Should I Retire at all? Part 1
Is this a question that has bothered you? or like everybody who follows the media think that you should have retirement plans well funded so that you can ‘retire’ at………….what ever age?
Let us look at the Indian situation. Most Indian men will not know what to do once they retire (women readers please comment!!). They have no hobbies, and cannot help around the house without creating a fuss or a mess. The women suddenly have too much of the husband and too little of the ‘earned’ income. Terrible combination, right?
Also many people are perfectly capable of working beyond the age of say 67 – which could be the ‘new’ retirement age – considering that people live till they are 85-90 years old.
Also I am against the concept of people sitting idle – immaterial of whether they can afford it. An idle mind takes its cost – both physical and mental. So no great social, physiological or psychological reasons for retirement.
Now the financial angle. Honestly how many 62 year olds (let alone 27 year olds!!) can say that they know how much money they have -AND THAT it is sufficient for their lives. It means can they say ‘my money will outlive me’?
Frankly I do not know. Many of them are ‘hoping’ that in a worst case scenario their kids will support them. Hope is not strategy!
Suresh
Daniel Kahneman talks about the equivalent of being “in rhythm/flow etc” such that work does not seem stressful.Artistes exhibit this the most. So if your ‘work’ is in a ‘flow’ then you need never retire.(book ref : thinking – fast and slow)
On the other hand you do need to plan for a secure financial position AT ALL times.
So perhaps, this artificial age barrier on work needs to go (easier said than done).
As a corollary people, who do not wish to work and are happy to make do with lesser financial security must also be allowed their lives.
Sreedhar
Subra sir, not related to the current blog, but whats your view on this article? http://www.firstpost.com/investing/following-buffett-jhunjhunwala-isnt-the-best-way-to-make-money-211123.html?utm_source=MC_TOP_WIDGE
argo
For people like me who hate to be idle, there is no way to retire!
pravin
i wonder how the age limit of 60 for working was arrived at.surely it belongs to an era when life expectancy itself was 65
anon
Subrabhai, C’mon, are your readers SO unimaginative that they’d have NO life outside of the office?
I can’t wait for the luxury of time to read, write, go trekking, travelling, watching old movies, etc etc.
ASHOK M VAISHNAV
All the gneral rules stated in this article – that people have hardly any hobbies, wives and husbands have too much of specilaization to live ‘no-work’ life together, no saving corpus is ever enough if you continue to outlive all life-expectancy cycles – are realities.
but that still leaves a scope to retire from one set of active ‘earning’ life and try hand at living the other life where earning is not the sole priority.
No country or no family in country like ours can really afford the wasteful luxury of ‘doing-nothing’, and enjoy pension with hefty DA component.
What is to be realized is that any one who has enough creative urge – and there are many- must convert thie rhoobies into either an income-generator or espeinditure-stopper activity. Thus by opening up potential for a second stream of income or by closing down some of the expenses of the erstwhile ‘first tstream’ era, one can certainly aim to beat the life expectancy cycle.