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My American Retirement Fiasco
Look busy, especially when no one else is around
I have friends with interesting jobs who hem and haw about retiring, calculating the perfect hour on the best day in the ideal season.
And on that, their last relevant day, they’ll pull the plug.
They can retire. However, they might have cut back expenses, but cutting back feels hard, so they continuously delay their retirement date.
They use their leverage to figure out the optimal post-work lifestyle, but the problem isn’t a faraway planet in a new galaxy, it’s leaving behind a well-trod planet.
They don’t want to cut back, because getting old in America means you might find yourself in outer space.
On the other side of the tracks, where jobs aren’t interesting and pay is low, the decision-making is easier.
You keep working because you can’t afford to retire.
The privileged know they will lose their status, role, and forward momentum as soon as they step down from the pinnacle of their careers.
They aren’t ready to get old.
They have high-paying, engaging, secure, high-status jobs, and once out the office door, it’s all…
