Comments on: Things We Miss, Things We Gain: From Retirement to Lifestyle Design

By: J. Money

J. Money — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 22:07:33 +0000

Agreed! I’ll always need to stay busy doing something myself in “retirement” too. Plus I hear that when you don’t keep hobbies/side gigs the odds are against you in living longer. So there’s that ;)

By: SavvyFinancialLatina

SavvyFinancialLatina — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 04:51:15 +0000

I agree with Mrs. Pop.. I know a lot of retired people who are still working, and don’t need to be working. They actually retired, and then came out of retirement to teach, or consult.

Probably going to be me too.

I think a lot of people think retirement is going to be fishing or sitting on the couch watching tv…I mean that’s how tv portrays it. But that seems so boring! Just saying.

By: Pauline

Pauline — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 02:34:20 +0000

Retirement is like the rest of your life, about making it work for you and living it on your own terms. You can’t rely on much more than yourself for that and today’s actions will design your future lifestyle. It is annoying that the retirement age is being pushed forward and the pensions are being lowered but if you have planed without it, it will only be icing on the cake.

By: maria@moneyprinciple

maria@moneyprinciple — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:36:56 +0000

@Mrs. Pop: Yep, this is what I have noticed as well. Happy older people are the ones who have managed to keep involved – both working and socially involved in their own communities. As to the ‘big plans’ – we make those at any age and at any age some people go beyond the ‘planning stage’ and others don’t. Some things don’t change :).
@lj: Thank you! Yeah, most people who lived through the 60s say the whole thing was over-rated. But…Bonny M were not even rated :). Glad the rest of it resonated with you and all the best for 2013!
@Tony: You are very welcome and this is great way to summarise my point: retirement is dead, long live lifestyle design!
@Paul: Ha, ha! Some imagination you have there, Paul! I’ll let you know when I am doing it, may call by :). As to the pensions matter – yep! In fact, I am feeling a bit concerned about the ‘baby boomers’ proper since I am not sure whether they will manage to shift their consumption mindset on time. And, of course, feeling lucky to belong to the ‘missing out generation’ – we are very flexible, generally.
@Edward: I did read your article on retirement and I know you share some of these ideas. I believe that it would be a much more interesting and enjoyable world (and life) if we move away from our fixation on employment, pensions and retirement.
@J. Money: Thank you! As a side note, I am very pleased you don’t think like a woman in her 50s – I wouldn’t be a regular reader of your blog if you did :). Will keep you posted, of course – the dreams have been dreamt; we are moving into the planning stage.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 18:49:52 +0000

Thanks again Maria! Was a nice change of perspective to read for sure :) Magically enough I don’t think like a woman in her 50s! Hehe… Can’t wait to hear you’re dreams are fulfilled! Keep us updated!

By: Edward Antrobus

Edward Antrobus — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 18:48:38 +0000

I agree with Tony. I’ll save money for a retirement for the day that comes that I’m no longer able to work, but until that day comes, I’m treating my life as if there is no such thing as retirement.

By: Paul @ The Frugal Toad

Paul @ The Frugal Toad — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:41:11 +0000

I can see you now Maria, riding your motorcycle across the States, just like the T-Mobile commercial! You are right on point Maria that retirement has changed and will continue to change for most of us. Many US companies are doing away with the traditional defined benefit plans and replacing them with a defined contribution or 401k type plan. No longer can one work for a single company and expect their salary to keep up with inflation and have the company take care of you in your later years. It will be the responsibility of each of us to carefully plan and save for retirement. The numbers are staggering and with big cuts to entitlements on the horizon it does not look good for consumption minded baby boomers.

By: Tony@YouOnlyDoThisOnce

Tony@YouOnlyDoThisOnce — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:10:34 +0000

My takeaway from this and other posts like it: We need to operate as if retirement doesn’t exist anymore. If retirement was a pipe dream, what would we do differently? It’s a great and interesting question. Thanks for the great post!

By: lj

lj — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 15:56:45 +0000

you can keep “the 60’s” – highly overrated IMO… but the rest of your column rings true. thanks and happy new year!

By: Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies

Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:12:54 +0000

We live in a veritable retirement mecca, so I think that we have a perspective on retirement that few 30-year-olds have. From what we can tell, the happiest retirees we know are those that still “work”. None of them have to; they all have more than enough money to sit on their butts watching the price is right forever.
But those that are active and engaged with small businesses or building new enterprises (even at the spry age of 89!) are those that, to us, seem to be the happiest.
And that’s a lesson that we’re taking to heart while we’re still young enough to be making those big long term plans. =)