Comments on: Is Retirement At 65 The Final Fantasy?

By: Denise Lee

Denise Lee — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:24:33 +0000

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

By: Thea Westra

Thea Westra — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:44:27 +0000

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

By: tikno

tikno — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:41:01 +0000

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.

By: Rena

Rena — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:47:05 +0000

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?

By: Margaret Elmendorf

Margaret Elmendorf — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:28:22 +0000

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.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:34:51 +0000

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.