Increasingly, I have friends and associates remarking that they will never retire and be working until they are dead. Most are trying to make a joke of it, a partial acceptance of their fate, given the economic downturn and a number of other factors. The truth is it is really not a joke. Employees who had expected to retire may indeed be working until they are 90 years-old, as one friend put it.
So to coin the old Beatles song, “Will You Still Love Me, When I’m 64,” the new mantra is “Will You still be working, well past 67?” That 401K and the retirement portfolio may have taken enough of a hit so that retirement is well in the distance, if not history. Oh, well, I suppose the karmic lesson for a culture perhaps overly concerned with security and safety is that even the most secure elements of life, are none too safe, after all. So be it. There is not much we can do. Except either hit the lottery or work for a living. With things as they are the odds may be better hitting the lottery than retiring on what you have salted away.
It’s almost funny to read the financial columns or watch the pundits on television tell us how we can deploy our portfolios and retirement accounts so they will rebound from this fiasco known as the economy. They are so sincere with their opinions. But who are they kidding? My take is that they are pundits and have to say something, no matter how inane, in order to keep getting paid. It’s their job, after all. They are, for the most part, among the lucky ones still working. That in itself is fraught with more irony than I would care to consider right now.
So what do we do as we get older and need to keep working. Some will keep their own businesses going. Some of us have professions and the skills that either maintain our independence as job holders or otherwise endear us to employers. For the rest of us? What jobs will be around that we can fill? Perhaps health care, since with an aging population that will be necessary. If nothing else, you have to keep those Boomers working.
What other jobs are out there? What are the tasks we can perform and get paid for well into our seniority? Let’s face it, whether you are on the brink of alleged retirement, or whether you are young and just in the workforce, you will all probably be facing these same challenges. Unless you really believe things will be restored and everything will be back to normal, life as it was, in foreseeable future. Maybe. Just don’t bet it with your life.
So, it would be nice to get input from people about what jobs will be available for aging workers. Any input is invited.
