#LifeQuestions #RetirementGoneWrong #HealthInsuranceWorries
Hey everyone, I have a question that’s been weighing heavy on my mind. So, my coworker just retired on 5/1 and now he’s gone. It’s got me thinking about life, retirement, health insurance, and all the struggles that come with getting older.
I mean, what’s the point of working so hard to retire if you can’t even enjoy it? It’s a grim reality that’s got me feeling down and questioning everything. I can’t imagine being in my 60s, still working, barely able to enjoy life due to health problems. It’s a scary thought that makes me want to live life to the fullest now.
Have you ever thought about this? Let’s discuss and share our thoughts. Engage with me in the comments below! 🤔 #LetsTalk #LifeStruggles #RetirementBlues
Life doesn’t “start” in retirement… make the most you can with each day. Don’t live each day like it’s your last, but do live each day like it’s your life to live…
… ya know, stop and smell the roses anyday you can, don’t just wait for your weekend stroll to do it.
It’s a very common experience with retirees dying in the first year of retirement. The body/brain that is constantly doing things can’t handle not doing things.
Conversely, the body constantly under stress doesn’t do well. I’m 51, and I thought I was burn out, but it turns out I have stage 4 colon cancer, and am currently undergoing chemo, which is not a walk in the park. It is doubtful I will reach retirement…
Live while you can, don’t set an arbitrary age that you might not reach…
>I feel like what’s the point of work?:(
Thats a question for society. Don’t people make up these rules? “ people “ should come together and come up with something better then $7.25
Minimum wage & working 40 hours a week doesn’t guarantee a stable life
You just be in high school or just out if you don’t think aches and pains don’t creep up until your 60s. I’d say mine all started around 25-27.
Remember “work is NOT your life, friend or anything important” and act accordingly. Work to time do the bare minimum you can get away with, only your contracted work, nothing extra. Next make sure you live the best life you can outside of work and jump ship frequently to bump the pay.
A lady worked I worked had been for working at the same job for over 20 years. I don’t know how old she was, but at least in her 60s. She finally retired, had her last day at work, and passed away that night. It makes you wonder what’s the point.
Old guy I worked with retired on Friday and died on Monday. He got up, got his coffee, sat in his barkalounger, and died.
That has always been the plan, having us work until we die.
The way I look at it is this: I’m not just saving for my retirement. I’m ensuring there’s enough salted away so my wife is taken care of if I end up checking out before her. If it ends up being a month after I retire? What the fuck do I care I’m dead. At least if it’s a drawn out death I’m not stressing about her.
As for between now and retiring: everyone needs to remember you’re working to live not living to work. Get some hobbies and activities and stick to them.
Speaking of which I need to get out and walk those trails.
Same thing happened with a colleague of mine in the last year. He retired and was dead in less than 3 months. He had been going to a lot of Dr appointments so part of me wonders if he got a diagnosis and just didn’t tell anyone but a total bummer and I hate it
Sorry to hear,
One of my parents died before retirement. Random genetics, accidents, and environmental exposure take a lot of us out before we reach old age.
I work, but I work to live. I don’t live to work. I learned young to take your allotted vacations and go do stuff because you might not get to be old.
It was my 3rd job in my career and they hired this guy as a contract worker. He was in his 60s and was trying to stay healthy.
So he’d ride his bike uphill to the plant and one morning as me and another coworker were talking in the bullpen we hear a loud bang.
He collapsed suffering a heart attack. We got help as soon as we could but he died that day.
It has sat in my mind that I don’t want to work to death. In fact these last few years I want out of my career and pursue my dream. I just have to wait a bit more before I tell this place to take this job and shove it.
Both my parents died at 65, didn’t get to enjoy it long. I had a sister who died at 59.
All she could say as she was battling cancer was to take time now to enjoy your life. Retire early, do things you want. You don’t know you’ll make it long in life.
Life in the US is not conducive to good health. Long hours either in back-breaking jobs or sedentary jobs, high stress, unhealthy food, etc.
Besides environmental factors you have also genetic predispositions to certain diseases, so you never know.
You have to find a way to balance your work and non-work life. And you have to plan to accomplish what you always wanted before is too late. We all have obligations but little victories (traveling, learning to ride a motorcycle or play an instrument, etc.) can be planned for and obtained.
Small victories add up and improve your quality of life. Plan them out. Don’t wait.
My Grandma was a veteran and worked up until her Dementia diagnosis, went on to forget all of us and die alone in a nursing home. She never got to retire and relax, travel or any of that stuff. Just went from the everyday grind to losing her mind in a matter of months.
Remember op, if you ever have to fight an expensive disease, I recommend commiting a federal crime. Which in turn will obligate the country to pay for your disease. I know it’s extreme but I have thought about it.
My father died on his first day of retirement unloading the uhaul at his retirement cottage.
