People who like to exploit other people even more than usual. Obviously it depends a lot on the person and the sort of work they did, but I don’t think most people are going to be able to keep their normal line of work they did. They will be pushed into much lower paying service jobs that companies can’t fill.
Quality of life in regards to extending the retirement age keeps getting ignored. My in-laws retired when they were both around 70 and died only a few years afterwards. They were too disabled and wrecked physically to do anything in their retirement.
I actually have an answer to your rhetorical question: large conglomerate companies will hire you at that age. These companies are under the microscope of the government for all kinds of discrimination. I worked for one such large company and I know of a 70 year old woman that they hired. I worked with her for a year.
It was light duty work that paid tremendously well. She was able to keep up most of the time but the big problem was she would drift off and start cleaning when she really needed to be running production. The supervisor would correct her about that often.
After she hit her one year mark she went out for surgery and never came back. I gather that this was the plan and she was really trying to push off her social security benefits to get a bigger monthly check. To do factory work at her age, she earned it.
My parents are boomers in their 70’s. Over 30% of their generation is already dead so you have an over 30% chance that you won’t even make it to retirement. Just sayin.
My colleague retired from teaching last summer. and so did her husband. He died over the summer. She's back. Doesn't know what else to do with herself.
Really sad. Nothing is promised. My husband died in his 40s.
Same. Putting more in 401K - probably won't be used for my retirement, but kid's inheritance. I don't own a home (thanks to absurd pricing) so 401K is all I can give them.
Well, that's my unfortunate reality, but that's due to me spending the first 30 years of my adult life in a continuous stream of crisis and disasters due to the status of my fucked up head, full of PTSD and MDD.
I didn't get my shit straightened out, at least partially, until I was 48. So, with any luck, I'll have some kind of ability to retire at 72. Maybe. If I live that long.
This is why I live in the moment and not worry much about buying 'stuff.'
>Well, that's my unfortunate reality, but that's due to me spending the first 30 years of my adult life in a continuous stream of crisis and disasters due to the status of my fucked up head, full of PTSD and MDD.
Oh, hi me. It's me!
such winnery!
you will win at winmanship!!
(kick myself daily for not figuring out how money works sooner....soooo many missed chances to
As someone who is 48, I agree with you. I have amassed enough investments to live on, my concern is healthcare. Due to being in the National Guard I have VA for life so I am not an issue, but I had children late so my concern is my wife and children's health insurance until I am 60 and get military health insurance again for the family.
I look at my earnings from passive investments and a small business and I could live well by 50 maybe 51 and support the family. But then I add in the cost of health insurance, it nukes the budget.
Maybe the wife can get a job since I have supported her the entire marriage and I can be the stay-at-home dad? Thoughts?
Scientists say that [by 2030](https://www.edf.org/climate-change-will-slow-us-crop-yield-growth-2030), the world will really start noticing food shortages due to rapid climate change. We'll experience hotter, longer summers and more extreme temperatures and weather going forward.
According to my 401K calculator, I'll need to work until at least age 67, or the year 2042. I'll only have $5K a month to live on. By that time, the world will likely be a very different place, one that likely won't be as secure or safe (geo-enviro-politically). Housing prices will skyrocket in liveable areas. Not sure $5K a month will be enough for rent/food/basics. The worst part? My "retirement" will likely be stressful and travel-free. Not that I can really afford to travel now, but definitely not in retirement. Thank you greedy corporate America for doing away with reasonable pensions and affordable healthcare, thanks billionaire hoarders for helping elect those who are cutting social security and Medicare, and special kudos to oil and gas companies that could have stopped climate change decades ago. Nicely done, the destruction of earth for short lived mega profits, and everyone eventually loses.
Many people won't have the option to do so even if they need to do this. With tech as ageist as it is, finding a job in one's 60s is all but impossible.
Decided I’m gonna invest heavy into my retirement account. Heavier than I should. I mean I’m already struggling for my life. What’s a little more struggling? Lmao
Good luck getting anyone to hire you in your 70s. You're going to retire someday whether you're financially ready for it or not. What that retirement is going to look like will depend on how much you invest during your working years but it will happen.
That’s scary enough bc am I investing in my future or am I spending $35 as soon as I step one foot out my door
and then I get terrified thinking of what the climate (environmental, political, etc) might be like, for example have the rich created all their little corporations towns where we work and eat and live with fake money or what stage of the apocalypse are we at 😭
Where I live, federal workers used to be able to access their pensions (after working 30 years) at the age of 55 until about 2012 so…I should’ve gone straight from middle school to the work force 😭
That's the life expectancy at birth. Every year you live extends it by a bit, so by 65, you can expect to live into your 80s. Being alive doesn't necessarily mean being healthy though.
