Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
__________________
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The
other is as though everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein
This sentence from the article was pretty depressing:
Quote:
There's been a big increase in labor-force participation for people 55 to 69 in the past five years; all other age groups were flat or down.
I can see some dreadful possibilities we might witness in a few decades. Imagine millions of feeble, exhausted, white-headed old men and women slaving away their final years on this earth.
__________________ "Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harborless immensities." - - H. Melville, 1851
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 10,537
Quote:
Originally Posted by Want2retire
This sentence from the article was pretty depressing:
I can see some dreadful possibilities we might witness in a few decades. Imagine millions of feeble, exhausted, white-headed old men and women slaving away their final years on this earth.
Exactly the reason I have never and will never begrudge a penny of medicare or ss taxes I pay, even thoug I fully expect to get zippo out of the deal.
I'm glad some people are planning to keep working. I need them to pay in to SS.
Something is going to have to change.
I believe the government is going to do some social engineering of some sort to keep people working and consider delaying medicare and SS as long as possible.
They will do it via tax incentives to work and perhaps defer SS and Medicare and disincentives to Retire younger and take SS/medicare.
They could reduce income taxes on people over 62 that continued to work (and kept them paying into SS and Medicare)... the government is likely to be no worse off.
But that will only solve part of the problem.
IMO - I suspect that we are likely to have to increase legal immigration substantially over the next 20 years at all levels of education and skills.
__________________ Planned FIRE 2011
Disclaimer: I make no warranty or guarantee about the accuracy or completeness of this information. I am not a financial planner, my comments only represent my opinion.
IMO - I suspect that we are likely to have to increase legal immigration substantially over the next 20 years at all levels of education and skills.
Nothing wrong with encouraged immigration. That is what made North America what it is today, and what will continue to be needed in the future. At least North America is somewhat receptive to this. Europe is just beginning to have social unheaval because of a similar need and Japan is just in downright denial.
I believe the government is going to do some social engineering of some sort to keep people working and consider delaying medicare and SS as long as possible.
They will do it via tax incentives to work and perhaps defer SS and Medicare and disincentives to Retire younger and take SS/medicare.
They'll do it through planting articles like this in the media. Search for keywords like "bored", "unfulfilled", and "re-wire!"
It's so much cheaper than Plunge Protection Teams and black helicopters...
Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaco
IMO - I suspect that we are likely to have to increase legal immigration substantially over the next 20 years at all levels of education and skills.
Especially skilled nurses and geriatric-care technologies!
Luckily it looks like the clients will be applying for these benefits through their workplaces.
Cubicles in continuing care facilities. What a concept...
__________________ *
* For more info see "About Me" in my profile.
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hooverville
Posts: 11,357
Quote:
Originally Posted by aenlighten
one of the leading causes of unhappiness is being unemployed. A measure of how much people are trained to be workers.
It may also be because not every unemployed person is a millionaire. Some have kids that depend on them, wives that lose respect and leave them, and desperately needed medical insurance for themselves and their families that they no longer have.
And some of them even have rent or mortgage payment to make, and food to buy.
Poor deluded fools! Why aren't they joyful to have cast off their yokes?
Ha
__________________
“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.”-Groucho
This sentence from the article was pretty depressing:
I can see some dreadful possibilities we might witness in a few decades. Imagine millions of feeble, exhausted, white-headed old men and women slaving away their final years on this earth.
I see this starting already at Target, and a few other places. At least Target will hire seniors and they offer health insurance after a few months of employment.
Everywhere we go we see seniors in low pay service jobs. Since standing on your feet all day at a cash register, or stocking shelves is probably not on their "wish fullfillment list", I assume they have to work to make ends meet. I point them out to DH and say this is why we are following our plan, so we don't find ourselves here.
__________________
I would not have anyone adopt my mode of living...but I would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his father's or his mother's or his neighbor's instead. Thoreau, Walden
Everywhere we go we see seniors in low pay service jobs. Since standing on your feet all day at a cash register, or stocking shelves is probably not on their "wish fullfillment list", I assume they have to work to make ends meet. I point them out to DH and say this is why we are following our plan, so we don't find ourselves here.
Sometimes I wonder how many of them didn't create and follow a good plan, and how many of them DID but then got their pension jerked out from under them, lost their shirt in the dot-com mess, or whatever.
Personally I would like to avoid having to work purely out of necessity when I am elderly. I have created several layers of "safety net" in my plan, but no matter how cautious I am, I can envision possibilities that could derail everything. One part of my safety net system is to diversify sources of income. So far I plan for my income to come from a small pension, small SS checks, funds, CDs, small annuity, and I am planning on more income than I would probably need for a bare bones non-working existence. I am keeping an eye out for other ideas.
__________________ "Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harborless immensities." - - H. Melville, 1851
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Sarasota,fl.
Posts: 5,310
I think a lot of the older women I see are widows .They probably left everything up to the DH and when he died his pension stopped or was reduced and the social security went from two checks to one.
I think a lot of the older women I see are widows .They probably left everything up to the DH and when he died his pension stopped or was reduced and the social security went from two checks to one.
That's the usual conclusion. But in actuality most older women that you would see working in service jobs are divorced. Their former husbands did not have highly paid jobs and so could not pay much alimony and they won't have a big pension coming either. These women are going to be dependent on social security and medicare when they can't work any longer. (BTW, there are lots of men in this situation as well).This will be, not just IMHO, a huge societal problem in about 20 years.