Why are people so obsessed with retirement?

It's ridiculous...Just the new thing to be AFRAID OF -- America is a nation of scaredy cats.

Where would you draw the line though? Your scenario happens but it's not the only scenario. Some people have situations where the question is: 150k for 40 hours or 350k for 50 hours. In that situation would you take the longer hours + lots more money, or do you value that 10 hours per week at more than 200k per year? What if it was 100k/40 hours vs 200k/60 hours.

The 80k/40 hours vs 115k/70 hours choice isn't really a big enough difference in income to matter relative to the time lost.

because work is not supposed to be fun. Its great when it is.

You are crazy if you think he passed up on a job he was passionate about. Clearly he wasn't. It was just a job title. Work is work. Its why its called work, and not vacation.

Very few people get to do their dream job. If you enjoy your vacation time, then clearly you'd rather do that for 48 weeks and work for 4.

Put your money away and save enough to be able to do whatever you want, any time you want.

I had a great job. Paid a lot. Couldn't wait to quit.

I've thought of doing a lot of other things, but I have never been a part time guy. Its why I was successful. So now I read, sleep in, get up early, got bed, late, go to bed early. Drink during the week, or not. Ride my bike.

Fck work. Its like sports. Go hard while you can, and when you can't, walk away and do something else.

You say your friend is grinding. Nope. He is going hard. He'll be doing his own thing while you are still whining, twittering, playing X box, watching internet porn.

"because work is not supposed to be fun" - self fulfilling prophecy?"I had a great job. Paid a lot. Couldn't wait to quit." - makes no sense, you couldn't wait to 'quit' your great job? Yeah, whenever I go to a great party I can't wait to leave. "So now I read, sleep in, get up early, got bed, late, go to bed early. Drink during the week, or not. Ride my bike. " - umm OK I work 35 hours a week and can still do all these things"You say your friend is grinding. Nope. He is going hard. He'll be doing his own thing while you are still whining, twittering, playing X box, watching internet porn." - so because I am a proponent of doing work I enjoy I'm automatically addicted to twitter and X-box? Actually I do most of the things you described as your 'ideal retirement' but I get to do them for my entire life - not just when I'm an old guy. Not a very convincing counter.

I can understand not wanting to take a $35K pay cut in general.

I don't care for the reasoning of a better retirement.

Can't guarantee how long you will be alive and healthy.

But if that's where his values are set then he's doing what he wants.

Life is great because we are different.

Yeah, there's this idea that if you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life... or at least that's how I think the old slogan goes.

This is a line of thought that would be completely foreign to past generations. You work to pay your bills, take care of yourself and your family... whether you feel happy and self actualized by isn't even a consideration.

Yes totally true. But this save, save, save, suffer, suffer suffer then finally live fallacy is really hurting people. It seems the common drive is to work a job you dislike or are lukewarm to at best in an industry or field you don't really care that much about to buy fancy things to impress people that don't care about you. I would rather work in a brewery or running shoe store and drive a piece of junk car and own used furniture and skip the fancy NYE parties and luncheon networking events but it is so looked down upon... (lazy hipster comment coming up)

VerminMeat wrote:

Yeah, there's this idea that if you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life... or at least that's how I think the old slogan goes.

This is a line of thought that would be completely foreign to past generations. You work to pay your bills, take care of yourself and your family... whether you feel happy and self actualized by isn't even a consideration.

Living well off of rents seems like a good and fairly reachable goal and can be leveraged very well initially. Diversifying to some degree is better, of course. With real estate rents you don't have to deplete your capital in retirement….and you can quit work early if you are willing to be frugal because time will work your retirement for you , amortization improves cash flow to retirement sufficient quantities.

Why do you think this is just a North American thing? Every country all over the world has jobs that no one really likes but somebody has to do. In some countries, there is no such thing as retirement, you just work til you die.

I like our system much better.

worst case: working a low paying job you hate (like janitor). Really unless your IQ is under 85 you shouldn't be doing this.

second worst: working a high paying job you hate because you care more about impressing other people and conforming to societies standards of nice care, resort vacation, diamond ring then your own personal happiness.

best case: any job you love that pays more than 35k a year. If you are frugal and don't buy in to corporate america you should be able to have ANYTHING you want for this amount of money. Since jobs like running shoe store assistant manager and choclate shop owner probably fall in this low income category technically anyone can live an ideal, happy life - it's judgement of others that stop us from doing this.

ie. the fear of being at your in-laws or family/high school reunion and telling people you are a running shoe store manager instead of a lawyer or investment banker almost always wins out.