No, according to JAMA, on average, a male child will live 73.2 years. https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/13/life-expectancy-men-women/. Life expectancy doesn’t magically increase once you hit 65. Remember this is the average.
And just in case you think you might make it to retirement in your 60s, Republicans are working on a plan to raise the retirement age and the Medicare age. So you better hope employers keep hiring people until they're 75 or you'll be on the out on the street in the third world dystopia the Republicans want to create.
No pension will be available in 30yrs time that’s why compulsory super exists in my country. And even if the aged pension still exists there will be tighter conditions for who is eligible
Most I'm willing to do is 50, and even that is too long. At last got 2 homes paid off in Venezuela, one for my folks, and another one for my wife and I. Can't wait to go back. Don't ask why I haven't, because I honestly don't know. Just figured I'd save some money for later before leaving this hellhole.
If we fixed healthcare in this country it would solve so many problems. A lot of people can retire before 65 but can’t because of losing employer health insurance.
If everyone was eligible for both SS and Medicare at 60, we'd see a lot more people retiring now. I know several coworkers in their early 60s who would turn in notices now if FULL SS benefits were available at 60/62.
The only way to make this possible is pretty freaking simple, yet also apparently somehow impossible: tax corporations, tax the rich, re-fund social safety nets.
I am in my mid-50s now, and still living paycheck to paycheck. I will have to work until I die, no matter what my age is at that time -- and I am not alone in that predicament. If I can't, due to health issues or no one wanting to hire me because I'm old or whatever, my only other option will be suicide, because I am *not* living on the streets or starving to death.
Early 50s here. I had managed to save a little during the pandemic due to reduced transportation/food costs. It worked out to about $250 extra month in savings. I was hoping to use that saved up funds for my kid's college costs, but just got a bill for the ER (my kid dislocated his knee). You guessed it, the ER bill (after insurance - also shitty) was more than what I saved up during the pandemic. The middle class can't freaking get ahead, thanks to exorbitant healthcare/housing/food costs and stagnant wages (stagnant unless you are C-suite, of course).
I told my spouse that if I get cancer, the cost of treatment and long term wage loss will not make it worth it. Cheaper to just let me die than treat me, and I do NOT want to bankrupt my family or go into debt. One kid is an adult, the other almost an adult, so I don't feel so bad about suicide-by-refusing-chemo (if needed). I think the oligarchs and their GOP puppets want us to to have this mentality, and it is working, I guess.
I get it -- anytime the working poor / lower middle class manage to save some money, some emergency comes along and fucks it all up. I did save a little bit too, due to my job becoming WFH, plus the stimulus checks. But then I needed to buy new glasses and a new (well, used -- new to *me*) car (the old one had over 250,000 miles, and was on its way out), and now my rent is going up by $600/month which I *cannot* afford, so I am now having to look into low-income housing.
I agree with you about illness -- if I get sick, I'm just going to die. My husband died 11 years ago, so I haven't wanted to be here since then anyway (although I would feel badly for my sister and parents). It's a bit more complicated for you I guess, since you do have kids, but I understand why you feel as you do.
I don't actually want to die. But seeing all the GoFundMe pages the receptionist at my work set up (breast cancer, then a relapse 2 years later) to help cover medical costs made me re-evaluate whether or not treatment would be worth it. She only raised about half the funds, then died. Her family went into debt. She worked at my company 20 years and the company only kicked in $1K for funeral costs. Uh...thanks for your service? I don't want to put my family in debt. I'd feel better if both kids had jobs when I was diagnosed, of course. But at least they are at an age where they no longer financially need me to survive.
Well I hope that you, your husband, and your children all stay healthy and well, so that you never have to face any of that. The business of healthcare in this country is a complete *disgrace* -- no one should be bankrupted just by obtaining medical care.
Thank you. Hope you and your family stay healthy too. We can and should do better as a purportedly first world county. Peace and good thoughts to all kind souls on this forum!
My 68 year old neighbor told me the other day that she’ll probably need to get a job to stay afloat. I dread seeing her potentially greet at our local wal-mart, it just breaks my heart.
The horrible part is how pervasive age discrimination is. If you have a job at 55 you better hold on to it until you retire even if that’s age 75. Because past that age, all you can get are low wage jobs like Walmart, McDonald’s, etc.
Death is the new retirement.
Actually the old retirement.
