Ridiculous retirement advice programs

[steelyman]

I was quite amazed that, given a choice of ~1000 channels on my service, there seemed to be nothing to watch!

But there was one program on a local public television station that was airing a piece about today's retirement issues. And the messages all seemed to be: work longer (recommendations were 67), upgrade skills/certification (one person went back to college "in his late sixties" to become a counselor), and so on. One comment by one of the people appearing on the program was that anyone even thinking about retiring in their fifties should have their head examined. My. I do not agree.

The program I was watching is from 2010. I think all the advice to work until you drop dead is not-so-good.

 

[Packman]

program I was watching is from 2010. I think all the advice to work until you drop dead is not-so-good.

It's really to bad that most of the population doesn't think about retirement until they are 50 or older. I'll admit, that I didn't really start planning until my late 20's. However, a little early planning plus LBYM adds up to retiring before the end of life.

 

[haha]

I was quite amazed that, given a choice of ~1000 channels on my service, there seemed to be nothing to watch!

But there was one program on a local public television station that was airing a piece about today's retirement issues. And the messages all seemed to be: work longer (recommendations were 67), upgrade skills/certification (one person went back to college "in his late sixties" to become a counselor), and so on. One comment by one of the people appearing on the program was that anyone even thinking about retiring in their fifties should have their head examined. My. I do not agree.

The program I was watching is from 2010. I think all the advice to work until you drop dead is not-so-good.

It is actually good for all of us ERs when other people continue to work. I never advise anyone to quit work early. For one thing, this may turn out to be bad advice, and people do not forget people who have given them bad advice.

For another, even if you do not know the other person and say are just anonymously calling in on a telephone line on a radio program, you have something to gain from that person remaining at work, and you have nothing to gain by their quitting.

Always play the odds. Never overrate your knowledge.

Ha

 

[aaronc879]

One comment by one of the people appearing on the program was that anyone even thinking about retiring in their fifties should have their head examined.

I would have to agree with that. If your planning to retire in your 50's you must be crazy. Why work that long I plan to stop before I hit 50.

 

[steelyman]

Too late for me.

 

[chris2008]

"upgrade skills/certification (one person went back to college "in his late sixties" to become a counselor)."

Might have been sponsored by the local college, looking for a new customer base...

 

[Sandhog]

"upgrade skills/certification (one person went back to college "in his late sixties" to become a counselor)."

Might have been sponsored by the local college, looking for a new customer base...

You may be right. Have you seen the price tag on higher education lately? Even state universities much too high for current average household income. As someone once said, "higher education is just another business entity" With every changing world, by time kid finishes his bachelor degree, he has to go back to school to relearn all that has change.

I would love to live in my parents era where good high school was all you need to make a decent living instead of current time when kids with college degrees are flipping burgers.

 

[Moscyn]

Problem is the government, our parents and the larger crowd advocates working longer. With themes like "50s is the new 40s" and so on, people tend to think they are too young to retire. Of course, poor and late financial planning are contributing factors too. Another great fear is not willing to leave the "comfort zone" of a work routine. A lot of people ask me how come I can cope with so much time in my hands - I think they think I am crazy. Less than 20% of my close friends plan to retire on or before 50. One of my former bosses who is past 60 was recently laid off but she said she is brushing up her CV and want to go back to work because she does not know what to do with her free time. How sad!

 

[mystang52]

That advice makes sense for people who haven't saved and planned for retirement (early or otherwise). What choice do they have?

 

[jerome len]

When I was just starting out, a respected manager told me to avoid the "golden" handcuffs; meaning that I should avoid a job I hate but pays a lot of money.

Further, he suggested I find a job that I would do every day, even if I didn't get paid. So, early in life I limited my career to jobs I love. I feel sorry for anyone that hates going to work every day. Even if you retire young you spent years unhappy 40 hours a week.

