Thinking about Retirement

Kevin sent me a link to an article this week.  The basic gist is that a very wealthy guy, I think the Google CEO, is planning to retire at age 52.  He said he wants to spend time with his wife after 30 years of barely seeing her because of his intense career.  They are going to travel the world.

Most people can't do that, of course, which was the major point of the writer of the article.  This dude hasn't really balanced work and family life successfully. He has worked and worked and worked and joked that while he and his wife have been married 30 years, they've spent so little time together that it is like they are relatively newly married. Sad.

So anyway, that sparked some thoughts of my own about retirement from work.

I have long had the view that retirement isn't a de facto given for anyone.  During most of human history, people didn't expect to spend the last 20 or 30 years of their lives basically doing nothing.  Or at least, they didn't have the financial resources to spend their golden years travelling and doing fun things.

I still think it is kind of weird that a person can work from age 21 to about 62, which is a little over 40 years, and then spend 30 years goofing off.  How does that even WORK?

I also used to have sort of a "nose in the air" attitude about how Christians should be focused on doing God's work and we shouldn't worry a lot about retirement because God might call us to work later into our lives.

So I wondered why Christian financial gurus emphasized saving for retirement so much.  Is retirement even Biblical?  The only situation in the whole Bible which seems to talk about retirement is in Numbers or something, where the Lord directed the priests to "retire" at age 50.  They had fairly strenuous jobs involving killing animals and sacrificing them, so I wonder if sheer physical frailty was the reason for that directive.

Well, I admit I've changed my views somewhat.

I still believe Christians should be open to working for money in a job if the Lord directs, even if they are old.

I still believe Christians should not focus exclusively on personal pleasure for the last years of their lives.  There are obviously crying needs all over and a retired person, if healthy, can meet a few of those needs.  My parents, who are retired, do many tasks for their church that younger, working families cannot.  And that is great.

BUT I do believe saving for retirement is wise, IF POSSIBLE.  It isn't possible for everyone, obviously.

We know a dear lady who is past retirement age and still working.  Due to some life circumstances beyond her control, she doesn't have the financial resources to stop work yet.  I believe with all my heart that working later in life can be a FINE thing.

But the reality is that as we age, many of us start experiencing more physical problems. This lady does have some physical challenges -- not severe, but starting to be there.

There is another man that we both know who recently HAD to retire due to health issues. He really did not want to yet, but he just couldn't keep working.

So here are 2 people who aren't elderly (I think of elderly as being past 80 at least) but for whom retirement has its financial challenges.

I'm 45 years old and quite healthy, but I don't feel like the spring chicken of my youth, for sure!  I have aches and pains not that were not around when I was 25.

I'm guessing when I turn 62, I'll be a little frailer than I am now.

I mention 62 because Rose will be 18.  I will likely be done with homeschooling and can "retire" from that job.

It is so far off I don't think of it often, and of course homeschooling isn't a paid job.  But my husband is working full time and yes, we're saving for his retirement.  We'll see how all that pans out since we had a bunch of kids, 3 of them while we were in our 40's!

I appreciate that sometimes the passionate beliefs of my youth often given way to more pragmatism as I grow older and wiser. That's a good thing.