Sending hugs. This happened at my job too. He was forced to retire(Dr’s orders) was too sick to come to his last day so we could celebrate him. And was in the hospital for 2 months before he passed. He loved it here because he loved us and would’ve kept going if his health was up to par 🥺. Grieve your coworker and know you don’t grieve alone❤️
And they want to raise the retirement age, not just in the US. I’m seriously depressed that this is all I have to look forward in life, working forever and not even being able to own a home
I’ll be 72 when I can retire. Fuck Denmark so hard.
My dad had a massive stroke months before he planned to retire and move to AZ. I remember how mad it made me that it happened to someone like him who was the HARDEST worker and truly deserved to enjoy the rest of his days in the suns
My body started falling apart at 50.
Cancer, TIA, and type 2 diabetes at 51.
At 53 the unrelenting vertigo set in. I can barely function. I’ve been out of work for two months.
Here’s the kicker. If I don’t go back to work next week, sick or not, I’ll lose my health benefits. That means I couldn’t work OR get the treatment I need.
I’m 53 and have no intentions of seeing 60.
That’s so sad, and it’s a lot for you to process. I feel bad because he probably put off so many of life’s moments until he retired.
But for you, I think if you work for the federal govt you can retire with your insurance coverage. Something to look into.
So sorry about your coworker.
the american dream is all smoke and mirrors
And Republicans want us to work until we’re 70!
My best friend retired a couple of years ago. Since then, she’s had knee replacement surgery and a heart attack. She’s spending her retirement being sick.
“I might not live to enjoy my retirement”
A guy I know was killed crossing the street the other day. Car doing 50-60mph in a 20 zone.
You have one life, live it.
A store I worked at had an old store manager who retired. He came in everyday to talk to the people and just seemed to enjoy being there. One day we got a new store manager and he yelled at him he can’t distract the workers and blah blah blah. Real prick. Guy never showed up the whole next week. Learned he passed that night in his sleep. His wife said he loved the customers and people so much he hated retiring. Was a cool dude, just liked to connect with people and talk.
I’m definitely dying in the next 10 years. I’m in a transplant list and everything.
Never owned a house, but great income for now.
My hope is in 4 years to buy a plot of land out here in the desert and plop down a trailer. See and hear no one. 3 years of living my dream: solitude.
But I’m ready to die whenever. I’ve long accepted death and went through a whole phase about it 20 years ago. Dx with anhedonia. Almost died then if not for friend.
You could die tomorrow, don’t live to retire, it’s not a guarantee, especially not for millennials and younger.
I once worked with a 65 year old woman in grocery who died of cancer 6 months before she could retire. Worked her whole fucking life at a shit job and never got a cash out on it. Live for today, do it for Carla.
Death isn’t going to wait until you “get yours”, the clock is running on all of us. You’d do well to look out for yourself and take wins when you can.
This reminds me… I think my parents unintentionally planted the seeds of anti-work radicalization in my family (my sibling and I). My mom told me a story of a guy who dropped dead a mere day after he retired. Heart attack. Was a “good worker”, as they say. Months after my mom told this story, she casually mentioned her schedule and how she’s going to try to work hard to make some money (for the family, myself and brother) and take those extra shifts, take those christmases and other holidays, etc. And all I could think about was how I never see my mother and by the time she retires she might be dead. For the record, she is not dead, but after retirement, she decided to work at Walmart for extra cash.
I can’t blame her for doing what she does. Her role is still solidly, in her mind, the mother and breadwinner of the family. She “enjoys” work, and it aligns with her morals about raising children and supporting family. However, I don’t have children or a spouse. I don’t have a home to pay a mortgage on (yet). I can’t see myself dedicating all my time to a job that will replace me instantly once I die, and barely (if at all) acknowledge my contributions.
From that moment of her telling that story, I decided I would not be like my mother. I wouldn’t work in an industry that is brutal like mills, and I wouldn’t work in a place where a 12 hour shift is the norm. I won’t show loyalty to the companies I work for, I won’t hesitate to find something better somewhere else, and when I become so miserable I can’t handle my work, I won’t work. Maybe that will screw me over, or make me destitute, or make people think I’m a lazy person or layabout. I don’t care. I cannot, WILL NOT, be “that guy” that DIES immediately after dedicating the best years of my life to a soul-sucking company.
Don’t give up. Hold this memory in your heart and use it to motivate your decisions to “contribute” to society.
What you can do is not make enslave yourself to work. Minimize your lifestyle, need for income, debt, etc. The less you own, no debt, etc the freer you are. I have always tried to live below my means. Doesn’t mean I could quit work but i was able to work a lot LESS then others. I have worked part time for most of my life. I always like the feeling of owning what I own and being able to walk away and survive at any time i would decide too.
But the world wants you easily anamored of the lastest gadget. And it’s really easy to spend more and more. You make a little more you start spending a little more. You buy a little bit nicer things. Eat out at nicer places, etc. Pretty soon, no matter how much you make, you have upspent and you are no better off than before other than you have some nicer things. So, does the stuff own you or do you own the stuff?