It’s believed that poll results released last week by Sun Life are the first ever to show that more Canadians expect to work past age 65 than retire. The reasons vary, but most say it’s their plan to keep working full or part-time simply to pay their bills.
Retirement parties are reserved for the lucky these days. The era of a gold watch at 65 and endless days spent puttering in a workshop or volunteering is long gone. In the broadcasting industry, few performers ever mark an actual retirement. It’s mostly a privilege given to the executives who have managed to dodge rounds of cuts. It’s usually for those who decide who gets knocked off the ladder rungs below the one they’re on.
Although I’d love the freedom of choosing what to do every day, actual retirement doesn’t hold a lot of appeal. I do know that if money wasn’t an issue, I’d quit full-time work in a heartbeat because, as much as I love what I do, I have enough interests to keep me busy and so many places I’d like to see. But both hubby and I expect to do some form of work until it’s no longer possible. We have dreams of building furniture out of reclaimed materials and we’ve amassed stockpiles of wood and other finds with that goal in mind, even just as a hobby.
I’ll tell you who I don’t admire. People like Howard Stern, who have millions and millions of dollars but continue to do a daily radio show and a demanding television show, and then complain about how overworked they feel. Financial freedom is supposed to buy you the power of choice, and even a little selfishness. Stern spends all of his vacation time at America’s Got Talent and then bitches about feeling burned out. I realize it’s not about me, but it insults me anyway. Show a little respect for those of us who have to work every day, and use your good fortune to create a better life that’s not worth bitching about.
Freedom 55 was a dream which simply came to late for the majority. Is it possible, yes if you start at age 20 with a very strict discipline, but very few in their twenties have the discipline to achieve that goal. The other major thing working against these type of plans are that life spans continue to increase such that if you were to retire at age fifty-five your likely to live as long as you worked. So, in today’s environment, if we were to re-brand the term Freedom 55 to Freedom 65, which shifts the work/retirement balance more towards a longer work career to one of retirement, then we have an obtainable target, but that will require a formal well documented plan and that’s where and why we fail.
However, achieving ones goals is all about time time and time. The more you have the greater the possibilities.