Retirement never gets old

Two mock ads. Opposite points of view. Head-to-head. Which is better? That's The Pitch - part of Aussie TV show Gruen.

The ads are just for fun, but the topics are real. The latest episode focuses on retirement. Hiring more elderly workers versus compulsory retirement at 65.

Here's the ad in favour of retirement.

It features retired people making (pretend) regretful statements about work. None of which are in the least bit convincing - especially when said while the person is enjoying their post-work life.

"I wish I'd spent more time at work"
"I'd kill for a conference call."
"I miss my emails"
"What I'd give for one more rush hour"

The ad ends with the slogan "Retirement never gets old". While it's talking about retirement at 65, the same point could be made for 60, 55, 50, etc.

For many the only reason to continue as far as 65 is monetary. Basically, we spend too much money on questionable purchases along the way. As a result, we need to keep working in our older years to re-earn the wasted money.

Give ourselves a gift

While we might get some joy from our current-day purchases, it's worth asking if they are worth the pain that our 65-year-old self will go through in the future to earn back that lost money.

Perhaps it's better to discover today the joy of less.

Less, or smaller, purchases give us less clutter in the here-and-now, and give our future selves the gift of an earlier retirement - less email, conference calls and rush hour traffic.

Comments

The real cost of owning a car

It's been about 10 years since I've owned a car. My wife doesn't own one either. "You must save a lot in petrol" That's one of the frequent reactions when someone discovers we don't own a car. "Of course, but it's just the tip of the iceberg" is the usual theme of my reply. Many people I've talked to just aren't fully aware of the real cost of owning a car. Or even that there are six different costs of owning a car. Six? Really? Yes. Occasionally a work colleague or friend will boast their car only costs $X per week. Of course it turns out only some factors have been counted. Sometimes it's just petrol alone. To some people, that feels like the only cost they pay each week. Why does this matter? You might be questioning the need for a second car in the household (or even having one at all). Or you might just be choosing which car to get next. Either way, to make an informed decision we need proper information. So let's look at...

Man Down

How is it possible for a book to be depressing, supportive and hopeful all at once? Man Down looks at the problems men have today and how it managed to get this way. What price 'success'? It seems so many of the problems come from the external pressure to be a 'success' - whatever that means. Over time this pressure becomes internal and drives us to make decisions to satisfy that pressure, but which are detrimental in so many other ways. It can be the pressure to take a 'successful' career, though it's one we don't want or aren't suited for. Or to take a promotion, because salary is apparently success - or at least it buys all the things that signal success to others. The promotion only means more pressure, less sleep, and poorer health. At the same time the extra responsibility takes away from our ability to exercise, take care of our health and form social connections. The lack of social connections means that retiring is one of the most dangerou...

The rule of 72

Here's a superquick way to work out how much money your investments might make. No need for fancy exponential maths . Just simple division and some doubling. Maybe you can even do it it your head. The rule of 72 Years to double = 72 / growth rate That's it. Pretty simple. Just 72 divided by a number. Working out the double-time So a 2% investment would take 36 years to double in value. (72 divided by 2) At 6% it would take 12 years, and at 8% it would take 9 years. How many doubles? Let's say someone is investing $50k for 36 years. At 2% , it would double once. Result $100k . At 6% , it would double three times. (36 years divided by 12 years). Three doubles means it becomes 100k, 200k, then $400k . At 8% , it would double four times. (36 years divided by 9 years). Four doubles means it becomes 100k, 200k, 400k, then $800k . This is astounding I was stunned when I first came across this. I probably still am. It's amazing to think that moving from 2% to 6% changes things ...

But wait... there's less!

Search This Blog