Others just don't save for retirement; they think it won't ever happen. Just like teenagers that start smoking; they can't think or worry about 40 years into the future today. Sad!!!!!

Today, I can retire and work. I'm looking for a career after work that I'll enjoy without getting paid......something where I give back for all I've received. I'll find it, and I'll have that warm fuzzy every day because I'm doing good.

I tell everyone I'm the luckiest person in the world......I am because of health, a beautiful family and accumulated wealth. And, I only achieved this because others told me these stories over 40 years ago. I wish my "luck" on everyone else!

Remember, "today is the 1st day of the rest of your life". Hmmmmm, worth thinking about.

 

[BigNick]

I was quite amazed that, given a choice of ~1000 channels on my service, there seemed to be nothing to watch!

YouTube - Bruce Springsteen - 57 Channels (And Nothin' On) Acoustic

...
work longer (recommendations were 67)
...
One comment by one of the people appearing on the program was that anyone even thinking about retiring in their fifties should have their head examined.

Here's something I don't get.

We're being told that the population is ageing, and we're all going to have to work longer, because there isn't going to be enough money to go round, and because there won't be enough people in the workforce. But then, we're also told that it's almost impossible to get a job after the age of 50. One of those is wrong.

Similarly, we've all been told for years that we will all have more leisure time in the future. Stocks which depend on leisure dollars are going to be big. Yet we're also told that we're all working longer hours than before. One of those is wrong, too.

Or is it just that number of lazy journalists who have to keep up amused is increasing?


(Please excuse the underlining. I think it's a bug to do with the embedded YouTube clip.)(NB: mod edited to remove hyperlinks)

 

[rescueme]

But then, we're also told that it's almost impossible to get a job after the age of 50. One of those is wrong.

I would think that getting a job vs. keeping a job at that age is much different. Once you are "out", it's hard to get another j*b, to get back "in".

Heck, DW is still plugging away (turns 63 next month ) with no intention of retiring, even though she was going to do so four years ago when I retired.

I tell her to keep on wo*king so she can fund my future SS ...

Some folks don't look at retirement in the same manner. I'm sure due to her family (father, brothers, sister) working till "forever" drives a lot of her thought, even though I don't think they are as financially independent (I could be wrong - finances are never discussed, along with politics nor religion at any family get-together's).

 

[ziggy29]

Problem is the government, our parents and the larger crowd advocates working longer. With themes like "50s is the new 40s" and so on, people tend to think they are too young to retire.

Some of this, I think, is "rah-rah" stuff intended to make people not feel like failures if they can't retire as early as their parents and elder siblings did.

 

[Danmar]

Ha-"Always play the odds, never overrate your knowledge" Brilliant!! I certainly agree. I also try not to give specific advice. Usually when giving general advice I say " but what do I know?" or " I only know what I read in the newpaper". Sometimes people forget that it's all about the probabilities and these are hard to assess.

 

[Texas Proud]

I would love to live in my parents era where good high school was all you need to make a decent living instead of current time when kids with college degrees are flipping burgers.

Just a point... a lot of kids with college degrees as still stupid and don't have the brains to do anything but flip burgers... they never should have wasted their time and money to go to college....

but in today's society this is not what we tell kids... we tell them 'you can do anything you put your mind to'... which is BS...

No matter how much I put my mind to it, I would never become a professional basketball player, football player, tennis player etc. etc... (and I was pretty athletic when I was in high school).... I would never become a actor, writer, musician etc... I knew it... so anybody telling me I could do it was feeding me BS...

 

[martyb]

It's really to bad that most of the population doesn't think about retirement until they are 50 or older. I'll admit, that I didn't really start planning until my late 20's. However, a little early planning plus LBYM adds up to retiring before the end of life.

I didn't really start to give it any serious thought until I was in my mid-late 40's. I'll be the first to admit that if I didn't have a DB pension from my job and also a military retirement that will kick in at 60 (7 yrs from now) I'd be royally screwed. Since I found this forum, completely by accident, and finally woke up & smelled the roses, I've been saving as hard as I can, but without the pension(s) there's no way I'd be able to retire before mid-60's if even then.