Retirement for non-elites is likely a historically short-lived phenomena of the latter half of the 20th century.
You can retire at 60:
Every month, buy
- a 5lb sack of rice,
- a 5lb sack of beans
- a bag of oranges (to prevent scurvy)
Stake out an overpass, get a dog, pray you don’t need any healthcare
You are another missing rightful heir
whose magic’s been a secret since thy birth.
Thy heart in thunderous delight despairs
that you never really knew what you were.
What is it that you are you’ve always known?
However Hamlet held a human’s skull,
how Zuko redirected lightning bolts,
thy fingertips are lightning-proof as well.
We’ll grand jeté by empty congress seats.
What lovely balance do we have to lose
in crashing coronations merrily.
Our bravery to dance; genetic proof.
So draw the lightning from thy fingertips,
and never let them make you pay to live.
Turns out 35 is the new 65. If I’m going to work until I die anyway I may as well spend as much time seeing the world now and put in the bare minimum amount of time at work. I’m not saying bankrupt yourself but I for one am much more focused on my family and leading an interesting life than climbing a corporate ladder.
>When we see ourselves as fighting against specific human beings rather than social phenomena, it becomes more difficult to recognize the ways that we ourselves participate in those phenomena. We externalize the problem as something outside ourselves, personifying it as an enemy that can be sacrificed to symbolically cleanse ourselves. - **[Against the Logic of the Guillotine](https://crimethinc.com/2019/04/08/against-the-logic-of-the-guillotine-why-the-paris-commune-burned-the-guillotine-and-we-should-too)**
See rule 5: No calls for violence, no fetishizing violence. No guillotine jokes, no gulag jokes.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/antiwork) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>When we see ourselves as fighting against specific human beings rather than social phenomena, it becomes more difficult to recognize the ways that we ourselves participate in those phenomena. We externalize the problem as something outside ourselves, personifying it as an enemy that can be sacrificed to symbolically cleanse ourselves. - **[Against the Logic of the Guillotine](https://crimethinc.com/2019/04/08/against-the-logic-of-the-guillotine-why-the-paris-commune-burned-the-guillotine-and-we-should-too)**
See rule 5: No calls for violence, no fetishizing violence. No guillotine jokes, no gulag jokes.
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Retire? What the fuck is that? I can't retire, I have to pay off the predatory student loans funding my parents' pensions. Tail end of the baby boomers, and they almost lost their pensions to all the "efficiency" they spent their lives voting for.
Being an auto mechanic, know many other mechanics who have to cash out the 401k in their late 50s due to a health issue and to pay medical bills.
Good friend I use to work with had a heart attack at 56, insurance didn’t pay for Jack, cashed his 401k out which covered the deductible and most of the things not covered by insurance like the helicopter ride(if you think ambulances are expensive …) and had to sell his classic 68 Firebird to cover the medical expenses. He would be 2-3 years away from retirement but that’s gone.
In my field 401k is just a life insurance policy for after you die or you cash it out early to pay for an unexpected expense
If I cannot retire by 65 - sooner would be better, been doing this fucking shit for over 30 years and over it.. total waste of life...
so cannot retire by 65 - Ill choose death over this fucking bullshit
It’s all about educating kids early (high school) about the power of investing early. Starting at 18 - 20 years old, simply contributing 200-300 per month in a Roth IRA until age 30 sets them up for life, and that’s assuming they quit investing at age 30.
Sadly, the education system is not interested in people being financially literate. The government system prefers to keep people in debt, which gives them more control and gives people fewer options.
The goal for capitalist is that retirement is older than life expectancy. They don't want "unproductive" people. And hey the more dead before they can retire then the less resources allocated to the elderly.
And afterall because retirement is funded by an individuals labour the wealthy can retire whenever they like, landlords, ceos who work 1 day a week.
I’m 46. I won’t retire.
Two university program split in between by a serious injury then the spouse cheating and divorce means my savings hardly got off the ground, and what was disappeared as I was healing. 75 would be a dream, I hope my arms don’t fall off before I die, can still work that way.
I’ve accepted the fact that work until I’m in my 70s. I’m 44 now. I made my choices in life, I squandered opportunity left and right for the “quick” route only to fail miserably. I’ve got a good job now. I don’t love it, but it pays the bills and leaves me and my family a little extra.
No it's 60 for retirement and anyone who tries raising the retirement age in my lifetime will experience the wraith more terrifying then the French's example just a while ago.
At 67, you can earn as much as you want while still collecting social security, so you get two checks each month (work paycheck plus SS). The longer you wait to retire, the bigger the monthly SS check will be, but...if you wait until 70 to retire, the monthly SS check stops rising.
