Retirement As We Know It Should Be Retired

Posted On 18 July 2023

Last updated on April 5th, 2024

There are phrases we still use – even though they don’t really apply any more. As time and technology advances, we can find that we still say some of the same things out of habit. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with these expressions. Does it make sense to still be using them?

Dialing a phone number (That was with rotary dial phones.)

Carbon copy (When a sheet of carbon paper was inserted between two sheets of paper in order to get a duplicate copy.)

Got it on tape (Recorded on cassette or VHS.)

Retirement (Be classified as “not employable” anymore.)

Retirement… It’s something that is talked about quite a bit. At the same time, it can be a topic that is ignored or procrastinated. What is it about retirement that can make it both idolized and dreaded?

Let’s take a look at the institution of retirement as we know it today. What about retirement with the FIRE movement? And is there a better way to look at our working life?

What is retirement?

There are many different ways we can look at retirement. The most common is retirement at age 65. There is “Early Retirement” that can start at age 55. When I was involved with the Amway business, retirement was talked about as not having to have a job anymore. (The successful distributors kept working their Amway businesses, though!)

Retirement is defined as the withdrawal from a person’s professional or working life. Semi-retirement is simply a partial retirement. Should retirement be something that happens when a person reaches a certain age? What if retirement was based on a person’s wealth instead of age? Or should it be based on the person’s health and ability?

History of Retirement

The earliest mentions of retirement packages or pensions was during the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus’ rule. He offered to pay a severance to his soldiers for surviving 20 years of military service. The reward these soldiers were paid was 13 years’ worth of income – Not too shabby!

Soldiers where the people most likely to receive any kind of retirement since the time of ancient Rome. In 1881 German chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck, extended retirement to anyone over the age of 70. (from Wikipedia) American Express was the first company to offer employees a pension plan in 1875.

Considering the thousands of years of human history, retirement has not been around all that long. Having money set aside so that we can support ourselves is a great thing. It’s good planning so that we are not a burden if (or when) we are no longer able to take care of ourselves.

Why Do We Hate Our Jobs?

The 40-hour work week has only been around for less than 100 years. The Ford Motor Company was the first to reduce the workweek to 40 hours. The United States made the 40-hour workweek (and minimum wage) law in 1938.

While a 40-hour workweek works well for factory work, it does not seem to work as well for information workers. Iceland found that they were working on average, more hours than other Scandinavian countries. They decided to run an experiment on working shorter hours, and it was a success! The employees’ income stayed the same, productivity remained the same, and the costs did not increase.

Part of what I think made the test a success was that departments were given the choice of how to reduce hours. Some chose an hour less per workday, others chose a half day on Friday. I think that we want to have more control over our lives. Working less can allow us the opportunity to learn more, increase family time, or work on a hobby.

We resent having to stay at work longer than we need just because we are told we have to. Non-productive work starts to creep into the workday. We tend to stop caring about our work as much. This becomes even worse when it’s a bullshit job that we are doing.

Retirement that Doesn’t Pay the Bills

What about the people who retire only to find that the combination of their Social Security, Pension, and retirement savings are not enough to live on? We see them working minimum wage jobs, like greeters at Walmart.

These people are “retired”, but if they are working a full or part-time job, are they really retired? Are they living the life they wanted? I don’t think so.

FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early)

It’s my opinion that when a person leaves a job to do just as much work is not retirement! Maybe they like their new work better. Maybe it pays better. This is the retirement that is often talked about by those in the FIRE movement and those involved with a MLM business.

FIRE sounds exciting, and it has a lot of emotional appeal to it. The problem I have with it is that most of those who “retire” this way are still working – just for themselves now. Maybe they only need to work part-time hours, but they are still continuing their working life.

Most of the people who pursue FIRE and retire early have reclaimed control of their lives. They control when they work and how much they make. Often, though, they have to keep working to keep their income coming in.

Job Optional or Financial Independent

The terms that I prefer to use are “Job Optional” or “Financially Independent”. These don’t imply that a person is supposed to be living a life of leisure like a retired person is supposed to do.

A person who is job optional can continue working their job or profession because they choose to work. Maybe they are building their own business, or they are creating something that contributes to society. The important fact is that if they had to take time off from their current schedule, they can do it without fearing the consequences.

Pursuing Our Passion

In the 1970’s the book “What Color is Your Parachute?” was published. At the time, it was a new approach to choosing our career. The book introduced the concept of pursuing our passion. We should find our passion, our calling, embrace it and run towards it.

That can work for some people. The problem is that it doesn’t work for everyone, and it can lead to disillusion. What is a person to do when they pursue their dream only to find that it is not what they thought it should be?

Cal Newport wrote about this in his book, “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”. Passion is a mirage – It’s out there in front of you, but it stays out of reach. He recommends a different approach to our career.

Developing a Craftsman Mindset

Cal writes about the benefits of us using a craftsman mindset. We don’t go after a position, but we work on our skillset. As we add to our career capital, we become more valuable, not just to our employer, but to ourselves.

Working on ourselves and adding to our skillsets, we can work for another employer if we choose to. We could leave our job and work for ourselves if that’s what we want to do. It is a solid path we can take to become job optional.

Living Life on Our Terms

We need to keep investing in ourselves. This can equip us to handle adversities and it also adds to our personal value. By being prepared, and by adding to our skillsets, we can walk into the future without fear and trepidation.

By developing a craftsman mindset, we can start to live life on our terms. We can become job optional. I think this is the control that we are looking to have in our lives. When we do things differently than most people, we can live differently than most people.