I have 2 friends that have bucked the trend. Both had high paying jobs. They put away a little but mainly lived the show off high life. Now they both work in small retail shops 35 hours a week and with the additional 30 they have freed up in commuting/networking events/extra work do whatever they want (in their cases rock climb)

they went from 100k + to 40k and LOVE their lives now

Your friend would not enjoy that 80k 'awesome' job as much as you think he would, or he would have taken it - his 'logic' is just a rationalization. Most Americans are royally f***ed when it comes to retirement. Generally speaking they are the opposite of obsessed with it.

notthatbig wrote:

But this save, save, save, suffer, suffer suffer then finally live fallacy is really hurting people.

It seems the common drive is to work a job you dislike or are lukewarm to at best in an industry or field you don't really care that much about to buy fancy things to impress people that don't care about you.

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You contradict yourself. Are you mad that people are saving or that they're spending?

Finding something you love to do that pays good money is rare. Most people find something they either like or tolerate, that may or may not pay well. I've been lucky, my various jobs have always paid well and I have liked them, several I loved. Most recently, my job choices have revolved around how good the 401K was, whether there was a history of distributions for highly compensated employees and if there was a match or not. Particularly important as I near retirement age. I'm not sure anyone is actually "obsessed" with retirement but also no one wants to be forced to eat dog food, although Mighty Dog happens to be quite tasty.

Has to do with the fact that our senior years are when we are the most vulnerable, due to illnesses of aging and mental frailty--babies/kids are vulnerable in more of a dependent type way.

I don't get the part about putting off all the fun till your golden years though. No 75 YO could possibly have as much fun doing anything than a 45 YO.

What if I don´t get the job that I want? In my dream job I wouldn´t have to deal or speak with people (I dislike/hate and even afraid most of the people), I hate and suck on small talk. I would wear hearing protector with radio, have a day time job but not too hard and monotonous physically and mentally. After all of this, what have you left?

IF I wouldn´t have this social anxiety with panick attacks, I would aim much higher. I was a janitor once, I enjoyed solving technical problems but I got even more cynical against other people, experienced too much of bad behaviour by endless idiots. "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you" and there wouldn´t be wars or people like me that much.

Some people don't have dream jobs because they don't enjoy working, period. There's way more to life than just sitting in an office or in a cube until you're almost dead.

What I don't understand is threads and posts like these:

How can people go like automatons and spend their years away, like it's a game of poker? Don't they have any sense of their own mortality? Like, omg this is it, this is all I've got. There are millions of people in this country, and what, you're going to spend your life away like its faceless construction paper? And that you'll get a fresh slip on the next try out? Or maybe you'll get to heaven!

Seriously. "Retirement." I don't really think people think that way anyways. That's why people are so greedy beneath the fake appearances. Screwing around in hs and college. If they were really scared of their own mortality, they would be greedy for philosophy, knowledge, truth and contemplation. Oh well too bad.

Being enlightened sucks anyways because it's like the matrix, practically speaking. The slovenly masses have all the power. Great Ideas need many awakened people working as a team to achieve.

I'm torn on this subject. I'm 43 and can retire at 49 which will be far younger than most people will be able to.

I've had years of being miserable at work while pushing myself to get through the end goal (retirement). If you ask me if it was worth it, I will probably say yes when I'm retired. I realize I could drop dead tomorrow and not make my end goal, but that's the chance I take.

Friends would often tell me that I would be better off finding a job that I love instead of being obsessed with retirement and sometimes miserable along the way. The problem with that is I have been unable to find a job that I would love that would also pay the bills (and this is much harder when you have a house and kids). I just don't think this dream job exists for some people.

As long as you're not complaining about the success of all those hard working, highly paid rich people, while railing against the "rigged system" then more power to you. We can't all be millionaires, and what you lack in net worth, you'll make up for in good times.

Let's just agree that we've each chosen our lifestyles, and please keep your hands out of my pockets. Hard working people don't want to pay for your barely-funded hedonistic ways.