Comments on: Don’t Retire.

By: S. B.

S. B. — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:50:57 +0000

“Is retirement (in the traditional sense) an attainable goal for most people?”

For a large percentage of the population, it would seem to be mathematically possible. However, most people won’t be able to obtain it because we have a society focused on immediate consumption. And of course, many people also don’t want to obtain it in the first place.

“Should we even be striving for it in the first place?”

If retirement is defined the way the book author defined it, then I suppose not. But I felt like the author had a pretty unidimensional view of what retirement means. If you talk to retired people, there are a thousand different stories. Retirement is not just about playing golf every day in Florida.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:22:42 +0000

Haha, indeed.

That book has been on my “to read” list for a while now. It sounds just crazy enough to make it fascinating.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:10:46 +0000

Definitely need to love what you do.

Ray Kurzweil’s book The Singularity is Near even predicts a time within our reach we will be able to completely prevent non-accidental deaths.

Try to retire then!

By: financial advisor

financial advisor — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:51:14 +0000

Add to this the fact that people live 20-30 years longer than they did a hundred years ago. Retirement wasn’t possible when you didn’t live past your 50’s.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:01:23 +0000

I haven’t read it Mike, but it sounds up my street. Thanks for the tip!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:20:34 +0000

Monevator, that’s a great point you bring up!

Have you ever read The Future for Investors by Jeremy Siegel? The final third of the book is all about how he expects our stock market (He’s writing about the U.S., but I’d imagine he makes the same case for the UK.) to be bailed out by inflows of cash from investors in “emerging market” countries.

Basically, he argues that rather than fearing the growth of China, India, etc, we need to be cheering them on. Pretty interesting stuff I thought.

By: Monevator

Monevator — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:08:16 +0000

I personally wonder if this freak miracle of early retirement could potentially have some way to run. I know it seems crazy right now (especially looking at my investments! ) but on a global scale there’s still lots of young workers entering the workforce, effectively bidding up assets (from tortillas to copper to Monets) and looking for investment in return for a stake in their futures.

I mean of course emerging markets. Whether the West has sufficiently oriented its wealth to tapping into emerging markets is another matter (companies might have, but citizens have fueled emerging market growth by buying goods without taking a stake in those businesses by investing).

By: Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback

Paul Williams @ Crackerjack Greenback — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:42:14 +0000

Mike, great thought-provoking article! I just wrote about retirement from a Christian perspective on Crackerjack Greenback and mentioned your article at the beginning.

As a financial planner, I cannot fathom how most Baby Boomers are going to retire – much less in the way that they dream. They have very little savings on average and most don’t have a pension any more. Then you get to my generation – we’re paying 12.4% in Social Security taxes (not including the Medicare part) but we’re not even sure if we’ll get Social Security. At least they got one half of the name right (social…ism)!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:30:34 +0000

Hi Miranda.

You pretty much explained my plan spot-on. The concept of income that keeps coming after I stop working is a big part of why I’ve been building a business the last couple years.

Also, I hadn’t heard the term “gig economy” yet. I love it!

By: Miranda

Miranda — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:14:17 +0000

I think with the gig economy, it will be possible to keep some sort of revenue stream, even during “retirement.” I can keep writing, and my husband will likely be able to do some consulting. We can do as little or as much as we want, and as long as we keep investing now (especially with investments at bargain prices), and do it throughout our “prime” age, we should be fine.