Retirement

There are always two sides to a coin they would say. Nutritionists tell us that the food we consume these days are not good enough due to fast-paced farming methods but doctors say that they are often sufficient and yet there are others who would advise that popping too much mulit-vites can be harmful. We should all work with no retirement age that is work till you are no longer able to but I was worried some of us might die in office. If we have been working continuously for donkey years and suddenly stop, it could be terrible as your brain has been like a speeding train and could get derailed with a sudden stop. So, it may be difficult to stop work and maybe we should not but opinions are like a**hole, everybody has one. Lest I get accused of being crude, I didn't say this, I was just quoting Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry.

To retire is to withdraw, give up office or work, to go away. Isn't this something that many of us look forward to? I am sure you have heard people saying "I want to retire by 40". It depends on what the statement means? Does retirement in this sense means having lots of $$$ so you can just laze around and do nothing? Or should we say we want financial independence which means you do not have to work for a salary or better still financial freedom which means you no longer need an income to sustain your life's pursuits like paying for green fees as passive income everywhere keeps pouring in even while you are sleeping.

If you were to continue working, it also depends on what kind of work and in what position or under what circumstances. If you are a CEO barking orders then you are better off than those at the receiving end but barking requires effort and some stress too. Those at the receiving end will either retreat like Garfield would or climb up a tree taking cover. While you seem safe in these modes, the noises getting to you can have an adverse effect to your health. I can show you if I have those CSI machines and screenshots in slow motion how the noise penetrate your minds and your hearts. Is this your cup of tea when at an age you should be spending more time with children, volunteering your service to charity or in the garden talking to plants. Some people talk to plants and after that the plant dies then you go to facebook and grow plants electronically and they die on you too. Let's face it, most of us are not in a dream job or even business. Even when you may be a success, you may not entirely enjoy it. That is why you see some folks giving up a banking job or something and went on to be a baker. They say that when you love what you do you don't have to work a single day in your life. How true.

Some friends who have an early retirement are even busier than before they retired. I guess family and friends know that they are retired and therefore can be around to do everything. If you have been working for so long, do you see retirement as a well deserved rest after serving nation and family? Alternatively, we can always look for something else that could give us flexibility and with less stress or something that you enjoy more. You get some pocket money, keep busy and feel meaningful. What I can never understand is that they say when a person is older, his salary should be reduced. Why is that? Isn't it a discrimination and similar to say that women should have less? Shouldn't businesses and governments look at the quality of that person rather then age, race of sex? Imagine you are doing really fine but next year you reach a certain age and they say "pay cut!" You do the same stuff with the same qualities and your pay is cut because you have reached this age. In other words, meritocracy has an age limit.

Japanese Nobel Laureate Dr. Leo Esaki gave mention to the relationship of longevity and retirement age. He studied the pension funds of huge companies like Boeing and AT & T, Lucent and Lockheed plus others and found they are over-funded due to many who retire at age 65 usually die within a couple of years of retirement. Dr. Ephrem Cheng of the University of Alberta did a lifespan versus age of retirement and found that people who retire at age 50 had an averafe life span of 86. Those who retire at 65 live to just 67 years. The conclusion was that for every year a person works beyond 55, he lives an average of two years less. Boeing employees who retire at 65 received pension for only 18 months before they kick the bucket. This could be probably due to those 65 or more put too much stress on their aging bodies and minds till they develop health problems.

Then again, people who retire early may be rich and well off and in a better position to plan and manage their lives and career and to feel comfortable. So why don't we do the in between of continuing working to feel meaningful but may be on a part time or flexible time basis or on a project basis so that work is at a more leisurely pace without the daily stress and grind? Most Japanese retire at 60 and they usually live a longer life on average.

We all have a different threshold for pain and stress. We have to factor in how stressful our jobs are, measure what is good for us and plan for retirement.

A CNA report showed that a survey suggested that 60% of Singaporeans want to retire when they reach 60 but only some 40% have developed or plan to have a retirement plan. What about you? What do you think? Some folks may consider to retire in another country like in Johor where selling your flat here could see you living in a bungalow there. If not Malaysia then Thailand? Some people even feel that Singapore is only playground for the rich. Try telling those who are 60 have two children studying and still paying for their house and car loans and that is assuming they are not having health problems. Can they retire? What about those who feels that you work so hard all your life and you never know when you are going to meet your maker so why not enjoy yourself a bit.

If you graduate from a local university you may be in debt to a tune of $30k? This may take 3-5 years to clear by which time you would have added another 30 years of debt with a house and then 10 years for a car. we haven't even added the costs of bringing up children. Unless you live simply, remain childless or even single? Maybe. What about those with single income? How to afford your green fee for golf? Inject Starbucks ice mocha into your blood stream? We ain't have no time and money to have that beer?

French philosopher Albert Camus said that "without work, all life is rotten and when work becomes soulless, life is stifled and dies. Few people are blessed with work that you truly enjoy. Those who love to play golf or soccer get paid for doing something they love immensely. They say that when you are doing what you like, you don;t have to work a single day in your life but for many of us work is something that is unavoidable even if unpleasant. So what is it that makes work enjoyable? Some get a good boss but lousy colleagues, others have good work mates but a terrible boss. Many get stuck in dead end jobs they do not really care for and feels woeful about it like between a rock and a hard place - like the alternative to old age is death. If you are say in a routine low-paid job, it is still better than unemployment which makes a lousy job more worthwhile than being completely idle.

As the proverbs go, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and the reverse is true that all play and no work makes Jack a mere toy. When you have a job, you are still in contact with people which still present some opportunities. What then is our sense of perspective? Greek philosopher Aristotle said that the reason we work is so that we can have leisure but in life is is always difficult to achieve balance and yet that is the most important thing we need. Folks everywhere are ever so caught up in their career that there is often no time for anything else. No time for family, friends, hobbies, to socialise or to exercise. All our energy is just spent on our job and the only energy left is to be in front of the TV after a hard day. It is hard to believe that a human being can spend an inordinate amount of time working without breaks and is giving optimum performance day in and day out without a balance life. I think some people in a general work place who spent too much time on work alone are not performing optimally and will eventually burn out, become less creative and may be busy doing the wrong things. Being effective is preferred to being efficient because a dog may be efficient barking up the wrong tree.

We are all obsessive and may suffer from compulsive behaviour disorder without knowing it and because of business and career demands, it is the greed that feeds the monster quite often unknowingly or subconsciously such that we will always want and need more, the next peak to scale, the next reward like beating ourselves to death with a big stick. Are you in charge of your current mind set and career or the other way around? This question must be answered first and foremost before we even talk about retirement as some of us may not reach there.

I have no answers to these perplexing questions and I seek your advice too. All I know about retirement is that often I feel tired and then retired.