You described it. Less movement/mobility. People are staying in place.
And your point on debt overload - future / current parents and students should take note. You are bringing yourself on a path toward a difficult life no matter how prestigious you think your school is when you take on significant debt.
I suspect that people are going into significant debt now for things other than schooling, just everyday basics.
agreed - but many are just starting out and planning to start with one foot in the ground debt graveyard so they can go to say - Michigan instead of Minnesota or based on another thread, Virginia Tech instead of UNCC.
I wish people took debt more seriously - it’s ultimately what ends consumption and brings chaos (when there’s too much).
Thanks. Interesting article. The intro statement surprised me (“Almost 9% of Americans 75 and older were working or looking for work last year, up from 6% two decades earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) But I suppose it makes sense as people live more and as healthcare expenses increase.
The various retiree examples probably geared toward WSJ readership, ie probably more comfortable than typical American retirees. Still interesting.
I hope to be working at age 75. Allocating more of my time to pro bono work, though it looks like my major pro bono project will end up paying me something anyway.
I’m retired at 59 to help with DGS, who just turned 6! I would not want to be working until 75…..
I retired at 59 also, but now 63 and no grandkids… still hoping/waiting… lol
So many different paths for retirement
My husband worked for a corporation, had a pension and retiree health insurance. I think I’ve met one person he has worked with who waited until Medicare age to retire. With those benefits, people retire earlier
My brother in law on the other hand, has his own business. He still loves what he does. He also had a late in life divorce which meant division of assets. He would like to have time to rebuild those assets. The plan is to work till 70.
Both brothers are content with their lives.
As I told my doc at my 65 yr old check up, retirement is not everyone’s “hot ticket”. I’m 66 and working part time (.625 FTE) because I want to and I LOVE IT.
Agree. I retired at 63 in part because I was able to financially( having retiree healthcare insurance helped) and partly because I was treated badly due to being a female over 60. ( long, ugly story).
My dad , OTOH owned a business he loved and after working long hours and extensive travel found that at a certain point his employees (all long time) could do most of it with out him. He was able to go to the gym or golf in the morning, then go into the office when he wanted to. He was able to spend 3 months in Florida ( more golf) while checking into the office by phone for a short time each day ( he never adapted to computers and did not work remotely that way). With this arrangement he did not retire until age 75.
I know people very physical jobs who retired in their 50’s because they could and because their bodies were bearing the brunt of that physical labor.
Husband and I are both retired with pensions. I worked a couple of years after I retired, but only up to 200 hours a year. Husband loves what he does, and is still working part-time, 3 years post-retirement, maybe 25% or so of time. He would do it for free, and he makes less now than when he worked full time, but he pretty much only does what he wants to do.
We retired before 60 without pensions, but we had a lot saved. The deciding factor that allowed us to retire that early was employer subsidized healthcare until we each turned 65. We had to pay more than we had paid when he was working, but it cost a lot less than what others have reported paying for insurance on their own. The cost of health insurance is an issue - a friend retired before 65 (or shall I say he “was retired,” which seems to be relatively common for folks over 60 in the corporate world). He worked at Starbucks until he and his wife both turned 65, because he was able to get decently priced insurance. It took his whole paycheck, but he said that it worked for them.
My brothers work for themselves. My nephew will probably take over the business someday, but both of my brothers are in their mid 60’s without immediate plans to quit. The business involves physical labor - one brother has always done mostly office stuff, but the other has always been in the field, working. That brother is more careful now about what he does (he lets the younger guys go up on roofs), but he has no plans to stop yet. I think for my brothers, they enjoy what they do, and their jobs are flexible because they have arranged their business that way - so they don’t see a need to stop.
I advise companies mostly (and some governments). Especially for my clients at the most senior levels, those jobs are so overly scheduled that I fully understand wanting to retire. At somewhat lower levels, I sense there is a lack of autonomy that can be frustrating for many. Intensity without autonomy might also be a pretty good reason to retire.
I love what I do but might have had to retire due to the physical stress of constant travel (despite business or first class tickets and often very nice hotels) but post-Pandemic, my traveling is probably down 70%. That’s still probably more than most people travel but should be manageable for quite a few years. Ironically, the pro bono part of my work seems to involve more travel than the paid corporate stuff.
The WSJ has a whole series on The Way We Retire in America – different savings levels, different ages, etc. But I can’t see how to gift the series. May have to do some of them individually.
My department is going through a major restructuring and massive number of people will be let go. I was thinking about getting on the list, but was offered an interesting opportunity, so I think I may continue for a bit longer. I don’t work very long hours now and able to take time off for travel. I get to work on what I want. It’s a lot less pressure knowing I could just walk whenever I want.
oops.. wrong link deleted
Then again, are they offering exit bonuses to leave? That might be worth considering, if so.
My wife retired at 64.5–per our financial guy she didn’t need to wait until 65.
I retired at 58 and 5 days. Again– this was after conversations with our financial guy about what was doable. Given our age gap, this means we will hopefully have some time to travel.
We were both federal employees which means pension, thrift savings plan investments and my wife just starting taking social security.
The severance package is quite generous, but I would forego my year end bonus.