Why Retirement At 65 Is A Fairy Tale

[Cookie78]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ann-brenoff/retirement-age-a-fairy-tale_b_6295136.html

"So what's the happiest ending to the modern day retirement tale? That we all invest in our health and stay on the job as long as we can."

Ugh.

[FrugalNerd]

Pretty terrible article overall, especially the part where the author doesn't seem to believe that anyone is actually retired, but that instead they simply lost their jobs. But what I found most concerning was this:

Only one in 10 boomers surveyed had investable assets of $500,000 or more. Even more concerning, more than half (54 percent) have less than $100,000 and one-third (34 percent) reported investable assets of less than $25,000.

If that is indeed the case for those Americans surveyed, then I have to agree with the author, in that most of these people will never be able to retire.

[r3dt4rget]

"The reasons are simple: We don't have enough money. We know we are likely to need more money because we are going to live a longer life than those previous generations did. "

Ok thank you author. So now solve the problem by spending less and saving more. It's really that simple. So the real problem is not the road to retirement, it's getting people to drive correctly and safely to get there. So many people waste their lives and money taking exits and spending money at the roadside attractions. While it may temporarily make the trip exciting, by the time you get to your destination all your money is gone, you're tired, and no longer able to enjoy the final leg of the journey.   

[GuitarStv]

You could also solve the problem of living too long by allowing the elderly to choose when they want to die so they can go with dignity.  I've seen several people from our family with advanced Alzheimer's.  I don't want to be alive any more when that happens to me.  We've extended life technically via medical advance, but at tremendous cost and in some cases little real benefit.

[One Noisy Cat]

    Maybe I should stop by the old office on Monday and beg for my old job back.  If you can't retire at 65, then how can a slob like me, who was hardly a mustachian, retire at 60.  Granted, I did things like after 8 years of active military service, stayed in the reserves long enough to get a pension. But 40 years ago, only losers went into the military.

     I saw an article that the retirement crisis is overblown, that a lot of it is based on dubious assumptions. I don't know which is true, or how much from each is.  Lots of people on both sides of the aisle overstate things.
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-12-11/there-is-no-retirement-crisis

[boarder42]

this article is just a ho hum woe is me article.  not aimed at fixing the real problem.  spending

[frugalman]

I will be retiring in one year at age 65 3/4 with investable assets of "only" $300,000 or so. But my home is paid for, I  have no debt, my social security check will be about $2,680/mo, and I get a small pension of $650/mo. We will have a comfortable monthly budget of $2,500, including medicare and supplemental health costs, an extra $53,000 cash set aside for travel, cars etc. Our initial savings rate will be about $2,000/mo after retirement, rising to $3,340/mo when dear wife starts drawing her social security. So even though we will not have a massive nest egg like many board members here, we will be able to comfortably retire at age 65.

[scottish]

Does anyone know what the average life expectancy was in the 60's?

Guess what?    For men it was about 68 years!!!    So you could expect to be dead 3 years after you retired.

Good old days my butt!    Dead 3 years after I quit working???

source linky:

http://demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.html

[pzxc]

The life expectancy, in general, is not the same as that of a person who is already 65.  General life expectancy includes infant mortality, people dying young, etc.

Right now the average life expectancy is like 72/79 or so, but a person who is already 65 and otherwise healthy will probably live to 85 or 90

[Albert]

Indeed otherwise an 80 year old could be expected to drop dead tomorrow.

[scottish]

Conditional probability, huh?

In other words, given that I managed to live long enough to retire, my life expectancy was more than 68.

But male life expectancy was still 68 overall.      An increase of 5% means I can expect to live an extra 4 years or so.

My point (made with perhaps too much hyperbole) was that we have longer life spans now than in the days of defined benefits pension plans.   Instead of complaining about how hard it is to retire, maybe the media should be celebrating increased lifespans.










 

[RetiredAt63]

Can't retire at 65? Does that mean I have to go back to work?  Even though I am just fine financially in my present retirement? Oh dear  ;-o

[Scandium]

Pretty terrible article overall, especially the part where the author doesn't seem to believe that anyone is actually retired, but that instead they simply lost their jobs. But what I found most concerning was this:

Only one in 10 boomers surveyed had investable assets of $500,000 or more. Even more concerning, more than half (54 percent) have less than $100,000 and one-third (34 percent) reported investable assets of less than $25,000.

If that is indeed the case for those Americans surveyed, then I have to agree with the author, in that most of these people will never be able to retire.

Ey! at 32 i have more invested than half the people age 50-68! Whenever I think I got started too late I can at least remember that fact.

[sabertooth3]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/14/the-devalued-american-worker/

TLDR: Spotlights a 54 year old man who will need to work until he's 68 (in his estimation) until he can retire. Has 6 kids, wants to send them all to college, had a union job that paid him $70k in the 1990s, family income today is roughly $70k. The article argues that the middle class has shrunk because of international competition and loss of manufacturing jobs.

Just thought this was in a similar vein to the OP article above, new articles written every day about this stuff.

[MrsPete]

Does anyone know what the average life expectancy was in the 60's?

Guess what?    For men it was about 68 years!!!    So you could expect to be dead 3 years after you retired.

Makes me think about an old boss of mine.  He left VERY SUDDENLY -- so suddenly that we were all quite surprised.  He called an end-of-the-day meeting and told us all that he would be quitting in only a matter of weeks -- a very short time for the school system to replace a principal.  He explained that he'd been talking to a relative, and he'd realized that most of the men in his family died around age 65 . . . and, for him, that was only something like 8 years away.  He said it surprised him so much that it jarred him into action. 

I liked him, so I hope that it was the right choice for him. 

[MoneyCat]

You all don't understand.  You can't possibly live your lives without 600 channels of high-definition TV, two shiny brand-new Caddies in the garage, a closet full of brand-new designer clothing, and vacations twice a year to ritzy resorts.  It's impossible to save for retirement when you need all those essentials.