Is working until the day you die the new reality in America?
The nature of work is changing as millennials may already know but the nature of retirement is also changing. What exactly is a proper retirement and what are the definitive criteria for deeming oneself officially retired? Is it merely not having the need to work for money because you have enough? A new article ponders on the question of retirement in America, here is a few quotes:
“I’m going to work until I die, if I can, because I need the money,” said Dever, 74, who drove 1,400 miles to this Maine campground from his home in Indiana to take a temporary job that pays $10 an hour.
People are living longer, more expensive lives, often without much of a safety net. As a result, record numbers of Americans older than 65 are working — now nearly 1 in 5. That proportion has risen steadily over the past decade, and at a far faster rate than any other age group. Today, 9 million senior citizens work, compared with 4 million in 2000.
Amazon’s “CamperForce” program hires thousands of these silver-haired migrant workers to box online orders during the Christmas rush. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Walmart, whose giant parking lots are famous for welcoming RV travelers, has hired elderly people as store greeters and cashiers. Websites such as the Workamper News list jobs as varied as ushering at NASCAR tracks in Florida, picking sugar beets in Minnesota and working as security guards in the Texas oil fields.
Well well well.., Amazon which brought us the Clickworker now brings us Workamping. This is like a mix between camping and working, where essentially the elderly (or anybody) can work out of their RV while living a nomadic lifestyle. This is interesting on one hand but then maybe not so interesting if you're 60+ and have to keep moving to find work. The fact is, retirement requires planning and does it mean what most people think it means?
Isn't there a difference between being retired on paper and being truly financially independent? To be financially independent a person has to be able to sustain themselves from their assets. In general the bargain seems to be that if you leverage your wealth by monetizing it in your youth then you can hopefully purchase enough assets which accumulate in quality, quantity, and value over time, so that eventually you don't your labor is not required to sustain you. It doesn't mean you can't work but more that you don't have to work if you don't want to work and can do whatever you actually want to do with the remainder of your life.
Readers, how do you feel about this situation? Do you intend to work until the day you die or do you aim to reach financial independence someday?