| |
Basic InformationLatest NewsQuestions and AnswersBlog EntriesBuilding a Caregiving Team Part IIBuilding a Caregiving Team Part IPart II: Time to Turn Over the Car Keys?Part I: Time to Turn Over the Car Keys?Improving the Quality of Life as We AgeDiscovering Your Best Personal-Professional Energy: Reconnecting with Your Spiritual Homeland - Part IIDiscovering Your Best Personal-Professional Energy: In the Context of Health, Aging & Time - Part IThings to Consider When Relocating your Aging Parents10 Ways Elder Caregivers Can Accident-Proof a Home Are You a Caregiver? To Age with Joy, Be True to YourselfEmpowering Your Aging Parent to Be Their Own Healthcare AdvocateEight Tips for Talking to Your Aging Parents About Important IssuesOlder Americans Month: Medication Safety Often OverlookedOlder Americans Month: Ensuring Safety on the RoadOlder Americans Month: A Safe Home is a Happy HomeIs It Normal for Older Adults to Think about Death?Older Americans Month: Preventing Falls to Enhance WellbeingVolunteering in Later Life: Rewarding or Stressful?Honoring Older Americans Month in MayAre You A Caregiver? Read On Before Answering That Question Staying Active Improves Wellbeing for Older Adults, With or Without Memory ProblemsSubstance Abuse and Drug-Induced OsteoporosisExercise and Dementia How Social Ties Affect Disability in Later LifeSome Thoughts About Birthdays and MindfulnessProtecting Against the Widowhood EffectOlder Adults Thrive in Shared CommunityOlder Adults and Owning a DogLive Longer By Believing You Will The Emotional Needs of Older AdultsWhen Loneliness Makes Elders StealAlzheimer's, Memory, Cognitive Performance and YogaCoping With RetirementAging and Video Games: Brain PlasticityPsychotherapy For The ElderlyMay is Older Americans Month: It's Time to "Unleash the Power of Age"Sister Jean is a Picture of Wellness at 93 YearsBe Kind to Yourself: You Just Might Age BetterStress and The Older AdultPrediction: Older Adult Mental Health Needs Will Exceed Available ServicesFrailty is Not a Normal Part of Aging: 3 Ways to Age WellCan Feeling Younger Actually Make You Stronger?The Roots of StigmaNew and Old Friendships Alike Help Us Age SuccessfullyOn Aging and Turning 70Do Brain Games Really Work?Behold the SuperAgers!Can "Nurture" Temper "Nature"? Environment, Genes, and Alzheimer's DiseaseAging and Drug AddictionMore Evidence That Staying Active is Good for the BrainSo You Think You Can Multi Task?To Retire or Not, A Complicated DecisionBreaking Free from LimboElder AbuseIts Never Too LateRetiring ProblemsA Legacy of Two EldersAlzheimer's Disease, Can Brain Stimulation Prevent its Onset?Alzheimer's Disease, Would You Want to Know?Happiness, In The Long TermThe Alzheimer's Project: Upcoming HBO Special10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer's Memory, Something you need to work atAging and Socializing, An Important ConnectionAntipsychotic Medications Show Little Benefit for Individuals with Alzheimer's DiseaseGrowing Older: Don't Lose It, Use ItDocumentary Tonight Spotlights Family Caregiving IssuesOur Geriatric Population and Their Need for PsychotherapyDo You Remember?Aging, Depression and SuicidePreventing Alzheimer's DiseaseThe Health Dangers of LonelinessYou Mean Grandma and Grandpa Abuse Drugs?Aging and the Question of Assisted LivingElder AbuseAging and Mental AgilityLoneliness Increases Risk for Alzheimer's DiseaseUse It or Lose It: The BrainMaintanence medications ward off senior depression relapse VideosLinksBook ReviewsSelf-Help Groups |
| | |
To Retire or Not, A Complicated DecisionAllan Schwartz, LCSW, Ph.D. Updated: Apr 18th 2012 There was a time, not so long ago, when people retired from their occupations with a full pension from the corporation they worked for after thirty years. Since that time, people do not stay at one corporation for that long for a whole variety of reasons, some of their choice and many not of their choice. Consequently, most people face the decision of when to retire and the troubling question of whether or not they can afford to do so?
Supposedly, even without a pension from work, people should have enough money to retire if they saved and invested their money in the stock market, or in tax deferred annuities. As it turns out, many families find themselves in the dilemma of being of retirement age but without the resources to do so comfortably. The reason for the short fall in money is not only that they do not have those lucrative pensions to fall back on but find that they spent their savings and investments on such things as college tuition for their children, unexpected medical expenses for chronic illnesses, disasters on the stock market that wiped out their investments and employers laying them off due to the recession.
While people do have social security to fall back on, most would agree that it's not enough money to support a comfortable life style after retirement and there is the anxiety that the social security program may, at some time, go bankrupt.
Even for those couples who do have enough money to retire, there are other decisions that need to be made. When I was a child my grandfather retired from work and lived happily, with my grandmother, in their home until they each passed away many years later. Today, many couples who are able to retire elect to move away from their home in order to down size and relocate to a warmer climate. So, the question is The complication is where to move to and the cost of living in the new location?
It's important to keep in mind that the nature of marriage has changed today as compared to when my grandfather retired. He was the sole breadwinner for his family and, therefore, was able to make the choice for himself. Of course, he had my grandmother's support but the decision was not complicated. They had enough money, they were both in good health and they could afford to live where they always had lived, in their apartment in New York City, surrounded by family and friends.
Today, as couples approach retirement age, the decision to retire is more complex because both husband and wife work. Given the fact that, in most cases, wives are four years younger than their husbands, and that they joined the work force after the children were raised, husbands who want to retire discover that their wives want to continue to work. In addition, wives may not want to move to the same geographical location as their husband.
As always, both past and present, there is the challenging question of how the free time will be spent, post retirement. For some, this is no challenge at all. There are those who retire to golfing communities and spend as much of their time golfing. Others want to travel and see as much of the world as possible without being tied down by a house and mortgages. However, for many others, the fear is that there will be nothing to do.
Work forms a major part of the way people define and see themselves. To no longer work is the same as losing part of who they are. Many of these people delay retirement as long as possible and, after being forced to retire, look for employment elsewhere, especially in the kinds of jobs they always wished they could do.
There is no question that the decision to retire has all kinds of consequences for people. Couples can find themselves arguing with each other much more because they have too much time alone with each other. It is now a well established fact that older people can be stalked by feelings of depression. Finally, people at the age of retirement are fully capable of abusing drugs and alcohol. With time on their hands, it is easy for retirees to sink into depression and abusing substances., not to mention marital conflict.
Is it such a good thing to retire in light of all of these difficulties?
Allan N. Schwartz, PhD Learning how to retire. - trlinde - Apr 18th 2012
It seems that much of the retirement question facing people today is not just if they will have enough to retire. But it's have they learn how to prepare to retire.
There are plenty of sources telling people how to invest or save, but none that show how to arrange their expenses for it.
My parents retired without and income other than Social Security, they did it simply by already having their house and car paid for. By living within their means.
If done right all the bills you should have is utility and property taxes once a year. Then it's just food, they rest is up to you.
Moderation a living within your means is something most Americans have forgotten, buying a house or car and not planning to have it paid off by the time they retire is something most people have not thought far enoughahead about.
While most parents see it as a tradition of sorts to pay for their childrens college, they often forget about anothe rtradition of the children paying a tithing to their parents. One of the reasons why most families were originally large as a way to invest in the future.
Educating people on retirement needs to cover all of it, not just the investing side. |