Is Retirement At 65 The Final Fantasy?
- Image by k4dordy via Flickr
I’ve been working since I joined the Marine Corps at age 17. Prior to age 46, I had only worked at four (4) jobs (can you imagine? what a dinosaur I am) , five if you include my part time job at Blockbuster back in the 80s. I thought that was the way to show loyalty and end up with a nice retirement package at age 65.
It worked for my Mom (not so much for my Dad he died at age 60, more on that next post), so I figured that if I played my cards right I would be able to bounce the grandchildren on my knee while sitting on the front porch of the finest retirement home (which my son Rahsheen has been promising to place me in for years-:).
I was laid off at age 46 and recently I have spoken to more and more “middle-aged” men and women who have also been laid off in their later years; and it got me thinking is retirement by age 65 the final fantasy? More fallacy than actual truth? Something that only happens for a small percentage of the population?
As a network marketer here is where I am supposed to tell you about the 4 year vs the 40 year plan, so yes do consider a home-based business as a way to build retirement income. Network marketing will build your retirement nest egg a lot faster than a corporate job, as long as you are willing to work hard at it and get through the ups and downs.
If your former job had a pension plan or you put money into a 401K, please, do not spend the money on a new car, a boat or your bills! You will place retirement that much farther out of your reach because once your savings are gone they are gone - and if you are not over 59, the biggest portion will be going to the IRS and not to you (sucks, I know).
Holding on to and reinvesting your retirement funds rather than spending that money to survive right now, will ensure that you are able to retire before you’re 80 with a substantial monthly income.
Yes the old idea of working for one company for 40 years and retiring at 65 is the final fantasy of my generation, but do not despair. Our talents, skills, and experience will ensure that we get another job. But opening ourselves to the other options out there - internet marketing, home-based businesses, small businesses - will once again make retirement a reality for this generation. Although, if you find something that you totally love doing, and affords you luxury cruises and other great vacations, you may say instead “Why would I want to retire?”
So what do you think, is retirement a thing of the past? Leave a comment!
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Well, I think retirement as it was depicted in the past is over. Of course, there are those entrepeneurs who are successful enough to retire, but the funny thing is, they are never compeletely retired: they love their work too much. Biblically speaking, I think we are designed to work. I know I plan to work as long as I am physically able to: maybe less as I get older, but I always want to be engaged in some kind of meaningful work.
Well at the moment I truly believe that retirement probably is a thing of the past. In fact there are many people going back to work in their sixties. Just to hard to make ends meet.
Maybe retirement is a thing of the past. Statistics shows that over 47%
of retirement age seniors are still working or have gone back to work.
pretty sad, Isn’t it?
I think everyone do not want to grow old and just dwell in the old peoples home. So the answer for the question above is NO.
I am 50 and my partner Greg is 60. The two of us cannot even imagine ‘retiring’.
Not because of finances, because we still feel far too young to even contemplate such a thing. Can’t imagine life without contribution.
I would love us all to have a bit of a paradigm shift regarding age. That term ‘old people’s home’ sounds ridiculous to me. It is simply a location where people of a certain lifestyle have decided to commune so they have greater support structures and like-minded friends, closer at hand. We could give that a more upbeat name.
Would you call the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan or Clint Eastwood, old people? We’re of that generation. Hardly the types to sit and knit scarves or play scrabble all day.
Sorry Rena (who commented above), would you truly suggest that it is sad to see Clint and Mick still working?
Those who had stopped work and now returned, may have chosen it as a lifestyle choice, rather than necessity. Perhaps after discovering that so much free time ‘just hanging out’ is just not quite ‘it’.
I like what Theodore Roszak had to say…
“These days the cartoon stereotype of the older American is that of a cadaverous parasite shuffling across the putting green. That image is far from accurate for our existing elders, who are expanding the economy’s volunteer sector, returning to school in growing numbers, becoming ever more politically engaged, and demonstrating a keen interest in keeping up with modernity by becoming computer literate. As every retirement advisor knows, in their later years people grow serious about the meaning of life and seek to devote themselves to matters of lasting significance. The next generation of seniors may discover such meaning in the work they left unfinished so many years ago.” -Birth Of An Old Generation
OK, I’d best step down from the soapbox now.
Lots to do, places to go and people to see!
Cheers, Thea
Hi Thea,
Thanks for stopping by. I may have to write another post on the topic. When I speak of retirement I mean the financial ability and wherewithal to do the things that you want to do and no longer working a 9-5 because you have to. With people who are 45+ being laid off from jobs that they have worked for 10 or more years, the end goal of “where I want to be” vs “where I have to be” has moved. I think that’s what Rena was referring to.
I will still be productive when I am 95, but I want it to be on my terms. Does that clarify it a bit?
Denise
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