Is working until the day you die the new reality in America?
The nature of work is changing as millennials may already know but the nature of retirement is also changing. What exactly is a proper retirement and what are the definitive criteria for deeming oneself officially retired? Is it merely not having the need to work for money because you have enough? A new article ponders on the question of retirement in America, here is a few quotes:
“I’m going to work until I die, if I can, because I need the money,” said Dever, 74, who drove 1,400 miles to this Maine campground from his home in Indiana to take a temporary job that pays $10 an hour.
People are living longer, more expensive lives, often without much of a safety net. As a result, record numbers of Americans older than 65 are working — now nearly 1 in 5. That proportion has risen steadily over the past decade, and at a far faster rate than any other age group. Today, 9 million senior citizens work, compared with 4 million in 2000.
Amazon’s “CamperForce” program hires thousands of these silver-haired migrant workers to box online orders during the Christmas rush. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Walmart, whose giant parking lots are famous for welcoming RV travelers, has hired elderly people as store greeters and cashiers. Websites such as the Workamper News list jobs as varied as ushering at NASCAR tracks in Florida, picking sugar beets in Minnesota and working as security guards in the Texas oil fields.
Well well well.., Amazon which brought us the Clickworker now brings us Workamping. This is like a mix between camping and working, where essentially the elderly (or anybody) can work out of their RV while living a nomadic lifestyle. This is interesting on one hand but then maybe not so interesting if you're 60+ and have to keep moving to find work. The fact is, retirement requires planning and does it mean what most people think it means?
Isn't there a difference between being retired on paper and being truly financially independent? To be financially independent a person has to be able to sustain themselves from their assets. In general the bargain seems to be that if you leverage your wealth by monetizing it in your youth then you can hopefully purchase enough assets which accumulate in quality, quantity, and value over time, so that eventually you don't your labor is not required to sustain you. It doesn't mean you can't work but more that you don't have to work if you don't want to work and can do whatever you actually want to do with the remainder of your life.
Readers, how do you feel about this situation? Do you intend to work until the day you die or do you aim to reach financial independence someday?
I would love to retire early but I have a strong desire to remain intellectually active until I die. For me, my real "work" is my writing and my thinking, something that I hope to eventually turn into a career and I would be able and willing to do that until I die.
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Smart lady. If you don't stay intellectually active, you have already died, even if you are still sharing oxygen with the rest of us.
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Try to get yourself into a situation where you do what you love doing. If you can make money from your passion, then you're not really working are you?
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It's one thing if you just want to continue working when you get older, but quite another when you HAVE TO in order to stay alive. I'd bet a lot of those people would benefit from Steemit. ;-)
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There's definitely a wider skew between those that will retire comfortably and those who will need to continue to earn a substantial income in retirement. With the shrinking middle class falling decidedly into the working class camp than the upper class, more and more people will be wage earners long after 65, or 67.
While spending too much in their working years is a problem, I think many people simply never earn enough to accumulate any significant savings or investments. Add in any major medical situation, and many will be forced to stay employed to pay off debt and maintain what meager standard of living they have.
I'm not sure what to do about it, but it makes me feel badly that so many face hardship into what ought to be an enjoyable, somewhat more relaxed phase of the life.
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You have said it all. Financial Intelligence would be of Great Help if known early enough.
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Yeah my wife pretty much spends non stop and ive given up on my dream of retiring at 55. I had my house before we were together paid off in 5 years. My only hope now is crypto.
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Financial independence seems to indicate that we can do whatever we want with our available means. Not quite the same as retirement, but then what is retirement without financial independence?
Much of how wealthy we feel once we've retired depends on how much debt we still have to pay off. Folks my age (late 50s-early 60s) and older have been the beneficiaries of a 30+ year decline in interest rates. 'Rolling over' debt worked to our advantage as interest rates declined.
We hit basically zero on that decline a few years ago. Interest rates have pretty much nowhere to go but up. Debt rollovers become a very bad idea in an economy like this. So leveraging the way my generation did is going to become increasingly difficult on the borrower.
Debt levels should drop, and as they do so will the money supply (fiat currency). As I see this, it will become harder over time to accumulate wealth through leveraging fiat currency, simply because the supply will diminish.
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it all depends where u living ... if u work and live in europe; the government have a better retirement system - well its better to say "had" :) , nowadays its also really not enough money when u get retired in europe... I dont actually now how the retirement system works in America , but someone has to always pay the retirement costs when you get retired ... nowadays young people do not willing to get offspring, so who should pay your retirement then? I do not trust my retirement to any government in the world, because they can change the rules and laws at anytime. Its better to get your wealthiness in your young ages, so that you dont need to beg anyone else ...
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Do you trust "the system" to look out for you when you get old?
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Working until the day one die is not cool to me because there will be a stage in life when an old person can no longer do some certain things and do you expect that kind of person to work and pay bills and the rest? Retirement and payment of pensions is better because we all need rest and have to be payed for all the years in service,Even our creator rested on
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I'm aiming for financial independence before I turn 40 😛
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Not only in America, it's even more so in developing countries
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Government planners have destroyed the economy, and the lie of Social Security is laid bare.
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Working until the day one dies is not cool to me,because there will be a stage in life when an old person can no longer do some certain things and do you expect that kind of person to work and pay bills and the rest? Retirement and payment of pensions is better because we all need rest and have to be paid for all those years we labored,Even our creator rested after creation.
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I definitely want to be financially independent.It gives you the opportunity to experience life.
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Great references!
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The older generation could also benefit from investing in some bitcoin or other promising coins, as a high risk, high reward parachute for their golden years. If mass adoption notches up, then they won't have to be as concerned about scraping for low paying jobs to keep the lights on. Bingo!
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Definitely not trying to work until I die. F%@K that! Lol
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