Retirement Should Be An Enjoyable Experience

In the 2005 documentary The Open Road: America Looks at Aging director, Nina Gilden Seavey defines retirement in the perspective of potential or current retirees. For some people, retirement lives up to their expectation of what is coined as “the golden age,” while others struggle or may never [willingly] see retirement in their future. Having parents that make up two out of the 77 million baby boomers, I think the documentary did a good job representing the perks as well as problems that the age of retirement can bring; being financial or the exposure to age-stereotyping (ageism).

When the economy crashed in 2007 the youth was hit the hardest. The unemployment rate for people aged 25-32 was over 8 percent in 2013 (Machado “How Millennials…”). Instead of working dead-end seasonal jobs, Millennials would rather use this opportunity to do something they may have never had the opportunity to do otherwise. Also, growing up seeing their parents 401k’s wiped clean and hearing talk of failing social security program has caused Millennials to distrust their retirement options. In fact, only 6 percent of Millennials believe they will obtain the same benefits as their parents, and half believe that there will be no more money in social security by the time they graduate (Machado “How Millennials…”).

Costa, D. L. (1998). The evolution of retirement: Summary of a research project. The American Economic Review, 88(2), 232-236. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/233045640?accountid=41759

According to a USA Today article from last year, nearly sixty percent of Americans have more than $25,000 put away for retirement. Thirty-six percent of Americans have less than $1000 saved for later in life. This means that as more people, especially the baby boomer generation, retire, there will be more strain on program such as Social Security and Medicare, and ultimately the federal budget that is responsible for these programs. If steps are taken now to close this gap, we will insure the continued longevity of these programs by raising the tax contributions flowing into both Social Security and Medicare.

Aging is described as a sequential, irreversible, progressive, and non-pathological process of maturation in an organism and that translates to a gradual decline in the ability to perform activities optimally. Aging is an individual process that can be a period of stress for individuals especially following their retirement (Hiller & Barrow, 2015). The current study sought to understand the process and experience of aging from the perspective of elderly individuals. In discussing matters of aging and retirement, many assume that women are always eager to retire, and adjust well, as compared to their male counterparts (Bauger & Bongaardt, 2016). Many people assume that since women are generally made as homemakers, they are willing and happy to retire while men, whose nature is to be the main source of family income, find it hard to be out of work (Moody & Sasser, 2014). Indeed, there exists very little literature that sheds some light on this area, particularly on the attitudes of each gender towards retirement and process of aging. Given the significance of retirement to this life stage, the study sought to understand the emotions and views of individuals regarding their retirement through the lenses of (1) Physical health and wellbeing, (2) Friends, Family, and Community, (3) Work and leisure, (4) Finances and lifestyles, and (5) Living

A general fear of having flexibility in a seniors retirement years is a concern when

M.Q. said that she considered herself retired at 64. However, she began planning for her retirement almost thirty years prior, at the age of 38. As M.Q. was a registered nurse, she did not start a 401 K. Instead, she started a 401 B. One of M.Q.’s chief joys and complaints about retirement is all of her free time. She enjoys it because it lets her spend more time with her extended family, her husband, and her dogs. She dislikes it because she often finds herself

Firstly, a key influence on retirement is gender. James M. Henslin, author of “Sociology: A Down to Earth Approach” uses the term gender age to describe how gender has influence on retirement. Gender age can be portrayed as the relative value assigned to men and women by their length of life (Henslin, 372). Symbolic interactionists use four factors to determine whether a person is considered old or not. These include biology, personal history, gender age, and societies idea of old (Henslin, 372). This is significant since gender age plays a crucial role in determining when age cohorts, or people born at around similar time and progress through life in conjunction, are considered old in societies standards. In addition, not only gender, but

Vaillant also states that following your creative instincts is another key to a healthy retirement. My grandparents are extremely creative. They purchase cheap run down homes and improve the looks and function of the home for a profit. She decorates the new homes with modern paint and furniture.

As adults enter the stage of later adulthood, many changes will begin to develop for each person. The aging process includes transitioning from work life to retirement, changes to roles, social positions, social policies, determining living accommodations with healthcare needs, and relationships with families and peers. The stage known as the golden years comes with great challenges while adjusting to the many changes in a person’s life. (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2010). Transition from work to retirement

The Baby-Boom generation is nearing retirement and it is clear that millions of aging Boomers are financially under prepared. Reasons are many - poor savings habits, rising medical costs, the demise of guaranteed corporate pensions, and the dreaded squeeze faced by many: i.e. having to pay college costs for their children, care for their elderly parents, and save for retirement, all at the same time.

Yuh, Montalto, and Hanna (1998) investigated the determinants of the likelihood of having adequate retirement wealth for pre-retirment households. Households were included in the study if the respondent was

According to a recent HSBC survey, only 40 percent of Americans are regularly saving money for their retirement. Additionally, two other surveys from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and Employee Benefit and Research Institute (EBRI), reveal that only 54 percent of those Americans have focused retirement goals and only 42 percent are adequately saving for a realistic standard of living.

Envision feeling cold, starved, petrified, and alone, just getting home to find an eviction notice, perhaps a letter of foreclosure hanging from the door. As the room goes grey and begins to spin, four words begin to echo in the background, “Is this really happening?” All resources are exhausted and Social Security proves ineffective. Fear has taken over. Thoughts of life in a shelter cloud the room. The bills are piling high, as bank accounts begin to dwindle. Unfortunately, this is the harsh certainty of many people in the aging community. Retirement is a critical life event that everyone has to undergo, through being unprepared, many fall victim to poverty in old age. Individuals should utilize Individual Retirement Accounts,

With the workforce in America decreasing due to hard economic times, there is no guarantee the money put into the reserve will sufficiently support a generation when it is time for retirement. Depending on Social Security to support a person financially when ready to retire, will leave that individual in even more of a struggle than the beneficiaries trying to survive in these earlier years of the 21 century. Social Security benefits represent about 41% of the income of the elderly; if there is not enough to support even half of the elderly’s financial needs now, there is no reason a younger person should depend on it alone for retirement (Dewitt, 2010) in the future.