U.S. To Raise Retirement Age to 70?

In my part of the world, when I started paid employment (long time ago), the retirement age in large and government corporation was a uniform 65 years and it was non-negotiable IE on your 65th birthday you were retired like it or not. Your only option then would be to start your own small business or find one prepared to put you on the payroll. Nowadays there's no upper limit on retirement age but the early retirement age at which you can collect full superannuation and tax benefits has been creeping up.

The point is that many people now enjoy better health and greater longevity so they want to do meaningful work for longer and 'rules' are evolving to allow that. I had the option of early retirement at age 55 and I'm still working but it's not because I absolutely have to however your perspective would be different if working as a labourer or something less stimulating and challenging.

After Nixon took the US of the gold standard in 1971, it has been a steady erosion in well-being for the American working class. In the decade that followed, both members of a household had to get a job in order to live the American dream. In the 80's, families had to also stop saving a reasonable portion of their earnings. In the 90's, they began to go into debt as well as having no savings. All the while productivity has been increasing, yet real, spendable wages have been decreasing. Now they are extending the number of years you have to keep going until you can reasonably expect to "take a load off". When will we wake up and see that we are running out of runway here?

reply to post by Pilgrum


It's kinda funny, in a sad way, how people are always flipflopping on the poor old people. On one hand I hear, "Old people need to retire already, young people need the jobs more." Then on the other hand I hear people bemoan old people for retiring and "sucking up too much of our moneys".

I suppose if more families took care of their own parents, it wouldn't be much of a problem. I have been letting my great uncle and grandmother live in my house free, rather than see them go wither in a retirement home, neither could afford to live on their own anymore. And grandmother has a pension from both the US and canada. Tells you how great pensions are these days. Once grandfather died, she could no longer afford to live in the house they owned since they were 20......

Oh sorry Pilgrum, meant to reply to thread, not to you specifically

Your Social Security has been paying for wars.

(Second Line)

That idea flies in the face of rampant age discrimination that prevails in the United States today.Its a criminal act that no one is talking about but his happening everywhere Companies now tend to hire young and cheap, and often view their older workers as dead weight to be jettisoned at the first opportunity.In the present, lot of times 50+ workers are viewed as over the hill and have extreme difficulty finding anything if they are unlucky enough to get laid off. Just ask anyone over 50 who is out of work.And now those very same companies are going to retain workers they want to dump off at 50 until 70? Its disturbing that at the same time companies are rolling back the age they consider people viable, and largely getting away with it, the powers that be want to do this. What are these guys smoking?? The retirement age should actually be LOWERED to 55 in the United States. We could build a few less submarines and aircraft we don't need anyway, and cut back foreign aid to pay for it. It would allow people who cannot find jobs to get relief, and it would allow more younger workers to enter the workforce to take their places. Whoever is proposing this is completely clueless as to the US job market in 2013. Before they do this, they had better greatly strengthen protections for older workers (which we all know they will never do). If you are young and reading this, better start saving every extra penny, thats all I can say.

Originally posted by intrepid
The Harper gov't recently upped full retirement on a gov't pension from 65 to 67. It's because of the mismanagement, and shortsightedness of the federal pension fund that this is becoming the norm. Fortunately I have my own retirement fund. Everyone should these days.

I think you can at least take comfort in your federal pension fund being mismanaged through ineptitude. In the US they just stole ours, we are now at the point that anyone paying any attention is praying the Ponzi scheme is going to survive long enough for them to collect something.

Originally posted by Gridrebel
Who's going to take care of the children?

(March 2012) Growing numbers of children in the United States are living with a grandparent. In 2010, about one in 14 U.S. children (7 percent) lived in a household headed by a grandparent—for a total of 5.4 million children, up from 4.7 million in 2005.1

www.prb.org...

And just how much are they going to contribute tax wise? They are low wage earners:

www.advisorperspectives.com...

Also taking into consideration that many aren't capable of working many of the jobs out there but don't exactly qualify for disability, Walmart only has so many greeter positions. The plan also takes jobs from the younger groups.

Totally agree. Who are these employers who are going to employ all these people to age 70,when now at age 50 most employers don't want you? there are a lot of people in their forties having a hard time getting hired due to age bias and suddenly companies are going to keep you to age 70?? That's nuts.

reply to post by jude11

I think that 65 is OK, not more, maximum... My opinion...

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by freedomSlave

Originally posted by intrepid
The Harper gov't recently upped full retirement on a gov't pension from 65 to 67. It's because of the mismanagement, and shortsightedness of the federal pension fund that this is becoming the norm. Fortunately I have my own retirement fund. Everyone should these days.

Anything to hold off on having to pay out to the baby boomers .

Actually at 50 my generation is the last of the BB's. I think Gen X is up next.

Yep. Gen X is next and I am not looking forward to it. Even though we have increased the retirement age here in Canada to cover the costs of CPP (Canada Pension Plan), most people missed the fact that there are fewer workers coming into the workforce to pay for the Gen X&Y's. Which means increased premiums regardless, and quite possibly another jump in retirement age in the not-so-distant future.

