Most of us here have been raised up with the traditional thinking of working to a set age before spending our retirement finally being able to do whatever we want to do in retirement.
When the concept of retirement were first introduced at the end of the 19th century, retirees were lucky to live just a few more years after stopping work. Saving for retirement is therefore not a difficult goal.
With life expectancy getting longer, it is possible to live 20 to 30 years after our working life. It is thus becoming a challenge both for the individual as well as our government to sustain such a long retirement. Retirement at a set age of 60 or 65 might not be a realistic option anymore.
Nevertheless, the thought of being able to do whatever we want can be so strong that often, people will think about how to make it possible to retire early or earlier. How to generate enough wealth or passive income so that we can finally retire and do what we want.
In a research report done by Barclays Wealth called The Age Illusion: How the Wealthy are Redefining Their Retirement, they surveyed 2000 high networth individuals around the world to find out their attitudes towards retirement.
It seems that even those who are financially able to maintain a luxurious lifestyle through an extended period of retirement will often never stop working. For many, their work is their passion and it is unthinkable that they will stop doing what they like.
Look at the three richest people in the world – Carlos Slim Helu, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, all three are still very busy today. And so are most of the people in the Forbes list.
It is an irony that the very wealthy want to continue working, while the majority are thinking of how to get rich so that they can stop working earlier.
If you hate your job – change it. Life’s too precious to waste most of your life doing something you don’t like.
What exactly do you want to do during retirement that you can’t do today?
Percent “completely agreeing” or “slightly agreeing” with the proposition that “no matter what my age, I envision being involved in commercial/professional work of some kind”
Top Five
Saudi Arabia 92%
UAE 91%
Qatar 89%
South Africa 88%
Latin America 78%
Bottom Five
Hong Kong/Singapore 56%
US 54%
Japan 46%
Spain 44%
Switzerland 34%
The prob is where to find such a job ???
Correct, that’s why for 99% of us it will be a 40-yr war fighting for retirement and with ever-present fear of having enough money.
Reply
Hypothetically speaking, if I have a golden rice bowl job with $3M annual salary and just need to put in a few hours of “work” per week, I also wouldn’t want to retire.
Reply