The "New" Retirement

Everywhere I look, it seems like the "new" trend in retirement is to not retire -- or to at least put it off for a bit. I'm not sure if this trend is a result of it being a great idea or if it's simply a necessity for a large and growing group of people who are now finding out that they haven't saved enough to retire. Personally, I think it's a good idea for a number of reasons. This piece from MSNBC agrees and gives four reasons to put off retirement:

• A bigger nest egg
• A higher Social Security check
• A bigger pension check
• Help with the doctor bills

For most people, 1, 2, and 4 are the relevant reasons, but for those of you who still have pensions, consider #3 a bonus. ;-)

For me, there are two major reasons not to retire (or to at least postpone it): economic and well-being. On the economic front, it's a simple math fact that the longer you put off retirement, the larger your savings will be when you do retire and/or the less you'll have to sock away for retirement. From a well-being standpoint, it seems that the more active you are, the better you are off mentally and physically. And work can keep you active, so as long as you're able, why not keep working?

And, of course, the health care cost increase issue is going to be a bigger and bigger factor in retirement as the years go on. So if you can keep on working in a place that offers medical insurance, you'll simply be that much better off for this reason as well.

I've said before that I hope to down-size in retirement -- either taking a job I've always wanted (maybe in a bike shop or in a garden center) or doing charitable work (or maybe both). And even if I don't keep working, I'll certainly keep active. Who knows, maybe I'll still be blogging then. ;-)

Think four reasons aren't enough? Check out my series on 7 Reasons Not to Retire.

Comments

[Stock Mama]

The people I've known who have retired most successfully are those who retired into something else. They're busier in their retirement than they were in their career, and are happier for it. Some have gone into consulting, some took up an entirely new career, some started businesses, leveraging contacts from their old job.

The worst retirement scenario is where you have the guy who works thirty years at some factory job, whose whole life revolves around the guys in the shop, and when he retires, he doesn't know what to do with himself. He's dreamed of a life of leisure, but leisure isn't much fun after all, especially if he's trying to get by on a fixed income. All too often, these guys drop dead of a heart attack a short time after they retire.

[Mike Davis]

I see people retiring sucessfully everyday.....because they had a plan before they retired. I tried retirement at 30 after selling an Internet Business in 1999 quickly finding that without a purpose you get fat, bored, lazy and paranoid. If you have something to look forward to in retirement that has purpose and you are somewhat passionate about, things tend to go better. Now, I spend my time helping people get their head right and their finances on track to retire well.