> My father still works and he is very healthy for an 88 year old.
This is usually related to the kind of job you are doing.
My mother was cleaning schools and that is a killer for the back. Being retired, she takes long walks and keeps herself active and healthy.
But when I was studying I saw quite old teachers still active, and happy. But that's a different kind of job with different effects on your health.
> I think part of the point is to find a [a]vocation that is not stressful, you enjoy, and can do a long time.
I agree. If you are lucky enough to get a job that fulfills you, then continuing working can be a good thing. That's why we can't just delay retirement age, but we need to take into account personal circumstances.
A not stressful and enjoyable work also helps you to keep your good health for longer, so you get in better shape to old age.
Great point. I wonder, if everyone should, in their middle ages, really think this through. And perhaps make a career change if their work requires something they wouldn't be comfortable doing later in life.
One of the best professions I can think of retiring in is probably academia... I've worked/studied/socialized with professors very much older than me, and they seem to continue to enjoy teaching/talking to students despite their age.
I sometimes wonder if a lot of the freshly educated programmers I hire really know what they are in for.
In 25 years they'll still have 25-30 years of work left in their lives, and by then most of them won't have received any significant reschooling, and they will still be competing in a tech world, where 10 years ago there wasn't a thing called smartphones.
Some of them will do just fine. I know a lot of old programmers, but I also know a lot of former older IT employees who are spending their 60ies in the unemployment lines.
An engineer educates him/herself with foundational knowledge, supplemented off course, with programming. By "foundational knowledge" I mean the knowledge and experience in the application of software to solve real world problems. The insight you gain doing that, makes you an engineer, not a programmer. And this makes you valuable. More valuable than a kid of the street who knows the latest buzzword tech.
Moral of the story:
Be an Engineer, not a Programmer.
Be Valuable, not Replaceable.
No, that doesn't address the problem at all. If you retire thirty years before you qualify for medicare, you have no idea what your medical expenses will be. None. They could amount to millions of dollars over those three decades, depending on your particular issues, and you're never going to close that gap by minimizing expenses.
It does. Just because you aren't comfortable with that risk doesn't mean it's impossible. It just means your risk tolerance is lower than the aforementioned people who did retire 30 years early.
The amount of people who will actually do this and go through it is so tiny that this comment is worthless. Give and take a few years (and perhaps not in SF/NYC), you could say this about any decent paying job.
The problem with that is that your COL in those 10-15 years is significantly impacted. That's probably 10% of your entire life. While I understand some people might be comfortable with the tradeoff... its important to remember there is something you are giving up.
Eh... sure, if you're only paying federal taxes. But in on that $140k you're going to end up with about $92k. And everything is more expensive in cities. The idea you're going to live in SF and save more than about half that, even living like a monk, is kind of fanciful.
NYC is even worse - lop another thousand off and pay even more to live.
I've personally lived in both cities and you can live perfectly well on $4k a month with a couple of roommates. Better than the average American even.
Then, if you invest $46k a year for 15 years at a real return of 4% you end up with ~$943k in present day dollars which is right around what the parent was saying.
Not to mention $140k total compensation is relatively low for a senior dev in SF/NYC, you will likely be making a lot more 10 years in.
You will be making $200k+ in SF even in your early years, if you climb the corporate ladder you can get to $300k in 5 years.
You can definitely sock away enough even without a 4% rate of growth to put away $1MM of after-tax money in 10-15 years, if you're smart with your money.
Well yeah, the old "job for life" where one specific set of skills with perhaps some minor updating here and there is good for 40 years is long gone. Sadly many were raised with different expectations.
Well there is that, but there is also an unwillingness to reeducate especially in the private sector.
I've worked in public service all my life and I took a master degree in business and leadership which was paid by my employeer. Which moved me from engineering to management.
When I see my old study buddies, who all work privately, none of them have gotten any form of reeducation and very few have kept up with the tech.
I'm sure most of them could learn the new buzzwords if they wanted to, but who would hire them until they do when you could simply pick a fresh candidate with newer CS knowledge, all the buzz and a lower pay requirement?
That is a great point. Not every job can be extended late into life. But like your mother, I think you have to stay active and find something that challenges you.
This is usually related to the kind of job you are doing.
My mother was cleaning schools and that is a killer for the back. Being retired, she takes long walks and keeps herself active and healthy.
But when I was studying I saw quite old teachers still active, and happy. But that's a different kind of job with different effects on your health.
> I think part of the point is to find a [a]vocation that is not stressful, you enjoy, and can do a long time.
I agree. If you are lucky enough to get a job that fulfills you, then continuing working can be a good thing. That's why we can't just delay retirement age, but we need to take into account personal circumstances.
A not stressful and enjoyable work also helps you to keep your good health for longer, so you get in better shape to old age.