Why do they even call it "retirement"?

[farmerEd]

It makes no sense to me..."when I retire I want to get a job that....."

Of the 1,000 Americans over 50 that MetLife interviewed recently, nearly 60 percent of men and women between 50 and 59 pointed to nonprofit or public service jobs as their top choice upon retirement.


http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/out_field/archive/071005.shtml

 

[unclemick]

My 57 year old sister works for Goodwill - hard work - odd hours. They don't have the resources to retire - hubby is a mining engineer - no pension and they move/moved a lot - mining is worse than aerospace was for job security.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

mick,
were you a spacecraft or airplane aero?

 

[unclemick]

American SST, Skylab, Viking, Space Shuttle.

Goo and stick - adhesives, paint, composites, heat shields, insulation. M&P lab rat and prototype/test articles.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

mick,
mid eighties we tried to build a replacement mirror for "lets just say" Hubble and we had a lot of metal matrix composite stuff with graphite/mag, etc.

We settled (er, hm hmm) on a 50ft diameter condom with silverized surface. We used it as one side of a capacitor with 15kV charge. Nearly killed one guy, he got a lightning bolt to his head.

Ahh, research and development.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

farmerEd,
back to topic.

An interesting definition of retirement:  "Withdrawal into seclusion and privacy"
www.dictionary.com

It seems a lot of people call it retirement when in actual fact, they just want to get away from the 30-40 years of feeling trapped by obligations to family/self/society.

Maybe they should just call it "recess" or in MRGALT's world "nap-time" or "cookies and milk time."

 

[farmerEd]

I don't think any less of people who "scale back", leave a long-term job and do something thats perhaps more satisfying, even if it makes less money (or is volunteer), I was only commenting on how it still gets called "retirement", even by the press.

To me thats like a 40 year 2 pack-a-day Marlboro smoker saying he is going to "quit smoking" - and then starts smoking Camels instead...and still declares that he "quit".

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Ed,
But what about a 2-Packer Marlboro cowboy scaling back to one small single Camel (low tar) a day.

What level of activity do you think a "so-called" retiree is allowed?

 

[Mr._johngalt]

It makes no sense to me..."when I retire I want to get a job that....."

Of the 1,000 Americans over 50 that MetLife interviewed recently, nearly 60 percent of men and women between 50 and 59 pointed to nonprofit or public service jobs as their top choice upon retirement.


http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/out_field/archive/071005.shtml

I don't believe it. I think they gave what they thought was the PC answer.
Serve your fellow man and all that..............

JG

 

[RockMiner]

Maybe we need an "ER Snobs" forum for the work-free purists among us?

That way there would be no mixing with the "unclean" who enjoy a little part time work

 

[retire@40]

That way there would be no mixing with the "unclean" who enjoy a little part time work

I know I would enjoy full retirement, but unfortunately I'm not there yet.  So until I reach that goal in a few years, I'm taking the next best thing; self-employed semi-retirement.

I could have kept working 60 hour weeks and reached full-retirement much sooner, but I don't have the fire-in-the-belly to do so.  When I work a full day plus, I think that is one less "free" day in my life and it's depressing.

Working only 4 hours a day in a 3 or 4 day workweek, gives me just enough free time to allow me to do fun things and keeps my stress down to a somewhat tolerable level.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

It seems a lot of people call it retirement when in actual fact, they just want to get away from the 30-40 years of feeling trapped by obligations to family/self/society.

OAP -- you make a very valid point. As young people enter adulthood, they take on more and more responsibilities. In the process, they lose time for themselves and relinquish many of their dreams (most of the time for good).

 

[retire@40]

As young people enter adulthood, they take on more and more responsibilities.  In the process, they lose time for themselves and  relinquish many of their dreams (most of the time for good).

How true.  Remember when you were a kid and would like to build things, invent things, setup a lemonade stand, and had lots of curiosities?

Most careers tend to force people to focus only on working and deprive their minds from creativity and the joys and passions of learning new things about the world.

I've always resisted those career blinders.  That's probably why instead of climbing a corporate ladder, I've just made my own ladder with only enough rungs to get to my FI goal.

 

[farmerEd]

Working only 4 hours a day in a 3 or 4 day workweek, gives me just enough free time to allow me to do fun things and keeps my stress down to a somewhat tolerable level.

I think for someone who hopes to Er's extra early, you may have the best model. I basically burnt myself out at my job (self-employed) and got to the point where I had to cut the cord completely...in hindsight, since I still have too many obligations here to do all the travelling I'd like (4 kids in grade school), had I somehow had the forthought to gradually scale down to a nice balance it might have been better. My goal always has been more "FI" than "RE"...once you are "FI" you can comfortably swing back and forth from full-R, to partial-R, to full -Work etc...you can also pick and choose what opportunities that you want to work on.

SO far (3 years+) I have resisted the urge to take on any projects, I think about wading back in but fear my personality won't let me do anything part-time...its always been all or nothing for me...and right now iwht 4 small kids I don't want to miss that...3 more years they will all be in school and it will be a good time to try a small gig here and there.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Jay_Gatsby,

I surely lost my dreams early but luckily they were only delayed.

At 15, I suddenly became the bread winner for a large family. Nothing I did for the next 12 years were things I wanted to do.

The jobs were just jobs and I kissed every rear end that had to be kissed to keep those minimum wage jobs.

It surely taught me humility, I look down on nobody.