If the demographics are roughly the same, the USA can expect similar treatment.

Originally posted by freedomSlave
Why because we are Slaves to the elite . This just helps shows the fact that we are . Then a 50 + year old CEO of general motors making 300 million a year for how ever many years while many families struggle just to pay off a car and house .

Also with the decline of health of the population of the working class many will not even make to to see 70 .

We are only free to live how our dictators tell us to live our lives .

And this is exactly the truth that most people do not realize. We are all just a bunch of expendable slaves.

The alarming thing about peoples view on this issue is that there are this many people who think they're going to be able to retire at all.

I am sorry but this to me is horrible. How many 70 year olds do you see on the job now? Who hires the elderly anymore? Maybe Walmart as a greeter? They are usually always the FIRST to get laid off !! The sad thing is, we all know the elderly are a little slower with everything. How is that going to work in this high speed do it quicker faster work culture?

Yeah people may be living to older ages but usually with LOTS of medications which cause a host of side effects and their life may not be of better quality, but hey they are still living longer....*shakes head* it really makes no sense to me and seems wrong on so many levels.

What will happen is that the elderly and the young will NOT be able to find jobs, meanwhile the middle aged will have to compensate for their children AND their parents loss of income. We will be back to 2 or more generations living in the same household with only 1 or 2 incomes.......

Originally posted by openminded2011

If you are young and reading this, better start saving every extra penny, thats all I can say.

edit on 21-1-2013 by openminded2011 because: (no reason given)

I am trying to teach my young kids this. The allowance they receive burns holes in their pockets! What I do now, lol, I pay them part bills and part 50 cent pieces and tell them they can't spend it. Working so far. As much as I WANT them to save every dime, they are also at that age to learn how money buys goods and services. I make sure they know what work is! My ten year old does laundry and dishes, feeds the chickens and helps harvest during harvest time. My 7 yr old, well he tries.....A for effort.

I have also been trying to explain to them that they will have to probably take care of mommy or daddy in old age and that they cannot rely on scholarships or student loans. My daughter gets it, but my son just wants to know why he has to go to school for what he feels is his WHOLE LIFE!! Oh the drama!!

I do not want to have my children fear for their future but they have to know basic survival skills and the reality in which we live! It is not all unicorns and rainbows nor will they be the next Disney Channel Child TV star.....

Oh I also have what is called the vacation bank. Every penny, dime, nickel or quarter found goes straight in and they love participating in it, but understanding that if needed, the bank could be emptied if necessary for something else.

Obama care.......geez people, get with the program.

Here's a thought "We will continue to raise the retirement age.....tick off the younger crowd and tell them that we will continue raise the age because we need the money to pay for all of the elderly and those born with problems. Then we will surely get support for those fictional death panels and make 'em real."

Jus' sayin'



spez

This is only one of the very many reasons why I HOPE I can find a job after finishing with my degree. The plan is to save a little and invest properly. I'm 25 now and will be nearly 28 when I finally finish school because I waited so damn long before starting so I"ll probably be "too old" to qualify for any jobs in the engineering field by then anyway...

That combined with all of the student loan debt, lowering of wages and benefits, and no retirement age. It truly is how they get you because they set it up this way on purpose. The only way someone from my generation would be able to retire would be to save the money themselves but unless they go to college for that degree then it is impossible to pay life's bills and save money for retirement BUT if they do go to college then the odds are very likely that they had to use student loans which will prevent them from being able to save much money which will keep them in the workforce because they'll never be able to retire. Unless of course you get EXTREMELY LUCKY...

We all know there isn't going to be any kind of government related "retirement" involving them giving the people back money they were literally forced to put into the system when my generation is old enough to get what we are being forced to earn.

Retirement in America is a joke anyway. For myself being born in 1965 I basically don't get to retire. Truth of the matter is odds are I will either die at work or going to/coming home from work. Welcome to the American dream.

Originally posted by k1k1to
reply to post by jude11

 

in the not so distant future most of Americans will be living in RV's or conversion vans. the american dream is dead and gone

Hey You just described my life.. Lol
I do live in an RV

It's not all bad I don't work as much of course I don't have as much but in the last year I have lived on as little as 300 dollars a month and as much as 2000 the key is to plan ahead just cause I've got it doesn't mean I spend it
I've made far more money per year than I currently do but the riches for me are in getting to spend time with my family and the fact that I only need to work 20 hours a week or so now so the rest of the time I can spend doing what I want ..

At first living like this seemed odd and was difficult cause there were things I wanted and couldn't afford but now I've learned the most of the things I wanted were I pulse buys and so on so I'm no longer a slave to the grind and I have to say I feel more free than ever sure I still want for some things but I have the most important things

70 years of slaverly I have to go through?

That's right. Work your entire life. And if you make it past all the fluoride, gmo, aspartame, vaccines, and all the other poisons, finally, when you can barely walk, see or hear, you can stop being a slave.

And we call ourselves FREE!