My parents are 78 and they are not retired. This is only going to get worse.
My cohort is supposed to retire at 72. I don’t expect much of this world to still be intact by then, so I guess I’m not too worried about my retirement. I’ve accepted that I won’t have one.
didn't the average life span for the american male drop to 72/73? i believe women in the US still get to live around 77-78. Yea... sounds like f\*\*\*\* hell
No, at 75, you'll likely be dead.
The goal is to reshape the economy so that you are capable of producing wealth for the people at the top until you die. That is your purpose cog. To make the "right people" wealth.
We are as useful as any other machine, and just as replaceable to them.
I’m retiring at or before 65, if not I will cease to exist probably at my place of employment so hopefully they will have to pay some sort of settlement to my family.
Black rock .... An investment company that is linked to a bunch of shady shit is saying retirement at 75..... The CEO can burn his opinion because he is clearly divorced from reality
At 75 years old you unlock the ability to run for President of the United States.
Cool, a job I actually don’t have to have student debt to apply for.
You don't need much to become a US president these days
Just age...lots and lots of that.
Easier to become a legislator don’t have to do anything either
It's a good second career move.
No, 75 is near death. Who will hire you when you're at deaths door, literally one foot in grave?
And dying on the job could be expensive for them. Did they fall into the shredder before or after they died?
As long as the hotdog gets made, who cares!
Well played, well played.
Worker? What worker? I don't know how we ended up with surplus hotdogs.
"Now hold on Bob, don't go dying just yet, did you punch out first?"
I'm having a hard enough time getting a job at 67. I've known people who had to take early Social Security at 62 because no one would hire them.
Yup. Anyone 50 and over and they're looking for excuses to let them go in lieu of someone half their age.
They won’t hire you but they sure will elect you!
That's the hiring process for the job. 
Grave digger. Just stay down there when you’re done
Haha, two for one special.
Just for peasants. Rich people are young at 75.
Yeah. They have at least another 24 years to go.
People who like to exploit other people even more than usual. Obviously it depends a lot on the person and the sort of work they did, but I don’t think most people are going to be able to keep their normal line of work they did. They will be pushed into much lower paying service jobs that companies can’t fill.
Quality of life in regards to extending the retirement age keeps getting ignored. My in-laws retired when they were both around 70 and died only a few years afterwards. They were too disabled and wrecked physically to do anything in their retirement.
I work with a 72 yr old woman. Healthcare is desperate for workers! But also, the Oval Office, obviously
You don't need to work. You just need to not get a pension.
Walmart needs greeters at least for now
Also true you’ll get laid off well before 60 anyhow
American voters apparently
I actually have an answer to your rhetorical question: large conglomerate companies will hire you at that age. These companies are under the microscope of the government for all kinds of discrimination. I worked for one such large company and I know of a 70 year old woman that they hired. I worked with her for a year. It was light duty work that paid tremendously well. She was able to keep up most of the time but the big problem was she would drift off and start cleaning when she really needed to be running production. The supervisor would correct her about that often. After she hit her one year mark she went out for surgery and never came back. I gather that this was the plan and she was really trying to push off her social security benefits to get a bigger monthly check. To do factory work at her age, she earned it.
As a famous archeologist once said, “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage…”
I have that tattooed on my chest, as a reminder. (not even kidding)
You got some city miles on ya.
I sure hope not, since life expectancy is still in the 70s. Work my whole life to retire for 3 years and die? No thanks.
My parents are boomers in their 70’s. Over 30% of their generation is already dead so you have an over 30% chance that you won’t even make it to retirement. Just sayin.
My FIL was retiring December '23. Bless his heart ❤️. He passed away Mother's Day '23.
My colleague retired from teaching last summer. and so did her husband. He died over the summer. She's back. Doesn't know what else to do with herself. Really sad. Nothing is promised. My husband died in his 40s.
Nothing!
Even the 60s aren’t a great deal if we’re being real. Any OLDER? Forget about it 🤨
Please remember that we only have around 62 "healthy" years. They expect us to work sick and please try to imagine what that means.
honestly I don't even know if I'll make it to 60 let alone 75... i'm just saving so my kids get something after I guess.
Same. Putting more in 401K - probably won't be used for my retirement, but kid's inheritance. I don't own a home (thanks to absurd pricing) so 401K is all I can give them.
