on retiring

Retirement usually means a certain age. I suppose most of us get hold of some material things prior to retirement. Whatever we don´t have, probably we don´t need. We must see that we have enough to money to live with it decently. And we must try to get ( while young) a nest egg just in case we have health problems and the like. The rest is not to be seen regarding to money, in my opinion. Retirement can be a wonderful moment of life if you accept the challenge. I am 65 years of age (I refuse to say "old") and I still wonder from time to time "what will I do when I grow up". That way of looking at life has enabled me to have a trip in a sailboat (as part of the crew) in 2009 and to go to see a wonderful lake (the highest in my country) at 4800 meters above sea level this year (My avatar is a picture I took there). We have to worry about the word retirement more than about the retirement itself. We only have the present and from the moment we are born the future is around the corner. We cannot "prepare" for it as it´s a bend in the road. Take care!

hi figurativeme I was ushered into retirement like an old used up shoe, and the only reason given for "letting me go" the nice sick way of saying I am firing you ,was you are almost 80. wWhat, a 80 year old woman who has been shelving our d amned books and media suddenly caNNOT go it because of a number?She went on,you are my best worker, so this is so hard, but you are almost 80. So I took my retirement and the damned luncheon and the gifts as the others though I was retiring not being kicked for being old. the jist of it came to me when one of my coworker friends told me that the second in coommand a new hire who immediately let me know she disliked old people, said she would quit if Emily did not fire me. so I left hurt and feeling tossed in the garbage. When I was l ying in thehospitla wiht a badly broken left hsolulde I was given a letter from head quarters asking me to come back as both Emily and the new second in command were fired for illegallyh firing me for my age. its called ageism and if the person can still do the work they will be reinstalled but it was too late for me. I had such a bad injury they had to put in a shoulder joint replacement, and thus I lost most of the use of my left arm in spite of months of physical theraphy.

I guess if someone is planning to retire, he should make sure that he's financially stable cuz money won't flow through him anymore. He should have his own business or should be self-employed.

Retiring is a topical issue to me as I have three more years to first seize the opportunity of early retirement. Sometimes this lenght of time seems an eternity to me. Nevertheless I appreciate my job and company and I am aware how lucky I am having a job at my age at all. But I have got so many plans in mind: First, I want to stay at home, keep pets and learn new subjects, read a lot, have my own website... once I have never wanted to stay in job for so long. When I started work at the age of 21 the age of retirement was 55 for women and 60 for men. Today it is 60 and 62, resp. Rumours say even this will be prolonged. It will be a very bad news when it comes true. I like best what I read about the American system: there is no age of retirement; people can go on pension whenever they wish (provided they have saved enough money to live on). Also, there are various pension scemes for the elderly to benefit from. In my country it is just a dream that will never come true. The notion that young people could get more and better opportunities if the elderly generation abdicated their positions by early retirement is generally accepted. Well, this coin has more than two sides. On the one hand there are constraints forcing us to stay in employment because we have no other chance to survive. The governement wants to prolong the retiring age because they do not want to pay back the contribution we have payed (or have been paying) in the budget for long decades. Owing to the low purchasing power in my country, elderly people are almost completely restricted from the free market of services where they could make some extra money. As for the younger generation, I am more optimistic. I trust talented young people will find their way to success as examples show from many epochs of history. When their talent is coupled with resolution and perseverance their success will be inevitable.