Monday, May 30, 2005

Thinking of Retiring?

This is the headline from the Economist, Global Agenda newsletter, “Populations are ageing, in rich and poor countries alike. This means big trouble for governments, who need to find some way to keep their retirees out of poverty without breaking the budget.” The story goes on to explain how the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) schemes, like Social Security, are in trouble world wide. And the article also provides the unsettling opinion that most of the corporate pensions and alternative private retirement accounts have become less than secure…United Airlines is a good example. Their solution is simple. Keep working. When the PAYGO plan sets an age for all to retire, then the plan is tied to demographics and in this case the demographics are overwhelming the plans.

What about myself? I’m not quite 65 and I retired almost a year and half ago. Should I have? I was definitely ready to retire from that job. And if I had those same feelings when I was at the age of forty, I would have had to quit and find another job. So it all depends on the job, doesn’t it? For some it’s life threatening to continue to work, while for others it is what keeps them alive…imagine having a job where you wake up in the morning and are delighted to know that in just a few hours you will be quite happily doing what you enjoy the most. Now that would be a job to keep! Maybe I’m not really retired; I’m just between jobs.

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