Most baby boomers won’t retire and can’t retire because the cost of living is so high. You can’t save money when you can barely live as it is. Plus social security doesn’t pay you barely anything to live on. So why retire and have to struggle when you can continue to work and not struggle?

Plus now a days people live WAY longer and take better care of themselves so at that age they really aren’t feeling “old” like their parents or grandparents did. They still think that they are spring chickens! LOL

Cindy…Ga.

heheheh What a bunch of whiners we are:)

Thank you, Mr. Goldsmith for a very interesting & realistic article about the Boomers.
Retirement is happening to my husband right now. However, it’s not a very pretty picture. We have a 55 yr.-old ‘family business’. Because of the influx of ‘big box’ chain stores, we are having to ‘retire’ early. And, because of the raised costs of just about everything, it’s not going to be easy–health care has become a joke, & a worry.
I am disabled because of severe chemotherapy damage to my body 2 years ago. Trying to find anyone in the govt. or in the depressed job market to aid me, is a ridiculous search–but I keep trying.
BUT, so far, we have it better than a lot of people–we are both trying to continue to work, because, as you said, retirement just isn’t for us. lol.
Your article expresses our situation almost perfectly!
Thank you for bringing a LOT of unsaid things to light.

Thank you AC360! You all do a GREAT JOB! Your effort is much appreciated!

In December of 2007 my retirement accounts were on track for my husband and I to retire in 10 to 12 years. Now with the turn in the market, we’re a long way off from that.

I can’t wait to retire… and I don’t understand anyone who wants to stay in the stressful working world I live in.

To be sure I am developing a retirement plan for my time. I don’t plan on watching 43 hours of TV a week (maybe just 5 hours a week, say from 10:00 pm to 11:00 pm EST). I want to concentrate on my writing, and some of the activities I love to do. Spend time with friends and travel.

I may look for a part time job in a womens shop or volunteering if time weighs too heavy on my hands, but I certainly don’t intend on missing the working world. I’ve been at it too long, and I have been ravaged by it for too long. Retirement will be a time to take care of me, not the kids and not the cranky demanding bosses and customers.

Will I move to Floriday and listen to Jimmy Buffet… no way, I’m taking my retirement to Ski and golf and any other activity I’m still capable of doing.

Just sign me 15 years and counting.

PS Its never too late to start saving, but the earlier the better.

P.S. Cindy, I totally agree with your comment, BUT,…I know we are not ’spring chickens”—just need & want to make our own way for as long as possible! (BTW, Cindy, I always enjoy your comments.)

THANK YOU for letting me vent—lol.

The area where people need to retire is the profession of education. Professors are staying on until they practically die, making it difficult for younger academics to advance in their careers.

Well, I think it’s sad when your definition of who you are is equal to your job description. And I have a question for those old-timers who feel they need to work until they drop dead: How about making room for the next generation, so that the young people can get a chance to work, too? Nobody ever seems to talk about that.

While I totally understand the idea that people need to work to earn money to live, I do not understand those for whom money is not the issue–they actually think they will be bored in retirement! I just retired 4 months ago and just cannot fathom how anyone could be bored. I can’t even get to all the activities I want to (there are still only 24 hours in a day, working or retired, sorry to say.)

As for watching TV, I watch far less TV now than when I was working–when I was working, I was to TIRED every night to do anything BUT watch TV. Now I’ve got far more interesting things to be doing than sitting in front of the boob tube! (sorry CNN).

With the market’s tumble since my retirement–I do worry a bit about money, but NEVER about getting bored! I’m busier now than I ever was working (but doing whatever I want, not what my employer wants.) I could talk about this all day long (and do at my blog Retirement: A Full-Time Job — http://retiredsyd.typepad.com).

But that’s good that some people just can’t find anything else to do but work–I need them to keep paying into Social Security so it will be around when I go to collect . . .

From the “Boomers” I know – they can’t retire. They may use “work is my life” so they don’t have to admit they can’t make it in retirement. After being raised by parents who weathered the depression, they feel they have no justification to complain. (At least they have a job to go to..) They are too proud to say they need to work. Pensions are gone or dwindling. Health care is outrageous. Food and gas are through the roof. That “golden watch’ just no longer exists. I know plenty of “Boomers” who would love to retire, but they simply can’t. There are many who are on second marriages, younger spouses, second set of kids, or helping to raise grand kids because the “X er’s” can’t make it either.

Let’s be fair – It is not just the “Boomers”that are having problems.

Retirement can be a wonderful, exhilirating experience. It’s a time not to have to accept unfair and unrealistic management policies, personnel issues, and governmental restraints.

It’s a time to have the freedom to do what you want to do when you want to do it, and not to have to try to figure it into the work day. It’s a time to focus on real priorities, discover new interests, and pursue actitivites you never had time to do before.

It’s a time to not have to put your main priorities behind work. Money isn’t everything. Time and health are the most important factors to consider. So many people who retire, actually become healthier because of leaving the stress of frustration often found with work, and finding time for improved physical and mental fitness.

This culture is so driven by work. Many European countries have shortened work weeks, very flexible work schedules, paid maternity and paternity leave, and much time for vacation. We seem to identify ourselves by our work and not realizine who we really are, and never have time to discover our mind, body, soul connection.

Retirement doesn’t mean retirement from living, but a beginning to focus on the really important things.

Retire? Sounds nice but probably not possible because of financial requirements. Pension plans that people were counting on are being dropped and 401Ks are not growing as much as we need them to. Children come home after college and stay because they can’t make it on their own. Whether you would be bored in retirement or not isn’t’ the question for most of us – the question is can you afford to keep your home and eat too in retirement. For a lot of us the answer is no.

Annie Kate
Birmingham AL

Here in Canada, my Freedom 55 was two years ago. Am I bored?? Heck no!! I now have the time to get involved in volunteer causes, a possible run at the local council, just joined a gym as I found I was getting a little overweight etc. etc. The problem is that in the US your health insurance industry is a fraud!! Your company pensions, 401 K and other retirement concepts are ripe for malfeasance!! Most people don’t save enough and don’t think of themselves when they do ‘everything’ for their kids!! Kids have to learn early that parents are not the support group once adulthood [18!!] kicks in!!
The final sad truth, as has been previously stated, is that way too many people have nothing but their job as a source of recognition in their sad lives!! Once , if there is a pension available, employees should step aside so that junior employees and the newly hired can get a leg up in life!! That includes senior citizen TV personalities!!

I retired from the “Telephone Company” at age 47, after working there for 30 years. Now caught in the “dead zone” of not having social security, or being able to get any of your 401k money without huge penalties from the IRS, I don’t think people stay at work because they are bored, but because they cannot afford to retire until they die!!!!!