Activist Post – by Heather Callaghan
If you are in your retirement years or anticipating that last work week, you can readily be grateful and breathe a sigh of relief. You may be the last generation in America to enjoy such hard-earned fruits of labor. A very short-lived opportunity in this country’s history.
Upcoming generations, however, are not holding their breath. And that’s without even having a working knowledge of the ominous Trans-Pacific Partnership.
So are Americans still envisioning a slice of the pie, thanks to the coaxing of the mainstream media? What do they have to look forward to?
A survey by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) indicates that retirement is more of a myth than a reality – at least in the minds of those currently working.
TIME reports:
The [TCRS] surveyed 4,550 full-time and part-time workers about their retirement and savings plans. One in five said they would continue working as long as possible and 41% planned to reduce their hours. The study also found that 61% of Americans expect to continue working past the age of 65 or do not plan to retire at all.
In other words, most of the employed don’t exactly kid themselves about having golden years to pursue their passions and not work themselves to the grave. On the one hand, this is a sorry shame. On the other, it means more Americans are starting to uncover their eyes.
Catherine Collinson, president of TCRS describes retirement as a “transition” to be “phased over time” or that could happen abruptly due to unforeseen circumstances. She says:
Today’s workers recognize they need to save and self-fund a greater portion of their retirement income.
The long-held view that retirement is a moment in time when people reach a certain age, immediately stop working, fully retire, and begin pursuing their dreams is more myth than reality.
They released new research evaluating the retirement preparedness of American workers in, “Retirement Throughout the Ages: Expectations and Preparations of American Workers.”
Of course, TCRS is a non-profit outreach to help “American workers” that is funded by their other offshoots/parent groups as well as other, undisclosed third parties. Their survey prompts the use of their education services. However, what it really does is show how the majority of currently working Americans don’t buy into the insulting, pseudo-positivity spewed form the news desks. It highlights the “gaslighting” going on, when people are aware something is seriously wrong with the economy, employment and financial system.
But, it says nothing for the dismal outlook that the currently unemployed and under-employed must harbor. (The survey was meant for the employed.) It also doesn’t say much for those who have a job but can’t even think about tossing a dime into the “nest egg” as the press release suggests. While the organization dissipates the myth of a stark retirement age, does it not perpetuate other unreachable goals for the average millennial?
New-school workers cannot play fast and loose with old-school rules – they have to have grit, get creative and resourceful fast. They need to stop, think before they “college,” and invest in themselves – their health, their character, their gifts/talents, their strengthsand in who they really are.
Millennials and those left without a plan may wish to check out our articles by Susan Boskey.
Do you have tips for retirement to share? Please leave your wisdom in the comments!
Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/05/survey-says-retirement-is-myth.html
That article is catching up with things that I said 15-20 years ago.
My best friend still thinks that he can work another 11 years or so, and then live ‘the dream’… he just won’t accept the facts. There won’t be much left worth shit in 11 years, if he lives that long…sad to say! I don’t want to put all of his details out there, but suffice it to say that he works for the same large health insurer that I did. It doesn’t matter which one, as they -ALL- s u c k.
You don’t need to be educated to do well. You do need a skill that is saleable at a good price. Or you can not do what every one else can do as they see you are making money. They will undercut you or try to. Always keep up and ahead of the pack. Never quit learning a new trick. Act very dumb. Others will copy you to make money. What they don’t know helps you. Only borrow money if you can make money on it or for your 1st house. build a investment account but not in the bank. Banks loan money. Invest on your own. People who manage money for you do it to make money for themselves not you. Learn to be a jack of all traits. Repair it yourself. This is a big one. I kept lawnmowers and such for many years working on them myself and such. Then listened to the wimpers. I had to buy a new more on credit. I don’t know how he can pay cash. But I kept the old more 15 years to his 5 years. Be tight in a good way.
You can retire if you haven’t bought into the “material world” of buying shit you don’t need. For instance: cable & cell phones. Do your REALLY need them, when you’re retired? Or do you need food and a place to live? Get a CHEAP car, CHEAP house, find CHEAP food. Grow your own food. Get rid of cell phone, cable TV (get an antenna), and things like that. Get rid of “insurance”s. Who the f*ck needs any kind of insurance to live?
I had to make a choice when I was much younger: have a life, or have a wife. I chose the latter, and had to give up everything that made life worth living. My friends were not to her liking, my activities were too solitary and didn’t suit her, and I wasn’t to expect to do anything without her. All she wants to do is sit around the house and stare at the idiot box.
It would be one thing if I still liked her, but she’s abusing her emotional insecurities by being a total control freak. I am not allowed to discuss an unapproved topic, I can only go places and do things if she approves of them – and only after I’ve spent hours trying to explain that I don’t plan anything to the Nth degree. I feel part of the adventure is to just go out and see what happens. She has no understanding of what that means, nor is she willing to risk escaping her safety bubble. And, I MUST remain within it myself just so she can feel like she’s not at risk.
I’d leave, but I’d not have enough left to support myself. I made a huge mistake and now I pay the price for doing so. As WC Fields said in his movies, “Death, where is thy stain?”.