Retirement a punishment ?

I guess it could be seen as this, yes. But it all comes down to the triggers that cause it to happen I think. If you are retiring because you have worked hard all your life, planned carefully for your future and wish to enjoy the fruits of your labours; then how would this be a punishment? To me, it's becomes a punishment if it's a situation that arises and is acceted reluctantly! It all comes down to personal decisions and motivations. I do also feel that a person retiring is still in full control of their day to day life, so them keeping themselves busy is of course a pisitive thing! But if they choose to sit around all day bored and then complain about it all, well they've pretty much self-inflicted this punishment I feel! We can be our own mworst enemy in life and just because we're not in the workforce anymore, doesn't mean we can't still stay active and busy!

Alok, its subjective and I think individuals will have different things to say just as they do in all other spheres in life. When the adline said, life begins at forty, there were more things than apparent. And I would say, life is a bliss after sixty! Apart from adding onto our grey hair and getting little physically weak, I do not think why we wouldn't take it as a new beginning in life. A fresh start, so to speak. It would be the time to begin afresh, to chase our dreams like never before. All through our youth we work hard to live comfortably after retirement from professional field. But can we really retire from work, from life, from the things we love doing! The financial security after retirement gives us the opportunity to live our dreams. Obviously, we have to have a great planning for the future or else things get worse and we will find ourselves struggling still as we always had! So, retirement is a boon for me and I want to retire from daily drudgery to live my dreams. PS: your beautiful discussion remind me of THE LOTUS EATERS. What about you?

I don't agree that retirement is like a punishment. For me, its a good start to enjoy more of your life and enjoy what they have worked for a long time, right?

You just would not get the feeling of having retired unless you sit lethargic and brood over past adventures.Retirement in fact opens up new vistas in life to be explored and understood and of course to be enjoyed.

Retiring from a job does not mean retiring from life. We read of retired people undergoing a lot of stress and tension. No doubt there are many retirees who spend their time in a worth-while way. However, there are others who seem to have nothing to do and are leading an aimless life. These people have worked hard all their lives and retirement should be a period when they can do what they have always desired but missed. In fact, this should be the best period for them, as time is their own with no deadlines to meet. Perhaps it is time to take stock of the self and lead a happy meaningful life.

I think at the beginning of retirement,many people can't be adaptive at once for they don't know what to do the whole day and they think that the living is lose the target. As the time goes on,people who have retired could find the retiring life is beautiful,for they could do anything they like. This is my opinion. Good luck and Happy mylotting.

No as far as I am concerned Alok. Definitely not a problem if we are open to the realities of life in every sphere. Expecting to work non stop till the last breath and enjoy the benefits is practically impossible. We got to plan everything in advance and brace ourselves to the inevitable situations that are going to crop up in the later part of our life. It may apply to anything. As you bring up our children we tend to pin a lot of hope and expect too much from them in the later period of our life forgetting that they have their own lives to live with their own problems. So a wise person always prepares for the future with enough savings and plannings. "Spread a smile"

Well the thign is if you did not really save pretty well in your working years then the retirement you are going to have would be spent for your daily living and could not spend it the way you wanted it. Many fall for that depending too much on your salary and not saving up.

Actually, a person who has worked throughout his life, will find retirement difficult, for then there is excess time on his hands. However, if you are well established in life, have a heafty bank balance, the the world is your oyster. You can go enjoy the world, what you could not do when working. Otherwise, it does become boring when you h ave to count pennies. So the moral of this is save well for your retirement.

I think it would be punishment for those who love their work so much OR for those who weren't able to save enough money to enjoy. In both cases, the retired person would always yearn to go back to the office,if not to feel productive then just to have money in the pocket. Retirement should be for enjoying life though. if you saved money then you'll be able to finally enjoy it.

