To retire or not to retire, or What kind of experience in life do you want to have?

Now a days everyone has this expectation that we are going to retire. We plan for it, we look forward to it, and we depend on our employer to contribute towards the inevible day when we will no longer have to get up at the crack of dawn, and start another day, much like the day before.

But is retirement for everyone?

How did all this begin anyway?

The first concept of retirement began in Prussia in 1881 as a way of clearing out the workforce of older people to make room for the unemployed youth.

Retirement age was set at 70 and then they would receive government support. And life expectancy then was also 70. So I’m not sure how much that plan helped!

Pensions for certain municipal employees, firefighters, cops, teachers and the military started in the mid-1800’s in the U.S. By the 1920’s private companies such as railroads and banks were offering some retirement support also.

When the Social Security Act was passed in 1935 the retirement age was 65, but the life expectancy of men, which was the majority of the workforce was 58.

Now because life expectancy is much older people can be retired for decades.

But are those people happier and healthier?

Research shows overwhelmingly that those who continue to work are healthier and have fewer physical problems.

But there was no indication if those that were continuing to work were working because they wanted to or they had to.

What is it we really want? Is retiring just a way to stop doing a job you don’t like? Do we really want to  work at nothing at all? Or is what we really want is to not HAVE to work?

There are lots of millionaires who can stop working but they don’t. One friend made 100 million dollars when he was in his early 40’s. And he still invents new things. He likes having some sort of structure to his life. Otherwise he feels like there is no point. Playing only is fun when there is a counterbalance of work.

I have several friends who became financially independent in their 50s and they continue to work, just fewer hours.

Charles spoke to us of his tactic of taking on different jobs and having great experiences along the way.  But it also has left him having to work in his 70s. When I asked him if he had any regrets doing it that way, he said No he was happy with his decision.

I have good friends that stopped working a regular job when their daughter turned 16. They home-schooled her and traveled the country in a converted bus. They funded their life by making books for people, long before it became so easy to make your own books. They are 70 now and they believe they did it right. They have gotten to live in a banana plantation in Maui for a year, on a beach in WA and spent summers in Ireland. They can’t stop working completely, but they would still be doing what they are doing if they could.  They said a lot of their friends who worked regular jobs their whole lives are not any better financial shape as them, and my friends are much healthier.

In my research the people who were looking forward to retirement were the ones who didn’t like their jobs, or had the ‘golden handcuffs.’

When I worked at LANL the place was full of people just putting in their time until they reached the 30yr mark so they could retire. The non-scientists had been miserable for 15 or more years but the pension promise was so good they felt compelled to stay. (And as a side note, the scientists were having so much fun that they kept coming to work even when they weren’t getting a paycheck, until one day death kept them away.

My husband worked for the FAA for a couple of years and wondered how  government efficiency would change if there weren’t well-funded pensions? Would there be more effective people running our government because it wouldn’t be full of people just drifting towards retirement?

As a child I watched my Dad be miserable day in and day out as he went to work. He retired when he was 55, 25 years ago. Now, he spends his days hiking and volunteering, and he isn’t any happier.  The way I see it is he kept blaming his job for his misery, rather than looking within for his unhappiness.

After watching him bumble along, I decided to travel in my twenties, and throughout my life and not wait until I retired to do it. And I have consistently chose happiness over safety.  I kept choosing jobs that challenged me, where I got to learn new things and have new experiences. I don’t know yet if I made the right decision. I don’t have to work a regular job right now but I still work. I have two companies in addition to being a writer and an artist. Work gives me the immediate gratification of contributing and interacting with people. I could have made a lot more money had I stuck to one job and worked up the ranks. And I might have a lot more cushion for my later years, if I make it there. I’m just not willing to roll the dice that I will be able to do all I desire once I turn 65 or some other arbitrary age that society dictates is the time for me to stop working.

It was a choice I made. I have moments when I wished I had saved more. But that is when I am looking into and fearing the future. When I am in the present, when I look at my life now, I am really happy with my choices. The only thing I would change is to BE MORE PRESENT.

I think that’s what we want in addition to financial freedom. We want life to slow down enough for us to be more present. Present to our children, our partner, our friends, and mostly to ourselves. We want to have more time to fully engage with our circle, and not just spin around in it.

Lifestyle is determined by what we value. Are you living a life in line with your values? I was asked this question a couple of years ago and it was really eye opening. Often we think we can’t afford to live by our values. But is this  true?  When I Iisted my values I realized my highest values didn’t cost any money.

So what is the best way to do this retirement thing? I think it is a personal decision, one we have to make for ourselves. And whatever direction we choose, we need to remember that it’s just that, a choice, a series of baby steps taken to reach our goal.

Just make sure you stop and notice the decisions you’re making, how you feel about those decisions when you make them, and if you’re using your choices as an excuse not to enjoy your life now.