[lbo-talk] Work 'til you drop, and love it!

[Carl Remick]

[Baby boomers are sure to work right into their graves because of the 
extinction of defined-benefit pensions and the permanent loss of retirement 
savings in the stock market bubble of the '90s.  Hence, the media are 
pitching boomers the idea that shit is shinola -- that working forever will 
be fun, fun, fun!  You will note that the AARP "study" cited below finds 
that twice as many boomers expect to continue to work "for interest or 
enjoyment" as do the boomers who expect to work "mainly for the income."  As 
for me, I look forward (as the article says) to "the opportunity to learn 
something new, to feel valued and to socialize with others" by working 
forever.  I already know my lines:  "Welcome to Wal-Mart!" (BTW, shouldn't 
AARP now be the American Association of Semi-Retired Persons?)]

May 14, 2006

Golfing and Gardening (and Working) in Retirement

By JULIE BICK

Turning 65, collecting a gold watch and hitting the golf course may be the 
classic picture of retirement.

But another model seems to be gaining acceptance, particularly among people 
now at or approaching retirement age. Call it flex-retirement. It involves 
reduced, but continuing, work — combined with a cultivation of leisure 
activities — sometimes beginning well before 65, and extending long past it. 
...

A 2002 AARP study showed that 71 percent of workers age 45 to 56 plan to 
work into their retirement years. Thirty-five percent of that group planned 
to work part time for interest or enjoyment, 11 percent expected to start 
their own businesses, 7 percent planned to retire from their current jobs, 
but work full time at something else, and 18 percent planned to work part 
time mainly for the income.

There are, of course, broad social and economic reasons for the emphasis on 
continuing work — notably, the decline in availability of traditional 
pension plans and health benefits, and the need for older workers to provide 
for themselves over a lengthening lifespan. Older working people often speak 
of the intangible benefits of work, including the opportunity to learn 
something new, to feel valued and to socialize with others. ...

Peter Cappelli, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of 
Pennsylvania who studies work force management, said ... for people now 
approaching the traditional retirement age ...  it makes sense to discuss 
options with employers [to create more options allowing them to continue 
working]. "Companies won't leap to make changes unless they have to," but 
with an aging work force, social pressures will surely mount. "There are so 
many baby boomers," he said, "that when they start to ask, companies will 
have to listen."

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/business/yourmoney/14retire.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin>

Oddly, Prof. Cappelli ignores the fact that if boomers really did have 
clout, they never would have gotten into this mess to begin with because 
they'd still have defined-benefit pensions.

Carl