I agree. I was working until I got married, I feel like I'm retired... If I couldhave options, I would like to work some like part time jobs during the daytime.

retirement doesnt mean that your quality of life suffers. Retirement is the final stage of your life and is to be enjoyed, I am 34 now and am retiring at 40 (thats the plan), because I want to spend time not having to be under loads of stress at work and I would like to spend more time with my kids. My quality of life will not be affected when I retire as if people are sensible are save for their retirement no matter what age that is then people will enjoy it, its only the people who havent been sensible and saved for their future that their quality of life drops. Obviously if you dont have a family I guess you may aswell work till you die, but to me enjoy retirement its a gift for all your hard work,

No definitely not a punishment, although it does leave us astray in our fragile state, ya know we come in this world having to wear diapers and often many of us leave this world wearing diapers confused and disoriented and need to be taken care of all over again. Retirement time is suppose to be our golden years of enjoying our lives unfortunately for many it's not and wont be. I think for me being surrounded with people I love and having all my limbs and falculties in working order and being in my right mind will be a peace of mind for me.

Happy Retirement all depends on how active you plan on being. If you have saved enough money over the years and are fortunate to travel then I highly doubt you'll dread retirement. If you've been a hard worker all your life and have poured blood, sweat, and tears into your job then maybe you'll be the type that appreciates the easy life a lil better. Regardless of your situation if you're fortunate enough to have made it to retirement then I'm sure you'll be fortunate enough for greater things yet to come. It's all about how you plan to enjoy life after work. The world is a big place. Soak up as much of as you can bcuz you only get so much time.

When I retired three years ago, I was a very unwilling retiree. I felt that I still had a great deal to offer my employer (and I think that my boss agreed), however, the company had a policy, which at that time was backed by legislation, of saying goodbye to people on their 65th birthday. In spite of the fact that I had said that I wanted to continue working, they ignored this. Six months later legislation came in which would have made them guilty of age discrimination. Retirement makes as big a lifestyle change for many people as starting a family and I believe that not enough is done to prepare people for it. Having to go to work every morning often seems very irksome, especially at certain times of the year. The mind is filled with thoughts of what one would rather be doing on a particularly nice spring day (or a particularly bitter winter morning) but when one suddenly finds that one no longer can go to work, even if one wanted to, the empty hole left by the routine that no longer exists can be hard to fill and comes as quite a shock. Larger companies tend to offer courses to those about to retire but most people work for smaller concerns that cannot afford to do this, even if they even thought about it. I am not one who is constantly saying that 'the Government should provide' this or that service but I do believe that some sort of retirement education should be available to employees of small businesses at a more affordable price than private training companies offer. There are leaflets available and some information on websites but, personally, I didn't find them a great deal of help in preparing for retirement, especially as I was only aware that I even had to retire a WEEK beforehand! Retirement, for me, certainly seemed something of a "punishment" but, really, it was not retirement itself but the manner in which I was brutally told that I was on the scrap-heap and there was not a thing I could do about it! I have to say that I have mostly enjoyed the last three years and that I have found that money goes further than I thought it would (I cannot think where my salary went when I was working)! It has given me a chance to concentrate on hobbies which I didn't feel I had the time or energy for before and I find that I seem to have more long term goals now and a brighter outlook on life than I did before.

Hey alokn99 I think answer of your above topic varies from person to person. It is true that somebody feels that retirement is a punishment for them who served/employed in an organisation for more than 30 to 40 yrs. Sudden brake in routine affairs may lead to such thinking, but in my opinion retirement is not a punishment I think your actual life started from the day you superannuated from your organisation. After retirement you are free from all corner and enough time and you can do some constructive work which will be beneficial for the society. I think real life started after retirement. One thing must be ensured before retirement that you are having shelter and peny otherwise after retirement without these items you will obviously feel retirement is a punishment. pkc3000

Hi alokn, I don't think that retirement is a punishment. It is a way to enjoy life even more without being bound to the daily activities of work or career that retirees used to have. Probably it's just how they have to rewire their thinking and welcome retirement in a positive approach. Retirement is definitely not the end of the road. Rather, it is the start of a more fulfilling years to someone only if he finds more reason to live longer, live happier.

hai , i m not agree with u because if u wanna live withur family then u must save some money if u want some value in ur family .it is the rule of nature. another view is that if u put good gudts in ur children then retirement will never be a punishment for u.