I don't know what to think of this article. After looking at it and shaking my head a half-dozen times, I'll just give up and post it as an unusually outstanding example of the genre of deadline journalism. It seems so serious and well-intentioned but it's just so... badly executed. It's such a parody of itself that I keep waiting for the Saturday Night Live comedians to pop up.
It doesn't solve any problems, create reader sympathy, or even appeal to a popular demographic-- let alone enhance the media's credibility. However it includes the standard journalistic formula's ingredients of sound bites, book plugs, human-interest quotes, links to checklists, and other catchy filler to support the website's advertising. Hopefully the author already cashed their check and is happily looking forward to working the rest of their life, too.
Older workers delay retirement by necessity and choice - Sep. 28, 2010
The sound bite: "nevertirees". As in "What do I DO all day?!? Why, get with it, dudes, I'm a nevertiree!!"
The book: "The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security" by Mark Miller.
Human interest:
Money's list of everyday people who never need to retire includes:
- a rabbi who's been performing stand-up comedy for nearly 25 years,
- a lawyer who specializes in the "Employee Retirement Income Security Act" while loving what she does, and
- a woman who's helping her spouse get his business off the ground.
[Here's an entrepreneurial hint, Chuck: Giving interviews to Money journalists about how crappy the business is doing will probably not drive a flock of eager customers through your doors, let alone enhance its enterprise value.]
Oh, the links? Well, there seems to be a bit of an editorial disconnect between the author's thesis and the website's automatically-generated links. While you're looking up local comedy clubs or drafting your business plan you can review helpful reference material with titles like:
7 secrets to a richer retirement and
25 Best Places to Retire.
As is typical for this type of article, the best writing is in the reader's comments...
It doesn't solve any problems, create reader sympathy, or even appeal to a popular demographic-- let alone enhance the media's credibility. However it includes the standard journalistic formula's ingredients of sound bites, book plugs, human-interest quotes, links to checklists, and other catchy filler to support the website's advertising. Hopefully the author already cashed their check and is happily looking forward to working the rest of their life, too.
Older workers delay retirement by necessity and choice - Sep. 28, 2010
The sound bite: "nevertirees". As in "What do I DO all day?!? Why, get with it, dudes, I'm a nevertiree!!"
The book: "The Hard Times Guide to Retirement Security" by Mark Miller.
"The economy has now made working longer a real imperative," Miller said. [...] Boomers began viewing the retirement years differently well before the recession took hold. "Many were committed to staying engaged. ... The whole idea of working longer, even for a handful of years, can be tremendously beneficial to your mental well being."
Human interest:
Money's list of everyday people who never need to retire includes:
- a rabbi who's been performing stand-up comedy for nearly 25 years,
- a lawyer who specializes in the "Employee Retirement Income Security Act" while loving what she does, and
- a woman who's helping her spouse get his business off the ground.
That's the case for Chuck McCabe, 65, who opened several tax preparation firms in Virginia nine years ago.
"I expected I would retire at a normal age but the business took a lot longer to get to a point where it would be marketable. Now I really can't retire until the business is valuable enough for me to sell it." McCabe, who has cashed in his 401(k) to make payroll, estimates that it will be least five years until he can consider retiring.
[Here's an entrepreneurial hint, Chuck: Giving interviews to Money journalists about how crappy the business is doing will probably not drive a flock of eager customers through your doors, let alone enhance its enterprise value.]
Oh, the links? Well, there seems to be a bit of an editorial disconnect between the author's thesis and the website's automatically-generated links. While you're looking up local comedy clubs or drafting your business plan you can review helpful reference material with titles like:
7 secrets to a richer retirement and
25 Best Places to Retire.
As is typical for this type of article, the best writing is in the reader's comments...
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