To Each Their Own: "Why Retire?"

[Tekward]

Some keep running after the race is over:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/business/asked-about-retiring-they-have-a-simple-answer-why.html

Surprising: "Ms. Weinstock said she expected that this trend would continue into the next decade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the labor force participation rate for those 75 and older rose from 6.4 percent in 2006 to 8.4 percent in 2016 and is likely to reach 10.8 percent by 2026."

 

[audreyh1]

People are living longer and some people still need to earn a living.

Past FRA there is not penalty for working while drawing SS, AFAIK.

 

[davebarnes]

What is early?
I am 69.1 and working part time.
Drawing <1% from retirement funds.
It feels as if quitting before 70+ is early.

Of course, I am pretty sure I won't be this guy: "Judge Weinstein is 96 — decades past the age when most Americans choose to stop working."

 

[Dawg52]

I have a couple of friends both 65 and they are still going strong full time. One says he hopes to cut back in a couple of years and work just a couple of days per week. He is a salesman and can probably do that. Not a bad deal really..... still make some money, stay busy and have time to do other things. For me I prefer full time freedom.

 

[Midpack]

FI and ER aren’t coupled, just popular with this audience. If you’re one of the fortunate few who enjoy their work, and have enough time for your other interests, why wouldn’t you continue to work FT or PT? I know a few lucky souls who’ve worked well into their 70’s and enjoyed it! To each his/her own.

 

[aaronc879]

I'm sure there are jobs that would be fine to do part time into your 70's. I have only ever done blue collar manual labor jobs and can't imagine even working into my 60's. I won't work a day longer than I have a financial need to work.

 

[Maenad]

At some point, there's also a benefit in freeing up a position for the upcoming generations. If more people are working until an older age, I'm worried about the young'uns being under- or unemployed. So there are also negative impacts to people working until later in life.

 

[aja8888]

I wound down my business from full time @ 68 to part time @ 72. Now I have no old clients and have "cleared off my desk" so to say.

If I wanted to work again, I don't think anyone would hire me, well, maybe Home Depot.

 

[Bir48die]

At some point, there's also a benefit in freeing up a position for the upcoming generations. If more people are working until an older age, I'm worried about the young'uns being under- or unemployed. So there are also negative impacts to people working until later in life.

+1

This is one of the reasons I retired

 

[Henry Lili]

FI and ER aren’t coupled, just popular with this audience. If you’re one of the fortunate few who enjoy their work, and have enough time for your other interests, why wouldn’t you continue to work FT or PT? I know a few lucky souls who’ve worked well into their 70’s and enjoyed it! To each his/her own.

Agree. Enjoying what you do is key in choosing to work beyond FI.
Personally, I was done with MegaCorp.

 

[athena53]

Past FRA there is not penalty for working while drawing SS, AFAIK.

No, there isn't, but one guy working past age 70 complained to me that he got hit really hard on his RMDs since he was still making a good income. If you also start drawing SS at 70 because there's no advantage to waiting any longer, you've got two substantial additions to your income that will largely get eaten up by taxes.

 

[NW-Bound]

The paper synopsis says it all:

A growing number of Americans are working well past the age of 75, for a variety of reasons: Some want to make a contribution, some need the income, and some just love their jobs.

The people described in the article all belong to that latter group: a 96-year-old judge, an 82-year-old high-school teacher who knows 6 languages, an 88-year-old Nobel-winning neuroscientist, a 71-year-old pediatrician who has her own clinic.

The author does not describe any laborer who says he likes to dig trenches at 80 and just does not want to quit. Nor has she found a megacorp worker who says he likes to come in to work after reaching FI, just to enjoy all the BS that management dishes out.

 

[aja8888]

No, there isn't, but one guy working past age 70 complained to me that he got hit really hard on his RMDs since he was still making a good income. If you also start drawing SS at 70 because there's no advantage to waiting any longer, you've got two substantial additions to your income that will largely get eaten up by taxes.

RMD's are based on what you have (total) in tax sheltered accounts at the end of the year, not current income amounts. How did he get hit hard?

 

[NW-Bound]

It's not that he has to increase RMD, but rather that his RMD is taxed hard. Plus bigger delayed SS, plus earned income.

Well, when you have money you don't need, you have to share.

 

[MarieIG]

I knew a NYC attorney who had his own practise in his early eighties.

Wait for it.

His mother worked in his office (102).

 

[Which Roger]

I'm thinking that the main reason that more older people are working now than in the past is because more older people are healthy enough to work now than in the past.

 

[street]

I know a guy that is retiring at the end of December 2017 and he is 89 years old. A year ago when I retired he saw me and ask how I like retirement. I told me I love it and the only regret is I wish I would of retired sooner. He didn't say anything but some have nothing but work and that is fine.

 

[Scrapr]

When talking in percentages I wonder if the pool of >75 workers is very small. So fairly easy to effect change in % terms.

 

[NW-Bound]

​

Good point. There were only 10 of them, and now there are 15. So that's 50% increase.

Just kidding. That's a valid point, so I went look for an answer. Have not found it yet, but BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) has this to say:

By 2024, BLS projects that the labor force will grow to about 164 million people. That number includes about 41 million people who will be ages 55 and older—of whom about 13 million are expected to be ages 65 and older. ​

13 million out of 164 million workers! That's 8%.

In the search, I saw this number from the UK:

Thousands more people aged 80 and over are finding part-time jobs in a move dubbed a social revolution.

More than 42,000 octogenarians and nonagenarians are in employment compared to 21,000 five years ago.​

These are lucky people to be still working in their 80s and 90s. I myself don't think it's a sure thing I will make it to that age, let alone working. So, I do not feel sorry for them. Old and working is better than dead.

 

[Scuba]

I knew a NYC attorney who had his own practise in his early eighties.



Wait for it.



His mother worked in his office (102).

[emoji33]

 

[Helena]

No, there isn't, but one guy working past age 70 complained to me that he got hit really hard on his RMDs since he was still making a good income. If you also start drawing SS at 70 because there's no advantage to waiting any longer, you've got two substantial additions to your income that will largely get eaten up by taxes.

Excellent points... which is a major reason I retired early, took early SS and am now slowly withdrawing from my taxable IRA [without paying taxes] before the dreaded RMD.

.

 

[Helena]

I know a guy that is retiring at the end of December 2017 and he is 89 years old. A year ago when I retired he saw me and ask how I like retirement. I told me I love it and the only regret is I wish I would of retired sooner. He didn't say anything but some have nothing but work and that is fine.

For many, their work [career, profession] is a major part of their personal identity.

As for me, I never allowed my career to take over my identity and personal life... so retiring wasn't an emotional personal "loss."

.

 

[Senator]

At the Home Depot I go to, a guy there is 84 years old. He has retired three times already, and used to own his own business.

Some people just need the structure. There are MANY farmers out there still going strong at ripe old ages too.

Here is one that was just on the news.

The year was 1949.

Harry Truman was president, World War II had ended a few years before, the Minnesota Twins and Vikings didn't even exist yet, and Gus MacDonald was starting a new job in Stillwater.

Sixty-eight years later, MacDonald is still on the job at Stillwater Motors. Suffice to say he likes the job

Still on the Job After All These (68) Years | KSTP.com

 

[DrRoy]

To each his/her own.

I was rather tired of my work, didn't need the pay any more, and have other things that I enjoy doing.

 

[garyt]

I could see getting a PT job at say,70. By then (assuming you retired at 62) you've done a lot of what you wanted to do and you're slowing down. Just getting out for the social aspect could be good. The money would just be an extra benefit.