m in my 40s. My goal is to work until I drop dead. I don’t ever want to retire. Sure, I’m saving money and trying to put myself in a decent position financially if I have to but I don’t want to. I enjoy the routine of getting up, getting ready, going to work, being productive, coming home to relax and having enough spare cash to not worry about living expenses or being able to buy a new toy every so often. Sitting around all day holds no allure for me.
Nowhere in the Bible- “6 days shall ye labor, and on the 7th day ye shall rest... until age 62.”
Retired..bored at first so I started working once more..THEN .. I fulfilled a lifelong dream..I bought a farm !!
110 acres..big fishing pond..Great hunting.. I rent some to a young fellow who is a fine farmer.The missus and I put in a garden, an orchard, are fixing the place up and have enough projects to last a lifetime...The kids and grandkids love it..You are never too old to start a new life or to follow a dream..To quote Gus.. “Its not dying I’m worried about Woodrow its living “ (or something close to that )..I am living again..
Interesting given that in many ways age discrimination in the workplace has never been worse.
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