Posted on 06/10/2015 7:37:19 AM PDT by shortstop
I’m not sure retirement is a good thing.
Not the way it’s done now.
The way it’s done now, it seems to me that we’re marginalizing our most skilled workers, fostering idlers and turning old age into a near useless stage of life.
It used to be that people didn’t retire. They worked til they died. And if they couldn’t work, hopefully their family or their church took care of them.
But everyone who was physically and mentally able to do some useful task did so.
The difficulty arose when people became what used to be called senile, or when they became so physically enfeebled that they couldn’t provide for themselves – and they didn’t have family, clan, tribe or church to look after them.
That’s when Social Security came about.
Laying aside its socialist assumptions, Social Security was envisioned as a pension system for those who were at the tail end of their lives. It was a pittance to help maintain those who couldn’t maintain themselves.
It was just assumed that anyone who could still work would still work. In that innocent day the notion that anyone would willfully choose to be idle, to live off the sweat of someone else’s brow, was shameful.
Retirement, as little as 50 years ago, was the time in life when old age and its limitations prohibited people from supporting themselves. It was almost always a fairly short time, because people that stricken by age typically don’t have much life left.
But that was then and this is now.
Now, people live longer and think different.
Now, retirement is seen as the “vacation” of life. People go into retirement long before they are physically or mentally incapacitated and, typically, with many years of potentially fruitful life still ahead of them.
This has come about by an advancing life expectancy, the former abundance of generous pensions, and a sense of entitlement to a comfortable retirement and the Social Security check that helps make it possible.
And our work ethic has changed. The connection between self-support and self-respect has – with unfortunate and tragic consequences for society – been broken in our country. Increasingly, a spirit of “I’m going to get what I can, it’s owed to me” has crept into our national values.
Rather, a spirit of personal greed and covetousness has replaced the value of self-reliance and hard work. This is not true for all, of course, but in varying degree it has become true for many, maybe even for most.
So we retire. Sometimes at 62. Or 63 or 65. Typically, Americans retire in their early 60s.
And, typically, Americans in their early 60s have another 20 years of life ahead of them.
And yet they have sidelined themselves. At a stage of life and their careers when their knowledge and experience are at their best, they lay work aside.
Which is a terrible waste.
Yes, people in their 20s will work for less. But people in their 60s have a wealth of ability built up over decades that is invaluable. They have learned lessons through success and failure that put them head and shoulders above younger workers.
But they retire. And then to fill their time many of them volunteer in helpful but generally menial tasks. They are helping hands, no doubt, but typically their skill sets lay fallow and wasted.
Many make retirement a time of ease and idleness. They do nothing. It seems sometimes that is harder than it sounds, as many of the most idle retirees seem to die fairly soon.
And it is the hardest working, interestingly, who seem to live longer.
I think that is because they have a purpose. They have a reason to get up in the morning. They know they are useful, and being useful is essential to a happy life.
I’m not begrudging someone who has worked a long and successful career a little ease at the end of life, but I am saying that “the end of life” isn’t anywhere as early as our custom of retirement seems to indicate. As a matter of personal fulfillment and happiness, and as a matter of social and economic policy, people who work are better than people who don’t work – and there’s no reason to think that changes when you turn 63.
As our health stays strong, we should consider staying in the workforce. And in meaningful jobs. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a Wal-Mart greeter, but the vast majority of elderly workers are capable of far more than smiling and handing out stickers.
Part of the problem is that we dismiss old people. We don’t take them or their abilities and experience seriously. Sometimes the most capable person in a company is the old guy they’re eager to push into retirement. Sometimes the arrogance of youth wins out over the ability of age and we suffer as a result.
So I think we should change our thinking.
Retirement shouldn’t be an automatic. There are no automatic milestones of age, and there should be no automatic milestones of the workplace.
People shouldn’t automatically assume they must retire, and society shouldn’t automatically assume that they must either. Much joy, prosperity and productivity can be found by staying in the workplace, instead of shuffling off to Florida, and more people should consider the option.