As it is, I'm not gonna be living like the Rockefellers, but we'll get by. And will enjoy getting by. My needs in life post-retirement will be fairly simple. I love to fish, spend time with family & friends, eat out some, do a little low-level traveling. Nothing really extravagant. I think it will work out.

 

[kcowan]

Sometimes people forget that it's all about the probabilities and these are hard to assess.

Yes but it is more about the person. In my life, I saw my Dad retire at 65 and Mom died within a month (of cancer) and I vowed to not work beyond 55. Then a divorce caused me to revise it to 60.

But it is such a personal decision that no one can offer advice to others. All you can do is relate your own experience and hope someone might pick up on it.

 

[kcowan]

No matter how much I put my mind to it, I would never become a professional basketball player, football player, tennis player etc. etc... (and I was pretty athletic when I was in high school).... I would never become a actor, writer, musician etc... I knew it... so anybody telling me I could do it was feeding me BS...

Yes that is true but there are valid times in your life when a concentrated focus can help. But if you are average height, forget about basketball! But there are many examples where focus has made a difference.

 

[Texas Proud]

Yes that is true but there are valid times in your life when a concentrated focus can help. But if you are average height, forget about basketball! But there are many examples where focus has made a difference.

Agree 100%..... I used to practice basketball and got better... I used to practice chess and got better... I used to practice bowling and got better... I used to practice golf and... well.... let's just leave that one alone


I do tell my son that if he wants to get better at any of his sports he needs to practice.. he looks at me like I don't know what I am saying... but I also tell him that he has not shown the skills etc. that he needs to become a pro at either soccer or basketball... but that he can become better at anything with practice... to me, that is the message to send..

 

[rescueme]

I would love to live in my parents era where good high school was all you need to make a decent living instead of current time when kids with college degrees are flipping burgers.

Not knowing your age (I'm 63) I did live in those times in basically a "mill town", brought up by parents that did not believe in higher education. Heck, my mother didn't even make it through HS. Their parents (all four) emmigrated to this country, and did not complete anything more than a primary education. That's why (as a family), "higher education" was at a much lower level than I would think most on this board experienced in their lives.

The "good jobs" were in the smokestack industries where you could raise a family with just a basic education and HS was the norm. College was the rare exception for parents, at least in our neighborhood, at our "social level".

If you were lucky, the jobs were there, but you often broke your back doing it (you wor*ed with your hands - not your mind) and always worried about the wolf at the door - e.g. company layoffs, union strikes, getting hurt on the job (FIL worked in the blast furnace area) and in most cases where you were not fortunate to have a "mill job", working in employment that just let you scrape by. Just because I was a child of the 50's and a teen of the 60's did not mean an automatic "good life", especially if you want to talk about the surrounding "climate" of social unrest along with grave impact upon your personal life - e.g. my father/FIL were WWII draftees; I was the same for Nam.

I'm sure I'm extrapolating the entire life I remember, based upon your question but you have to remember that your going back in time also includes the entire "environment" of that time.

Being a chld of that era, I certainly would not want to re-live my time there (other than my marriage to DW, in '69 when I returned from Nam).

Just my opinion, based upon my personal "history" of those times.

Sure - it's tough to look at today's "over qualified" young folks who hold j*bs that do not suit their education (and even question if they/their parents should have spent the money), but at least they have the basic tools to hopefully get by in an everchanging global society. Something that was not apparent back when I grew up.

Heck, I still remember "made in Japan" products as trash. As a child, I would take apart toy cars that my parents bought me as gifts. Guess what I found? That the metal on the inside of the toy had Japanese characters and pictures of soup (yes, they "recycled" old soup cans into toys). How times have changed.

We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorthy ...

BTW, sorry to take it OT, but I did want to comment on the statement given...