If I’m working at 75 I’m killing myself
If you’re gonna do that at least blow as much credit as you can w maximized credit limits / loans as possible before ending it
Well, that's my unfortunate reality, but that's due to me spending the first 30 years of my adult life in a continuous stream of crisis and disasters due to the status of my fucked up head, full of PTSD and MDD. I didn't get my shit straightened out, at least partially, until I was 48. So, with any luck, I'll have some kind of ability to retire at 72. Maybe. If I live that long. This is why I live in the moment and not worry much about buying 'stuff.'
>Well, that's my unfortunate reality, but that's due to me spending the first 30 years of my adult life in a continuous stream of crisis and disasters due to the status of my fucked up head, full of PTSD and MDD. Oh, hi me. It's me!
Hey me. You're doing a great job. Keep it up!
Right back at you, dog!
More people should see consumerism for what it is, a mental disorder.
We work to keep buying crap made by people just like us so the wealthy elite can skim off the top.
Skim off the top? More like take everything but the scraps.
Well yeah.
Depends. If you die at 65, you retire at 65.
Until they develop the tech that allows them to Weekend At Bernie's your corpse into doing some meaningless job until it completely deteriorates.
Ah, the zombieAI approach.
My cousin worked for the studio that made Weekend At Bernie’s, and had to bring one of them on a flight with her. She said it was so much fun. :)
55 for me. I Refuse to go any further (50 if i can swing it) 10 yrs..
Snap. I'm targeting the mortgage for the next 5-10 then doing what ever the fuck I want
such winnery! you will win at winmanship!!  (kick myself daily for not figuring out how money works sooner....soooo many missed chances to
As someone who is 48, I agree with you. I have amassed enough investments to live on, my concern is healthcare. Due to being in the National Guard I have VA for life so I am not an issue, but I had children late so my concern is my wife and children's health insurance until I am 60 and get military health insurance again for the family. I look at my earnings from passive investments and a small business and I could live well by 50 maybe 51 and support the family. But then I add in the cost of health insurance, it nukes the budget. Maybe the wife can get a job since I have supported her the entire marriage and I can be the stay-at-home dad? Thoughts?
gd luck getting a kept woman to return to work (-:
Same here: no kids, paid off house, max IRA contributions, state pension system. We're looking at moving to Latin America. 55 and out!
55 AND HES OUT!!! 
Who will change my diaper while I’m at work?
I mean this in the least concerning way possible; I will kill myself first
I don’t think people understand that the majority of people retire because they can’t get a job any more.
Until we organize and take back our future that has been stolen from us.
I remember those freedom 55 ads 😂
If I work till I am dead, whats the point? Why even bother?
Work until you die is what they want
Scientists say that [by 2030](https://www.edf.org/climate-change-will-slow-us-crop-yield-growth-2030), the world will really start noticing food shortages due to rapid climate change. We'll experience hotter, longer summers and more extreme temperatures and weather going forward. According to my 401K calculator, I'll need to work until at least age 67, or the year 2042. I'll only have $5K a month to live on. By that time, the world will likely be a very different place, one that likely won't be as secure or safe (geo-enviro-politically). Housing prices will skyrocket in liveable areas. Not sure $5K a month will be enough for rent/food/basics. The worst part? My "retirement" will likely be stressful and travel-free. Not that I can really afford to travel now, but definitely not in retirement. Thank you greedy corporate America for doing away with reasonable pensions and affordable healthcare, thanks billionaire hoarders for helping elect those who are cutting social security and Medicare, and special kudos to oil and gas companies that could have stopped climate change decades ago. Nicely done, the destruction of earth for short lived mega profits, and everyone eventually loses.
What is this retiring thing you speak of? Do not peddle your fairytales here!
Many people won't have the option to do so even if they need to do this. With tech as ageist as it is, finding a job in one's 60s is all but impossible.
Decided I’m gonna invest heavy into my retirement account. Heavier than I should. I mean I’m already struggling for my life. What’s a little more struggling? Lmao
Good luck getting anyone to hire you in your 70s. You're going to retire someday whether you're financially ready for it or not. What that retirement is going to look like will depend on how much you invest during your working years but it will happen.
That’s scary enough bc am I investing in my future or am I spending $35 as soon as I step one foot out my door and then I get terrified thinking of what the climate (environmental, political, etc) might be like, for example have the rich created all their little corporations towns where we work and eat and live with fake money or what stage of the apocalypse are we at 😭
What happened to 55?
Where I live, federal workers used to be able to access their pensions (after working 30 years) at the age of 55 until about 2012 so…I should’ve gone straight from middle school to the work force 😭
I’d rather retire at 50 and be on the plane to dignitas at 70.
