Posted on 02/20/2012 3:21:53 PM PST by IDontLikeToPayTaxes
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- When Paula Symons joined the U.S. workforce in 1972, typewriters in her office clacked nonstop, people answered the telephones and the hot new technology revolutionizing communication was the fax machine.
Symons, fresh out of college, entered this brave new world thinking she'd do pretty much what her parents' generation did: Work for just one or two companies over about 45 years before bidding farewell to co-workers at a retirement party and heading off into her sunset years with a pension.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Thank You so much!
The best part of my job is operating heavy equipment, the worst part is I have to be a union member at a gov. job.
Gotta get out of gov. any way possible!
Oh, I don't know about that. I've been retired almost 15 years now and I have defied my family's short longevity and am in great health. It's conceivable that if I had kept working the stress may have put me in an early grave like them.
Too bad that you lack the imagination to make retirement interesting and enjoyable.
Knowing where you worked, I understand, but you need to continue to rise early, and have regular organized activities.
Retirement kills, usually within 8 years.
Everyday life is interesting, and enjoyable.
I’m practicing already. Early to bed, early to rise, then changing to more physical exertion and less stressful activities.
I want to make them regret they ever hired me because I lived so long! LOL!
I enjoy reading books. Messing around in my gardens in the summer. Sitting on the deck or under a shade tree and watching the birds and the clouds. Go out on the dock if I feel like it and try to catch a couple of fish. Go out and walk a few miles. Go out and visit with the neighbors or former co-workers or family. I enjoy building things so I'm going to make a major upgrade on my solar heating system soon.
Since I quit working, I get a lot more exercise and my stress level is WAY down. I never drag through a day anymore from not getting enough sleep, since I wake up when I wake up instead of getting blasted out of bed by an alarm clock. I have time to make healthier meals now. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels are lower.
Maybe you could enlighten me on what is so bad about this lifestyle that you think its dooming me to an early death.
That’s something to start developing on the side, while you are still working.
This way, you can grow your business while not having to depend on it for an income, then if you do lose your job, not only will you have a small business that is already providing some income, you’ll then be able to focus on growing the business without the same worries as somebody who was forced out of a job and having to start their own business and not have those assurances.
You are correct, of course.
But we need to consider that many skills have changed and are changing. That said, we older folks also have to understand that we have changed. We are wiser and stronger in many ways.
We must not be intimidated by the past into believing that our value has declined...and we need to refuse to be intimidated by the present.
We must get tough and accentuate our assets. We must get back in (or stay in) the battle...get tough...get smart!
BS. I would love to not have to drag my ass out of bed every day and have to do the daily grind. I'd love to be retired and enjoy myself.
Retirement is for those that wish to have a closer relationship with their mortician.
I'm 66, in good health, been retired for 12 years and have enjoyed every minute of retirement.
Except for 4 years in the military, I did not work for the government.
Randy Larsen - Good luck to you on your retirement, enjoy life while you are relatively young. I was 54 when I retired, 12 years ago.
I have 4 adult children, 13 grand children, 4 great grand children and the final hearing on our adoption of a 12 and 13 year old is coming up on March 26th.
Bull. Most people die within a few years after retiring because they made the mistake of waiting to retire until they were just a few years from death.
Yeah I’m retired and love it, I volunteer at the school district Planiterium, work on my HO railroad, brew beer, make bread, play computer games and cook most evening meals. Oh yeah more time at the range! Life is full and rich now!
My Dad retired at 62 and died at 90!!!
Find what you love...and you'll be very good at it! And make a living in the process.
You’re having to much fun.....find a job. LOL. I’m 64 and you sound a lot like me. My wife and I bought a waterfront lot and are in the process of finishing up on our retirement cabin. I take great joy in getting up every morning and (NOT) going to work!!!
You sir could not be more wrong...at least concerning myself!!! People who enjoy work are usually those who are watching others doing it. Work is and always will be a four letter word!!
This reminds me of Animal Farm, where the work horse works ever longer as the pigs work less and less. The few old workers with a work ethic don’t retire, but their kids who were on 99 weeks of unemployment now flock to the disability office.
I think people who can’t find anything to do in retirement never really lived in the first place.
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