Retirement

There are those one hears about who suffer from a compulsion to be up and doing, activated by the calendar and clock to be earning money even if they don't in fact need it, by effort and application from pay day to pay day.

My feeling for such folk is one of wondering admiration but I cannot imagine myself among their number. Effort and application are worthy attributes, certainly. But my feeling is that if one has put them into operation for forty years or more in the business of getting married, raising a family, purchasing perhaps one's own dwelling, laying by, if circumstances permit, for the future, then, by the end of three-score years and five, retirement is a wonderful thing.

Retirement, that is, if you receive a pension that covers the necessary cost of living. If you have the good fortune to live in a country that accords benefits such as health care, local bus travel, and others that transfer the burdens of life's basic essentials from your back to the broader shoulders of Government, then there seems to me to be no valid reason to keep working.

To help the children get on to their feet, perhaps? A fine and worthy sentiment, but do they really need your help? The quicker they learn how to live within their means, the happier they will be thereafter. If your pension is adequate for your own reasonable comfort and security, you can always put by each month to treat your offspring and their families to treats according to your ability.

No, I see no problem, ethical or practical, to hinder the enjoyment of one's "declining years" as they are so insensitively sometimes termed. Of course, in the nature of things, general circumstances may change, causing conditions to arise that affect the normal course of life, in which case you, as a grandparent, will wish to assist those affected to the limit of your means.
That situation changes everything, and it could be argued that his occurs so often during a lifetime that an emergency reserve should be factored in to the regular cost of living.

So, just as a general principle then, it still seems to me that those who have served their country and community for most of their adult life, raised a family to the point of their being able to fend for themselves, deserve to enjoy their autumn years doing those things they always wanted to but never had the time - or just, with a clear conscience, to take things easy. That's the theory anyway. But if you want to keep working in a job, for whatever reason and it's not too much for you - why not?

How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free (USA)
Brilliant Retirement (UK)

By guest blogger: Brian Murgatroyd