Retirement seems like an odd concept to me. I can't imagine the standard retirement scenario, where you do nothing but golf, garden, travel.
I can't imagine having nothing useful to do, but it doesn't have to be for pay. I could easily see myself volunteering for causes that are meaningful to me, after I stop my paying gig.
It's sad to think that there are many, many elderly people who need to keep working in order to live.
Posts: 35378 | Location: West: North and South! | Registered: 20 April 2005
People differ in so many ways. I'm sure we all know people whose lives are defined by their work. They don't want to retire because their work and all the relationships built up over years of work give their lives meaning.
the relationship between income and retirement is also complex. Here's a possibly surprising statistic:
The income of the 65+ age range has always been much lower than other age ranges, but the gap is closing. And the 65+ age range, at least on average, has fewer demands on income like kids and mortgage.
Rising retirement age is not always a signal of bad policy, bad personal decisions, or a bad economy. Sometimes it's a positive choice to keep active in the world.
Posts: 12536 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
I think of retirement as not having to rely on a paid job in order to survive.
Some folks love what they do and are fortunate enough to get paid to do it. Others slog through their younger years, working at something they don't love in order to have other things.
Retirement means more choices!
aside: I wonder how widespread the notion of retirement is in the world. And how it has evolved over time in the various parts of the world.
something I never gave much thought to...
-------------------------------- We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb
Bazootiehead-in-training
Posts: 37922 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010
That's what money has always meant to me - choices. No more, no less. I'm retiring 8/10, but we will see how that goes. I don't golf and I only like fly fishing which is problematic here with only one decent trout stream in the state.
-------------------------------- "A mob is a place where people go to get away from their conscience" Atticus Finch
I’m having lunch with my old college roommate, who is nearly 70, later this week who is still running his own business. If I had been in a line of work like that, I would probably keep working until they forced me to stop.
For me, the turmoil in the industry I was in killed all of the positive working relationships and social connections I had related to work. The last few years, I was really only in it for the money.
I consulted for about a year, just to keep my brain from gathering dust, and to pretend to be useful.
I’ve now been off long enough now, that I’ve decided the concept of being useful is way overrated…
I can't wait to retire, but because I bought my house late, I expect I'll need to work until I'm 68 or 70. I have no lack of interests outside of work and dream of the day I'll be able to focus totally on arts and crafts. My job now is only for paying the bills, not much more. If I could walk away from it I would. My job is automation solutions and our clients are big banks (and they can be insufferable). It's hard work, but like I say, it pays the bills and that's the most important thing right now. It could be worse. At least there's some art and science to programming.
Originally posted by Mikhailoh: That's what money has always meant to me - choices. No more, no less. I'm retiring 8/10, but we will see how that goes. I don't golf and I only like fly fishing which is problematic here with only one decent trout stream in the state.
Jodi