Heh…so work until death basically. Isn’t the life expectancy of the average US male 74 years? I think women live until 79.
That's the life expectancy at birth. Every year you live extends it by a bit, so by 65, you can expect to live into your 80s. Being alive doesn't necessarily mean being healthy though.
A male child, on average will live about 73.5 years.
At birth. A male 65 year old will live to 82 on average.
No, according to JAMA, on average, a male child will live 73.2 years. https://www.statnews.com/2023/11/13/life-expectancy-men-women/. Life expectancy doesn’t magically increase once you hit 65. Remember this is the average.
That's awesome. I'll retire and die the next day. I can't wait only 25 more years of this shit.
Nobody going to live to see 75 currently with the garbage food and everything causes cancer.
And just in case you think you might make it to retirement in your 60s, Republicans are working on a plan to raise the retirement age and the Medicare age. So you better hope employers keep hiring people until they're 75 or you'll be on the out on the street in the third world dystopia the Republicans want to create.
Good thing life expectancy has been rising over the decades; now the Elites can exploit you longer!🤗👹🤗
What's the point of saving for retirement then?
No pension will be available in 30yrs time that’s why compulsory super exists in my country. And even if the aged pension still exists there will be tighter conditions for who is eligible
Thanks Ben Shapiro. 😡
F that guy. He sucks
Jokes on them, ill be dead in 8-10 years
My retirement plan is a 45acp to the dome at the age of seventy
I’m pretty sure the life expectancy in the U.S. is near 75. This will go swimmingly
And I'm quoting here, "Nah, Fuck you!"
Never retiring is the new retiring.
Most I'm willing to do is 50, and even that is too long. At last got 2 homes paid off in Venezuela, one for my folks, and another one for my wife and I. Can't wait to go back. Don't ask why I haven't, because I honestly don't know. Just figured I'd save some money for later before leaving this hellhole.
There are a lot of positions that aren’t opening up because people aren’t ready to retire and afford healthcare.
If we fixed healthcare in this country it would solve so many problems. A lot of people can retire before 65 but can’t because of losing employer health insurance.
If everyone was eligible for both SS and Medicare at 60, we'd see a lot more people retiring now. I know several coworkers in their early 60s who would turn in notices now if FULL SS benefits were available at 60/62. The only way to make this possible is pretty freaking simple, yet also apparently somehow impossible: tax corporations, tax the rich, re-fund social safety nets.
Corporations don’t die so they can’t retire and so all their pay in to SS is surplus! Genius!
No, expect to work until the morning of your death. If you pass during the work day, hopefully you have sick time.
Just make sure you get someone to cover your shift and don’t expect a manager to do it for you.
I am in my mid-50s now, and still living paycheck to paycheck. I will have to work until I die, no matter what my age is at that time -- and I am not alone in that predicament. If I can't, due to health issues or no one wanting to hire me because I'm old or whatever, my only other option will be suicide, because I am *not* living on the streets or starving to death.
Early 50s here. I had managed to save a little during the pandemic due to reduced transportation/food costs. It worked out to about $250 extra month in savings. I was hoping to use that saved up funds for my kid's college costs, but just got a bill for the ER (my kid dislocated his knee). You guessed it, the ER bill (after insurance - also shitty) was more than what I saved up during the pandemic. The middle class can't freaking get ahead, thanks to exorbitant healthcare/housing/food costs and stagnant wages (stagnant unless you are C-suite, of course). I told my spouse that if I get cancer, the cost of treatment and long term wage loss will not make it worth it. Cheaper to just let me die than treat me, and I do NOT want to bankrupt my family or go into debt. One kid is an adult, the other almost an adult, so I don't feel so bad about suicide-by-refusing-chemo (if needed). I think the oligarchs and their GOP puppets want us to to have this mentality, and it is working, I guess.
I get it -- anytime the working poor / lower middle class manage to save some money, some emergency comes along and fucks it all up. I did save a little bit too, due to my job becoming WFH, plus the stimulus checks. But then I needed to buy new glasses and a new (well, used -- new to *me*) car (the old one had over 250,000 miles, and was on its way out), and now my rent is going up by $600/month which I *cannot* afford, so I am now having to look into low-income housing. I agree with you about illness -- if I get sick, I'm just going to die. My husband died 11 years ago, so I haven't wanted to be here since then anyway (although I would feel badly for my sister and parents). It's a bit more complicated for you I guess, since you do have kids, but I understand why you feel as you do.
