The Retirement Lie by T. Edwin Perry
“Everybody’s Working for the Weekend.” Perhaps quoting a song by “Loverboy” isn’t a great way to start off a commentary about Retirement, but, let’s face it: Millions of Americans work week by week, and live check to check. We go to our jobs, often feeling unappreciated or unproductive, and we look forward to those days off when we can do, or not do, as we choose. We get paid, we pay our bills, and many of us then spend whatever we have left seeking some sort of diversion from our regularly scheduled activities.
During the week, it’s “Wake up, work, eat, sleep, repeat.” During the weekend, the rules change. Sleep in? Sure, why not. Go out to breakfast? Sounds great. Take a nap? You betcha!
And Vacations are even better than regular weekends, right? I was able to take one recently, the first in more than 13 years that DIDN’T involve relatives, and it was everything I had hoped it could be. Sure, it was only two days long, but it was wonderful. Vacations rock!
But, the truth of the matter is that Vacations are only worthwhile when they include doing something you don’t normally do. Going to Orlando to play at Disney World may be great, but when it is done monthly, or even annually, I guarantee that the thrill will disappear quickly. Not to mention the fact that this type of activity is expensive! With my recent vacation, my wife & I drove to Orlando (2.5 hours by car) and went to Universal Studios. The hotel room was free. The tickets to the park were free. We spent nearly $600 for our two-day trip. Granted, that included food, drinks, souvenirs, more food, gas, more food…Did I mention that we ate food?…and arrangements for our pets to be taken care of in our absence. It required weeks of planning and saving to ensure that we could afford the trip, even with the hotel and park tickets being FREE!
And, weekends ARE great, but only when spaced by days spent working. As you may know, I was recently unemployed for more than three months. After the first couple of weeks, I was going to Stir Crazy! Trust me when I say that Daytime Television is NOT something you want to look forward to. A person can only watch so much of the news or re-runs of “Gilligan’s Island” before reaching the noose-end of their rope! (My dogs leave nose-prints at knee level on the sliding glass door waiting for us to get home. I was starting to leave them at eye level waiting for my wife to get home! Sure, the house was clean, but at what cost?)
It’s very different when you are a stay-at-home parent. That’s a 24-7 job where you spend your time and attention on the goal of taking care of a child, but spending that time just milling around the house is enough to drive the sanest of people “plum loco!”
But all of these observations are only a preamble to the simplest of questions: “What’s so great about Retirement?” Think about it for a moment. If you are one of the millions who work for the weekend, living paycheck to paycheck, what do you have to look forward to with retirement? Are you going to travel and see the world, or are you going to sit on your ass watching Oprah? If you don’t have the savings, retirement is a financial HELL that leaves you alone, bored, and hoping to somehow have enough money to pay for your medications. Sure, you’ll have the TIME to do all of those things you put off throughout the years, but will you have the money? Not if you’re on Social Security or Medicare. Unless you have the savings and investments from a lifetime of planning ahead, you’ll find, like so many before you, that the Government’s Promises of Retirement are greatly exaggerated.
Still, Social Security & Medicare are available as early as 62.5, and many companies enforce a strict “Retirement Policy” that puts perfectly capable workers “Out to Pasture” the day that they turn 65. These policies may open up opportunities for younger employees, but it does nothing but ensure that more & more people are forced to live out decades UNDER the poverty line.
So, here’s my answer: Don’t Retire. Work until you can’t work anymore. You think it’s tragic to work until the day you die? I think it’s tragic when the only mark you leave on this earth when you die is the indentation on the sofa where you spent the last 20 years of your life watching the Weather Channel!
For most of us, there’s no “Trip Around the World” or “Golden Years” ahead of us. You won’t be cruising the Mediterranean or dancing to the Golden Oldies of the Miami Sound Machine. (Hooray for the 1980’s!) If you want them, you’d better start saving up now, AND be fortunate enough that your INVESTMENTS don’t take a nosedive along the line. Otherwise, keep working for the weekend and make the most out of the life you’ve got.
In the words of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, “Life’s a Journey, Not a Destination, and I just can’t tell just what tomorrow brings.”
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