Early Retirement = Death!

[Nightcap]

Here's a particularly specious item from the Wall Street Journal. The scare line: Men have a 20% greater risk of dying if they retire at 62.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-so-many-men-die-at-62-1518404880

I only have a year to live!

 

[joeea]

Here's a particularly specious item from the Wall Street Journal. The scare line: Men have a 20% greater risk of dying if they retire at 62.

That's why I retired at 60!
No waiting around until 62 for me...

And it must have worked. I'm 63 and as far as I can tell, I'm still alive.

 

[audreyh1]

Well DH is 62. He's at least got a few months left!

 

[Walt34]

I seem to be doing well at 67 but I retired at 52, so I guess that study doesn't apply to me.

 

[REWahoo]

Here's a particularly specious item from the Wall Street Journal. The scare line: Men have a 20% greater risk of dying if they retire at 62.

Pfffffttt.

The real scare line is men (and women) have a 100% chance of dying no matter when they retire.

 

[Nightcap]

Pfffffttt.

The real scare line is men (and women) have a 100% chance of dying no matter when they retire.

Reminds me of a conversation with my doctor about twenty years ago. When he finished my annual physical, smartass me says, "You can level with me, Doc. Am I going to die?" "Yes," he said sadly...

"Eventually."

 

[Walt34]

One must also remember that this is a self-selected group. The ones who died aren't talking.

 

[flintnational]

WSJ Headline - "More Umbrellas Seen on Rainy Days. New Study Says Umbrellas Must Cause Rain"

 

[MRG]

I knew Megacorp was killing me. After 29 years now I'm going to die?

 

[IMATERP]

57 over here. Going to make the best of my remaining years. Only God knows how many years I have left.

I

 

[sturbridge]

Or maybe men who were already sick/in decline just take SS as soon as they can?

 

[harley]

Even more reason to RE. Squeeze in a few more fun years before shuffling off.

 

[Helen]

Well, give me liberty or give me death.

 

[Nemo2]

I seem to be doing well at 67 but I retired at 52, so I guess that study doesn't apply to me.

I quit work at 46 and will (with luck) be 76 this year.

 

[xretro]

Oh well at least i won,t be at work when it happens!

 

[NW-Bound]

Retirement causes death?

How about death causes retirement? Of course that last statement is true.

But let's go back to retirement causing death.

I retired at 55. At the prior visit to the doctor, he told me my bloodwork was the best he had seen in a while. Boom, 7 months later, I was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. Cause and effect?

They fixed me up, thank goodness. I am still alive to make this post, but that early retirement almost killed me. I was lucky. Some are not. So, people who are not retired should not think about retirement at all, let alone early. It is not clear that retirement causes death, but why take a chance? You want the surer and proven path, that is "death causes retirement". So you will work until you die. Die first, retire later.

 

[RobbieB]

That's what Suzie thinks you should do.

 

[38Chevy454]

Choice: Early Retirement vs working longer? I'll take my chances being early retired and enjoy my years left until I am knocking on the pearly gates.

 

[Dtail]

57 over here. Going to make the best of my remaining years. Only God knows how many years I have left.

I

+1

 

[Hermit]

That's what Suzie thinks you should do.

Are Suzie and WSJ teaming up to keep the minions at the grind stone??

 

[michelek]

Die just when all the good stuff starts happening? What a bummer- can’t be true- when it’s your time to go you probably go- maybe plan ahead to leave the hot tub and the new golf clubs to your future son in law

 

[shortstop14]

17 days to 62. Based on this, maybe I can move that withdrawal rate up a little over 4%.

 

[HadEnuff]

Well, I was in a bit of a quandary, you see. I could have stayed in dentistry, (purported to have the highest suicide rate of all the professions), or retire.

I survived, against all odds, 40 years at the chair, so I thought I'd take on another challenge.
Damn the statistics! Full speed ahead!

If I survive 40 years of retirement I believe I'll take up freediving.

 

[ejman]

Well, I guess the article must be correct. I retired at the end of 2002, age 52 and my heart stopped in September of 2016 (almost 66) so I guess it was just a delayed reaction to the early retirement. Needless to say, the ticker is ticking again (thanks to a pacemaker) but since I'm apparently on borrowed time me thinks I better go back to work to forestall this dying business.

 

[ER Eddie]

The article (at least the part I can read without signing up) says: "A significant increase in mortality starts at 62, according to a new study. The escalation is much more dramatic for men than for women. And the fatal catalyst, the study’s authors believe, might be the availability of Social Security."

So really all the study is saying is that there's a spike in death rates (for this study) at age 62, for men. The "why" is just speculation. I guess they noticed that people can take SS at 62, so they decided that must be the cause.