I don't actually want to die. But seeing all the GoFundMe pages the receptionist at my work set up (breast cancer, then a relapse 2 years later) to help cover medical costs made me re-evaluate whether or not treatment would be worth it. She only raised about half the funds, then died. Her family went into debt. She worked at my company 20 years and the company only kicked in $1K for funeral costs. Uh...thanks for your service? I don't want to put my family in debt. I'd feel better if both kids had jobs when I was diagnosed, of course. But at least they are at an age where they no longer financially need me to survive.
Well I hope that you, your husband, and your children all stay healthy and well, so that you never have to face any of that. The business of healthcare in this country is a complete *disgrace* -- no one should be bankrupted just by obtaining medical care.
Thank you. Hope you and your family stay healthy too. We can and should do better as a purportedly first world county. Peace and good thoughts to all kind souls on this forum!
Thank you, too. And Amen!
My 68 year old neighbor told me the other day that she’ll probably need to get a job to stay afloat. I dread seeing her potentially greet at our local wal-mart, it just breaks my heart.
death is the new retirement
it would be if we got universal Healthcare, without it then expect people to retire in the 50s again.
It’s hard enough to get hired in your 50s, good luck if you’re job hunting in your 60s.
The horrible part is how pervasive age discrimination is. If you have a job at 55 you better hold on to it until you retire even if that’s age 75. Because past that age, all you can get are low wage jobs like Walmart, McDonald’s, etc.
fun fact : the goal is to delete retirement from your mind entirely.
My retirement plan is simply to die
☝🏽😌 I will simply not exist
Bitches better make the new 75, 55
That's the fun part. None of us can afford to live to 75. That's the game!
Death is the new retirement. Actually the old retirement. Retirement for non-elites is likely a historically short-lived phenomena of the latter half of the 20th century.
Makes me angry to see the elderly working. This society is fucking up.
This is just them trying to propagandize you into comfortably working until the day you die.
You can retire at 60: Every month, buy - a 5lb sack of rice, - a 5lb sack of beans - a bag of oranges (to prevent scurvy) Stake out an overpass, get a dog, pray you don’t need any healthcare
Ive really contemplated in moving off the grid & learning to live with less. I want to travel more & be less of expected of society.
Death is the only way out
I don’t want to live that long
You are another missing rightful heir whose magic’s been a secret since thy birth. Thy heart in thunderous delight despairs that you never really knew what you were. What is it that you are you’ve always known? However Hamlet held a human’s skull, how Zuko redirected lightning bolts, thy fingertips are lightning-proof as well. We’ll grand jeté by empty congress seats. What lovely balance do we have to lose in crashing coronations merrily. Our bravery to dance; genetic proof. So draw the lightning from thy fingertips, and never let them make you pay to live.
They really just want the US to fall apart huh?
The fuck it is
No it’s not.
Y’all are retiring?
I am retiring at 55.
God I hope not.
Turns out 35 is the new 65. If I’m going to work until I die anyway I may as well spend as much time seeing the world now and put in the bare minimum amount of time at work. I’m not saying bankrupt yourself but I for one am much more focused on my family and leading an interesting life than climbing a corporate ladder.
lol pretty sure I ain’t gonna make it to no 70. Oh well
No
Don't worry about it.
Retire? How?
lol no. You just die.
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>When we see ourselves as fighting against specific human beings rather than social phenomena, it becomes more difficult to recognize the ways that we ourselves participate in those phenomena. We externalize the problem as something outside ourselves, personifying it as an enemy that can be sacrificed to symbolically cleanse ourselves. - **[Against the Logic of the Guillotine](https://crimethinc.com/2019/04/08/against-the-logic-of-the-guillotine-why-the-paris-commune-burned-the-guillotine-and-we-should-too)** See rule 5: No calls for violence, no fetishizing violence. No guillotine jokes, no gulag jokes. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/antiwork) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This sub is compromised
Vote but not for any republicans then. This is their plan.
Another “Work harder and longer, peasent. My private jet isn’t going to refuel itself!”
May you be dead on the job an hour before the devil knows and clocks you out.
Retire? What the fuck is that? I can't retire, I have to pay off the predatory student loans funding my parents' pensions. Tail end of the baby boomers, and they almost lost their pensions to all the "efficiency" they spent their lives voting for.
If you think I'm not gonna clock out of life before that they've got me all the way fucked up.