 

[Nords]

One comment by one of the people appearing on the program was that anyone even thinking about retiring in their fifties should have their head examined. My. I do not agree.

That advice makes sense for people who haven't saved and planned for retirement (early or otherwise). What choice do they have?

Given the typical financial acumen (and achievements) of the target audience for these [-]commercials[/-] shows, I think they're getting great advice.

I'd prefer that they continue working to bolster the Social Security system rather than become another client of the social-services system.

Besides, if anyone could ER then we ERs would never be able to enjoy running errands on a weekday morning...

 

[Free To Canoe]

Not knowing your age (I'm 63) I did live in those times in basically a "mill town", brought up by parents that did not believe in higher education. Heck, my mother didn't even make it through HS. Their parents (all four) emmigrated to this country, and did not complete anything more than a primary education. That's why (as a family), "higher education" was at a much lower level than I would think most on this board experienced in their lives.

The "good jobs" were in the smokestack industries where you could raise a family with just a basic education and HS was the norm. College was the rare exception for parents, at least in our neighborhood, at our "social level".

If you were lucky, the jobs were there, but you often broke your back doing it (you wor*ed with your hands - not your mind) and always worried about the wolf at the door - e.g. company layoffs, union strikes, getting hurt on the job (FIL worked in the blast furnace area) and in most cases where you were not fortunate to have a "mill job", working in employment that just let you scrape by. Just because I was a child of the 50's and a teen of the 60's did not mean an automatic "good life", especially if you want to talk about the surrounding "climate" of social unrest along with grave impact upon your personal life - e.g. my father/FIL were WWII draftees; I was the same for Nam.

I'm sure I'm extrapolating the entire life I remember, based upon your question but you have to remember that your going back in time also includes the entire "environment" of that time.

Being a chld of that era, I certainly would not want to re-live my time there (other than my marriage to DW, in '69 when I returned from Nam).

Just my opinion, based upon my personal "history" of those times.

Sure - it's tough to look at today's "over qualified" young folks who hold j*bs that do not suit their education (and even question if they/their parents should have spent the money), but at least they have the basic tools to hopefully get by in an everchanging global society. Something that was not apparent back when I grew up.

Heck, I still remember "made in Japan" products as trash. As a child, I would take apart toy cars that my parents bought me as gifts. Guess what I found? That the metal on the inside of the toy had Japanese characters and pictures of soup (yes, they "recycled" old soup cans into toys). How times have changed.

We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorthy ...

BTW, sorry to take it OT, but I did want to comment on the statement given...

Nicely done.
This could go on for ever but I would like to add just one or two things.
Investments...what's an investment.
Work 30+ years hoping for a meager company pension...then guess what, the company goes bankrupt. You get nothing (bond holders get theirs 1st). It happened more than once.
Many that I know worked to 65, retired and died one or two years later. Some industrial related, others just worn out.
I had better stop now about the "good old days".

 

[GregLee]

I would love to live in my parents era where good high school was all you need to make a decent living instead of current time when kids with college degrees are flipping burgers.

I am not persuaded there was ever such an era. In my experience, education past high school has long been regarded as the key to the good life in the US. My father, from a farming family, went to college for one year before money ran out in the great depression. My mother, from a dirt poor background in southern Indiana, managed to finish business school. My parents made sure that my sister and I had first class college educations.

 

[chinaco]

I was quite amazed that, given a choice of ~1000 channels on my service, there seemed to be nothing to watch!

...

The program I was watching is from 2010. I think all the advice to work until you drop dead is not-so-good.

That message was for boomers and it is the situation that most boomers are in.... hopefully they realize it before they quit their job.


Those in good shape are that way because they did some level of planning or are the lucky few that have a full pension.

 

[steelyman]

I just remembered who the financial expert was on the show I was watching: it was someone named Jonathan Pond. I am not familiar with him, but similar advice has come from others like Suze Orman.