I’ve always felt retirement is an over rated concept.
The idea of staying home and watch day time television has never much appealed to me. Golf would get boring after a while.
I hope to work and be productive as long as I am breathing.
God willing.
**They worked til they died.**
Like in the gulags.
Yup. I'm planning on it.
Social Security, AKA, FICA or Federal Insurance Contribution Act. Social Security is also known as Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI), although retirement and survivors’ benefits are only a portion of the SSA’s obligations.
It was never originally intended to be a ‘retirement plan’..................
I am 55 and would like to semi-retire at 62.
What will I do?
-My employer has 2 day a week positions, summers off. Take one of those positions.
-Be a docent at a local museum, couple days a month.
-Golf once a week.
-Travel. There are a lot of places on my bucket list I would like to see. Australia, large chunks of South America and a couple more places in Asia. Need to get them knocked out while I am able.
-Do some medical mission work.
-By then good Lord willing, I will have grandkids. Since the kids are scattered all over the country I would like to visit them, a lot.
I am 69 years old. I will retire when I am physically unable to leave the hospice. My SS is insufficient to do anything beyond play on the computer and that gets old.
It depends on what sort of work you do.
If someone has been doing physically demanding work, such as construction labor, it gets more difficult to keep up with the physical demands of the job as people get older.
On the other hand, if someone has a desk job, that person can continue long past the traditional retirement age.
Working Retirement - is now what it's all about. Go from a job to doing something you love to do.
RE: SHOULD WE RETIRE RETIREMENT?
The problem is not really retirement, the problem is AGEISM.
A large number of businesses and companies will FORCE you to retire vias layoffs, replacement, or some other means when you reach a certain age.
And very few businesses will hire you even if you are strong enough and willing to continue working.
I am happy to now have ALL of my time available for working for the betterment of my fam rather than being forced to slave away 40% of my working time for the benefit of the govt. I’m still a big net taxpayer, but my time is my own.
I still work a few hours a week for exercise.
I'm not wealthy but have a comfortable retirement.
I would like to do a lot more traveling in my golden years.
But travel is very expensive.
One more reason why I want to continue working for as long as possible.
I would like to take longer vacations when I get older.
***That’s when Social Security came about.***
At that time normal life expectancy for a man was about 57 years, and a woman 64. That means most would never reach retirement and the system would not be stressed.
Then came Penicillin.
In 1964, the government said this...
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/ssa/usa1964-2.html
Self-Supporting
“The program is designed so that contributions plus interest on the investments of the social security trust funds will be sufficient to meet all of the costs of benefits and administration, now and into the indefinite future—without any subsidy from the general funds of the Government.
Both the Congress and the Executive Branch, regardless of political party in power, have scrupulously provided in advance for full financing of all liberalizations in the program.”
And HERE is where your money went. Read and weep.
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html#n4
I am. Been retired over 20 years and livin' the dream. Of course I worked steadily all my teen and adult life and had the sense to squirrel away enough nuts for this season. Following Dinah's advice to,"See the USA in my Chevrolet" I am never bored.
I have been retired for 20 years. I have held my retirement job as long as I did my real job
Having pared my client list, I work on average on two days per week.
On two other days I either paddle my kayak or go swimming for exercise. I spend too much time either arguing or agreeing with FReepers. The writing keeps my mind fit.
When I first retired, I walked every day to the post office to get the mail for my new very small business. I met a down the street neighbor one day that mowed his yard twice a week. One day he told me he was accustomed to going to work at his engineer job and being told what to do. Now he was at home and had no one to tell him what to do and he didn’t know what to do so he mowed his yard.
That was perhaps the saddest tale I ever heard.
I wish that the do-gooders would don make up to look like 65 year olds and then try and get a job. The medical benefit rules never helped, and Obamacare has made it worse.
Quite true.
It depends on what you do and if you like what you do.
And I do.
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