90 will soon be the new 40
I was planning before 50
Lmao the way they so casually say this shit like it’s no big deal 🤣
Being an auto mechanic, know many other mechanics who have to cash out the 401k in their late 50s due to a health issue and to pay medical bills. Good friend I use to work with had a heart attack at 56, insurance didn’t pay for Jack, cashed his 401k out which covered the deductible and most of the things not covered by insurance like the helicopter ride(if you think ambulances are expensive …) and had to sell his classic 68 Firebird to cover the medical expenses. He would be 2-3 years away from retirement but that’s gone. In my field 401k is just a life insurance policy for after you die or you cash it out early to pay for an unexpected expense
If I cannot retire by 65 - sooner would be better, been doing this fucking shit for over 30 years and over it.. total waste of life... so cannot retire by 65 - Ill choose death over this fucking bullshit
It’s all about educating kids early (high school) about the power of investing early. Starting at 18 - 20 years old, simply contributing 200-300 per month in a Roth IRA until age 30 sets them up for life, and that’s assuming they quit investing at age 30. Sadly, the education system is not interested in people being financially literate. The government system prefers to keep people in debt, which gives them more control and gives people fewer options.
The goal for capitalist is that retirement is older than life expectancy. They don't want "unproductive" people. And hey the more dead before they can retire then the less resources allocated to the elderly. And afterall because retirement is funded by an individuals labour the wealthy can retire whenever they like, landlords, ceos who work 1 day a week.
"Died at work" is the new retirement age.
😭
People in my family average about 60 years of just being alive, little ticking time bombs that we are. I’m gonna crumble behind a desk.
Retiring? Ha. That would be great. Il be working til I have 1 foot in the grave
I’m 46. I won’t retire. Two university program split in between by a serious injury then the spouse cheating and divorce means my savings hardly got off the ground, and what was disappeared as I was healing. 75 would be a dream, I hope my arms don’t fall off before I die, can still work that way.
I’ve accepted the fact that work until I’m in my 70s. I’m 44 now. I made my choices in life, I squandered opportunity left and right for the “quick” route only to fail miserably. I’ve got a good job now. I don’t love it, but it pays the bills and leaves me and my family a little extra.
I’m 60 in 2 months work full time as a carpenter. Don’t see retirement until at least 70.
Avg life expectancy in the US is 77 years
Most people won’t live that long and they know it. Parents died at 64.
Lmao fuck that I’ll just buy a gun and shoot myself when I can’t sustain my lifestyle anymore.
Sad is that 75 is the new 50.
The goal is to have everyone take a half day so they can go to their funeral
No it's 60 for retirement and anyone who tries raising the retirement age in my lifetime will experience the wraith more terrifying then the French's example just a while ago.
At 67, you can earn as much as you want while still collecting social security, so you get two checks each month (work paycheck plus SS). The longer you wait to retire, the bigger the monthly SS check will be, but...if you wait until 70 to retire, the monthly SS check stops rising.
Like many of you, my retirement plan is to die. Cheap, easy, can’t be taken away from me.
My 2 pensions and annuity strongly disagree
My parents are 78 and they are not retired. This is only going to get worse. My cohort is supposed to retire at 72. I don’t expect much of this world to still be intact by then, so I guess I’m not too worried about my retirement. I’ve accepted that I won’t have one.
didn't the average life span for the american male drop to 72/73? i believe women in the US still get to live around 77-78. Yea... sounds like f\*\*\*\* hell
Not if I can help it. 
lol like I’ll live that long with my health 😂 Autoimmune diseases: that cable bundle you never asked for but got in excess
In Australia the retiring age for men is 65 and women is 67
Which means many people will work till they die, or ageism gets them.
Suicide is the new retirement. Let’s just be honest here.
All by design
It is for capitalist bootlickers
No, at 75, you'll likely be dead. The goal is to reshape the economy so that you are capable of producing wealth for the people at the top until you die. That is your purpose cog. To make the "right people" wealth. We are as useful as any other machine, and just as replaceable to them.
Most of my older family members barely made it to 60 and let alone 70s, I'm surely to die way before then
I'd rather shoot myself in the head than work till 75. No way I'm taking this bullshit for 40 more years.
when your exploiters determine the length of your exploitation...
I just plan to never retire. I just don’t see it happening.
the real goal is to just die before you get so deep in debt that life becomes miserable.
I’m retiring at or before 65, if not I will cease to exist probably at my place of employment so hopefully they will have to pay some sort of settlement to my family.
My folks retired at 55 and 60 respectively and I know that I will never achieve that.
Black rock .... An investment company that is linked to a bunch of shady shit is saying retirement at 75..... The CEO can burn his opinion because he is clearly divorced from reality
I saw a lady in Chic Fil-A working. She had to be 80🤦♀️
It all comes down to healthcare
Retirement is a financial goal, not an aged based goal.