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

Simple phone

I get my fair share of teasing for still using a Nokia phone. So I feel quite vindicated that someone has now invented a new non-smartphone . It's pitched for those who want a decluttered life. Instead of features, its selling points are things like "reclaim a little quietude from the constant intrusions of technology", "no internet connection, no app store and definitely no camera for taking selfies". One quote from the article said "as smartphones get bigger and bulkier, there is a place for something small and simplified, without all the functions." That kind of statement resonates with me. Not just for phones, but for so many areas of life - including the houses we live in.

Why own a car, when you can go get?

That's the slogan of one company providing an alternative to car ownership. Here's our experience with them. Why not just have our own car? Another time I'll write a full post about that, but suffice to say that car ownership is a pain in the neck. The servicing, the maintenance, the repairs, the parking, the traffic, the registration, the insurance, the cleaning... For my wife and I, about 98% of our transport needs can be done on foot, by bike, by train, bus or ferry. Maybe 99% if you include rideshare. So we choose to avoid the pain (and cost) of car ownership. However, car use (I think of it separately from car ownership) can be handy in certain situations. We had one of those situations last weekend. Here's how it went. Booking a car My wife signed up for GoGet , and booked the car online for the time window she needed it. As a first-timer, she received her little membership card in the mail. On the day of the booking, GoGet sent her a reminder email about 20 minut...

Too Much Stuff

"Why is it so hard to resist new things even when we know we already have too much. Can we find an alternative to the more, more, more mentality?" That promo got me hooked into the half-hour doco "Too Much Stuff". Australian viewers can see it online . Otherwise, here are some of my highlights. Host Sarah Wilson sums up the problem right at the start. "At every turn we're urged to possess the next thing that will make us feel smarter and more desirable. Anything we want is available with just one click. We're filling up our lives with stuff; yet ultimately, many of us feel empty, guilty and stressed out by our consumption." She sets out to explore an alternative. To see if "radically reducing our consumption" can lead to a better life. (Spoiler alert: Yes) Sarah says many people call her a minimalist but she's not so much about getting rid of things, more about not buying stuff. What's wrong with the Marie Kondo approach? Each ep...

But wait... there's less!

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