My father had a job for life. I did not. I worked for 5 different companies but had more than 5 different jobs. I did not have to go back to school to progress to different jobs. I did take courses and went for training seminars. However, the new kids coming into work at what I was doing had two year college course just to start in a junior position.
It seems like people do not expect training or education to last for a long time in work. For example a friend of mine took a project management course to get a certificate. Now with this certificate you must renew it every five years. So, in five years' time you basically begin again. Things are changing rapidly.
Another problem is Pensions. Pension plans are having troubles especially for civil services who can retire at 55. There are many in retirement reaching 100. So if you start work at 20 and retire at 55 after working 35, you live to 100, that is have 45 years of retirement. Pension plans were never designed to do this and cannot.
How many years of retirement could you save for? The current life expectancy in Canada is 81.24 years. But that means that 50% of the people are dead at that age and 50% are not. As far as I know the oldest person lived to 121. Most will not do that, but living into your 90's is a very real possibility. So if you start work at 20 and live until 90 do you really think that you could fund 25 years of retirement after working 45 years? This will give you a retirement age of 65. Retiring earlier just makes it worse.
| Death at | 100 | 95 | 90 | 85 | 80 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start w | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Retire at | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 | 55 |
| Years R | 45 | 40 | 35 | 30 | 25 |
| Years W | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |
| Death at | 100 | 95 | 90 | 85 | 80 |
| Start w | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Retire at | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 60 |
| Years R | 40 | 35 | 30 | 25 | 20 |
| Years W | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Death at | 100 | 95 | 90 | 85 | 80 |
| Start w | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Retire at | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Years R | 35 | 30 | 25 | 20 | 15 |
| Years W | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 | 45 |
Looking at retirement if you become a couch potato after retirement the mortality statistics are awful. A lot of people who following this route are dead in 5 years from strokes, heart attacks or cancer. There also are lots of retirees that are working. They do this because they are bored or need some extra money or for both reasons.
People who retire successfully talk about having a passion for something. They fulfill their passion after retirement so that they can live a long and fulfilled retirement. I have seen some people successfully start a new career after retirement. It does not matter what you have a passion in. What is important is that you are interested.
Personally, I blog, analyze stocks, exercise, read and socialize. You have to have money. I get CPP plus my dividend income from the stocks that I hold. I also do a bit of stock trading to keep investing interesting.
I think we should rethink retirement or maybe we should just cancel it.
On my other blog I wrote yesterday about National Bank of Canada (TSX-NA, OTC-NTIOF)... learn more. Tomorrow, I will write about Transcontinental Inc. (TSX-TCL, OTC-TCLAF)... learn more on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 around 5 pm.
This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. I do research for my own edification and I am willing to share. I write what I think and I may or may not be correct.
See my site for an index to these blog entries and for stocks followed. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk. The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.
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