40% of Americans Fear Retirement more than death

[CuriousJoe]

I have a friend who's afraid of retirement. But he's sort of wired the old fashioned way, I guess, where he looks at retirement as the last step in a progression to death. He's also a workaholic.

May be somewhat similar to why people are apprehensive about checking into nursing homes.."progression to death"

 

[Amethyst]

My thought is always, "But what did you do before you started working? Were you always bored then?" Then it occurs to me: Before working, many people were used to being kept occupied by their parents, school, and college. Nobody taught them to occupy themselves. Or they may even have absorbed the lesson that unless you are busy doing something "worthwhile," you're bound to get into mischief.

One of my younger friends, who's 38, said he can't imagine not working, because he'd get bored.

 

[Amethyst]

"The Last Stop," in lights.

May be somewhat similar to why people are apprehensive about checking into nursing homes.."progression to death"

 

[RobbieB]

Every new sunrise is a "progression to death"

Where do these people (and why) come up with this noise?

 

[GreenEggs]

"Slavery to the dollar" is my definition of work. I'll take the threat of boredom over an 8-5 daily obligation any day.

I've got "nothing to do" & thrilled about it.

If I ever get bored I'll just go take a little drive to town during rush hour!

 

[corn18]

I retired this past March with much anxiety about money. That’s going fine. The surprise is falling in love all over again with my wife. 20 years in the Navy and another 13 in sales, we never really spent a lot of time together. It hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns, but man, I love that woman.

 

[levindb]

A more useful survey would have asked more questions to learn whether the fear was related to dollars or boredom. The lack of medical insurance benefit is related to dollars, and could be another question to dig into.
As we get older, our brains deteriorate a bit and all sorts of fears start creeping up (Did I lock the front door? Did I leave the oven on? What was that noise? Is my zipper up?)
While I would not expect younger folks to have all of these fears, there are quite a few people who cannot see into the future more than a few hours...or their next paycheck. Others have plans for many years/decades into the future.
Yes, it was click bate. This group is probably more focused on their future than the general population...and you probably should not believe everything you read on the internet. (I think that is a quote from Abraham Lincoln)

 

[brett]

I know of two people who died with essentially zero assets and a credit card balance.

One was a family friend. The credit card issuer actually called his sister to see if she would clear the balance. She of course refused even though she was more than able to handle it. Her feeling was that the issuer was foolish enough and greedy enough to bump up the credit limits so they should take swallow the risk. And they did.

The other was a distant relative with no close relatives. Credit card issuer got stuck with the balance. The gentleman only ever paid the minimum balance required since retiring on a small fixed income.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

If this even a scientific survey or just some click bait article? The author is a resume writer. Many real research studies show people tend to get happier as they get older.

 

[Markola]

My thought is always, "But what did you do before you started working? Were you always bored then?" Then it occurs to me: Before working, many people were used to being kept occupied by their parents, school, and college. Nobody taught them to occupy themselves. Or they may even have absorbed the lesson that unless you are busy doing something "worthwhile," you're bound to get into mischief.

I like that. Whenever I get bored, I get out of my chair and do something. Voila! No longer bored.

I used to get far more bored in the office. Plan meeting/do meeting/follow up meeting. Blech…

 

[Out of Steam]

Retirement is not without its challenges. Even if you have funds, drawing income from and managing them takes significant time.

Compared to the fears inherent in an office job that returned to part-time in-person work last fall, I'd much rather the challenges I have.

 

[JohnnyBGoode]

20% of respondents said they have nothing at all saved for retirement

I have never seen a number as low as 20% in any survey asking about retirement savings. I have always heard numbers in the 50% range. Social Security is the only thing standing between many elderly and complete poverty.

 

[candidman]

I understand a lot of people being afraid of not having enough money, but I can't see 77% being more scared of staying active than death. I may have misunderstood that part of the article. Coming from a job that was trying to fire me, and living in a system that made me pay thousands of dollars for a lawyer, making me fight like heck so I could retire early, while almost causing me to lose everything I worked hard for, from a job that would be paying me six figures today, there ain't that much boredom in the world.