 

[MJ]

Althought the forum is titled early retirement. I think our main focus and desire is to be FI and probably leave the current job for whatever reason.
If those of us who become FI, choose to be involved in an activity that can be label as "work", I say, so what.
If some of us have achieved only 90% FI, left the employer and want a little supplemental income instead of being more frugal, I say, so what.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

The jobs were just jobs and I kissed every rear end that had to be kissed to keep those minimum wage jobs.

It surely taught me humility, I look down on nobody.

You had a clear reason for doing so, and I absolutely respect and admire your selfless commitment to your family.  On the other hand, it's difficult to handle situations where you don't have to "kiss every rear end" -- except, of course, if you ever want to climb the rungs of the corporate ladder.

I know of a few folks who refused to kiss the rear ends of law firm partners they didn't respect.  Naturally, their failure to do so completely destroyed any partnership chances they had.  Yet they didn't care, and launched their own businesses.  Are they happier now?  Who knows.  All I do know is that they chose career niches that allow them to work as much or as little as they want in perpetuity.  Will they ever retire?  I doubt it, although they may scale things back more and more as the years go by.

 

[haha]

I know of a few folks who refused to kiss the rear ends of law firm partners they didn't respect.  Naturally, their failure to do so completely destroyed any partnership chances they had.  Yet they didn't care, and launched their own businesses.  Are they happier now?  Who knows.  All I do know is that they chose career niches that allow them to work as much or as little as they want in perpetuity.  Will they ever retire?  I doubt it, although they may scale things back more and more as the years go by.

Jay, are these niches within the practice of law? What would be some such?

Ha

 

[OldAgePensioner]

J_G,
The law, medical, business, etc professions are fields that require great skills and I was not up in them. Thank my Lucky Charms.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Jay, are these niches within the practice of law? What would be some such?

I think the success of my acquaintences was more a function of personality and tenacity, plus a healthy dose of "no fear", rather than just choosing the right niche.  However, since you asked, the market niches I have direct knowledge of are:

IT outsourcing/strategic sourcing -- not shipping jobs overseas, but rather negotiating IT contracts with dozens (if not hundreds) of IT vendors on behalf of large companies.  Trust me, it doesn't take an army of associates to do this.

Trusts & Estates -- her husband is a stockbroker/financial planner, so there was an instant pipeline of clients.  Nevertheless, she was a litigator for 12 years, so the transition to a non-adversarial practice wasn't easy.

Condominium and planned community -- with the explosion in the housing markets, and quite a few expensive condo buildings and communities being built, there is an ever-growing need for lawyers to represent the associations.  Not huge money, but the hours are very predictable, and any litigation my friend encounters (which it almost never gets that far) is outsourced to a small litigation firm.

FTC/advertising -- quite a few businesses get in trouble with state and federal advertising regulators.  Things never get very far in either situation, but a lawyer is essential to negotiate a decent settlement.

There are dozens more, but I only know folks that practice in the foregoing areas.  All it takes is a decent nest egg to fund the initial low income period and start-up expenses, as well as a healthy dose of "no fear" about flying solo.  I admit that I currently lack the requisite "no fear" quality, but as I get older (approaching 35 in a few months), I continually ask myself "WHY NOT?"   

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

J_G,
The law, medical, business, etc professions are fields that require great skills and I was not up in them.     Thank my Lucky Charms.

Along with those "great skills" comes great competition. If you're tenacious, you can succeed quite nicely. Unfortunately, many of those in Generation X and Y want their success handed to them. I've learned the hard way that things don't work like that. Perhaps that's why I'll probably never truly retire -- but will most assuredly become FI from my efforts.

 

[OldAgePensioner]

My best bud was/is the most intel person I've met.

Med school was all about "Who'se your daddy??


Make's u relize jast haW INBRED them docs r. Go to Yurp. Get away from these Bubba jerks.

 

[laurence]

Along with those "great skills" comes great competition. If you're tenacious, you can succeed quite nicely. Unfortunately, many of those in Generation X and Y want their success handed to them. I've learned the hard way that things don't work like that. Perhaps that's why I'll probably never truly retire -- but will most assuredly become FI from my efforts.

O.K., as a member of gen x, I have to stand up for my generation. I think there are just as many baby boomers who are looking for some one else to give them what they want as any later generation. My work is filled with stories of boomer dinks who sucked their depression era parents dry all their lives, then lost the family house once the parents died, just to support a lifestyle they couldn't afford because "they didn't DO overtime" etc. I have a coworker who has been "renting" his house from his dad for $400 a month for something like 20 years, yet complains he hasn't been able to save up for a house and that housing is too expensive in San Diego, everybody else got lucky breaks he didn't etc.

I think I heard somewhere that every generation thinks it's the last good one, but I say there are plenty of bums born since the beginning of time.

 

[azanon]

Along with those "great skills" comes great competition. If you're tenacious, you can succeed quite nicely. Unfortunately, many of those in Generation X and Y want their success handed to them. I've learned the hard way that things don't work like that. Perhaps that's why I'll probably never truly retire -- but will most assuredly become FI from my efforts.

We have some overpaid boomers here (due to tenure) who are incompetent in many skills especially the computer related ones. They refuse to learn how to use technologies such as Arc GIS, which is becoming more and more essential to work in my field. These guys better watch out; we're (gen x-y's) better trained, and both us AND them know it.