Tbh, I never even heard anybody worrying about having nothing to do after they retire. I find some people like to throw those kind of questions in your face after you retire, like it's a personal thing. Most people I saw coming close to retirement when I was working were probably more concerned about having to comeback if anything. I've actually seen that happen several times. They were also probably more concerned about having to become a Walmart Greeter if the money got short. If you think those retirement age Walmart Greeters are there because they're bored, you can miss me with that. I didn't realize those long hours some of them put in. I can see the pain in some of their faces at night. That's almost a form of abuse. I use to stand on my feet all day as a guard. I did it for 9 years...and I was young. I know they be in pain just by the way they stand. Something's wrong with that picture.

I feel sorry for anybody so brainwashed that they thought this 9-5 slavery was normal, and they would miss it, unless they were one of the oppressors. Other than reading articles, I only knew one old guy who came back voluntarily after retirement. But his reason was because he couldn't stand his wife...lol. Plus he wasn't allowed to smoke in the house.

 

[mickeyd]

Fear of the unknown is powerful. Even folks with large investment accounts are afraid of retiring. It's a natural condition in we humans. (Do you recall the first time you drove a car in traffic?)

 

[Dalmore]

I fear i'm gonna work too long and die before I retire and have fun.

I think everyone is nervous about the change, but this ^^ has always been my motivating factor.

 

[prudent_one]

I know of two people who died with essentially zero assets and a credit card balance.

One was a family friend. The credit card issuer actually called his sister to see if she would clear the balance. She of course refused even though she was more than able to handle it. Her feeling was that the issuer was foolish enough and greedy enough to bump up the credit limits so they should take swallow the risk. And they did.

The other was a distant relative with no close relatives. Credit card issuer got stuck with the balance. The gentleman only ever paid the minimum balance required since retiring on a small fixed income.

When I was handling a small estate for an elderly relative, I met with an attorney to make a plan of action. The attorney pointed out that things are going to be fine, given the relative's assets were a small checking account and an IRA (which got passed directly to another relative outside the estate), and the debts were all credit card balances.

The attorney said he would send letters to the three credit card companies explaining that the relative passed with no assets in the estate, and added in the letter "Sorry for your loss."

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah. It's a fine balance between time & money. But when I had enough dough it was easy.

 

[martyp]

There are a lot of people who fear that they don’t know what to do with themselves when retired. I read a retirement book years ago that pointed out that a large percentage of people have lived their entire working life with other people telling them what to do and scheduling their day for them. Then there is the familiar concept of people defining who they are by what work they do. A lot of people don’t know what they want or who they really are.

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah. I didn't know who I was until I hit 25.

 

[maestro]

Why would any millenial, gen-x, gen-y, or pre-boomer "fear" retirement when, based on how things are going in this country, there will be universal income for all, Medicare for all, and all of us who w#@ked over the last 40-50 years will be paying for it? Fear?!? They're all laughing at us.

 

[Steeler75]

My worst day in retirement is better than my best day at w*rk…. or something like that :>)

 

[Timeisprecious]

And rightly so, it's horrible. Oh, wait, no it's not. It's the best thing ever.

 

[Markola]

Why would any millenial, gen-x, gen-y, or pre-boomer "fear" retirement when, based on how things are going in this country, there will be universal income for all, Medicare for all, and all of us who w#@ked over the last 40-50 years will be paying for it? Fear?!? They're all laughing at us.

I don’t hear laughing, because it’s the younger, w*rking generations who pay the entitlements consumed by the older ones. It’s your Social Security and Medicare that all those tax-paying Millenials, Gen X and pre-Boomers are funding. These are money-in/money-out programs, so there is no piggy bank that older people have created that younger ones are somehow robbing. Perhaps the younger folks even deserve some appreciation.

Personally, I’m of the relatively tiny Gen X and I appreciate the hordes of brilliant, competent, tax-paying Millennials maturing behind me.

 

[Dtail]

My worst day in retirement is better than my best day at w*rk…. or something like that :>)

 

[jazz4cash]

I have never seen a number as low as 20% in any survey asking about retirement savings. I have always heard numbers in the 50% range. Social Security is the only thing standing between many elderly and complete poverty.

Further down the article it states the 20% figure includes folks that won’t be eligible for SS.