What the hell is this shit? Instead of pushing for the return to traditional pensions, capitalism is celebrating the idea that Millennials and Gen Z may simply never be able to stop working.
Generation Z is leading the "soft saving" trend, a new financial approach that prioritizes personal growth and mental wellness over aggressive saving goals.
Traditionally, retiring entails leaving the workforce permanently. However, experts found that the very definition of retirement is also changing between generations.
About 41% of Gen Z and 44% of millennials — those who are currently between 27 and 42 years old — are significantly more likely to want to do some form of paid work during retirement.
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This increasing preference for a lifelong income, could perhaps make the act of “retiring” obsolete.
Although younger workers don’t intend to stop working, there is still an effort to beef up their retirement savings.
It's ok! Don't ever retire! Just work until you die, preferably not at work, where we'd have to deal with the removal of your corpse.
I'm 40 and I've always "known" that there would be no retirement for "us".
Consequentially, as the eternally wise Homer Simpson once stated; "my lifestyle is my retirement plan".
I genuinely hope never to reach age 70 or over. I've known lots of old people in my life and the ONLY TWO who were somewhat happy were my maternal grandparents. And even they will soon have to deal with losing one another since they're so old.
I don't intend to go through all that. I'll live what I can, as long as I can, and as soon as I can't anymore, it's exit left.
And this is why I'll "waste" money on gyms and travelling to interesting places to hike, fresh produce and over-hyped barely scientific superfoods .... because I want more quality years.
There's a genetic condition running through my family, and it's a dice roll. I've had cousins die at 17-25 from this condition, most of my uncles passed at 50-60 from it, a few aunts passed in their 40s, a huge chunk of my cousins died in childbirth in their 30s because of complications associated with this condition.
And yet my grandmother, who passed this down to us made it to 94, and she was still going at full speed with all her wits until her last day. On my dad's side, there are autoimmune issues, which reduces quality of life, the men die in their 60s and very early 70s, but all the women are still kicking at 85+ but their cost of living is astronomical because they've been disabled for the last 30+ years of their lives.
I'm one of the oldest in the family that was young enough to get a diagnosis and get some early intervention (the condition wasn't fully known until the mid 90s)
I really don't know what my medical future holds.
Maybe I'll get an AAA and die at 35.
Maybe I'll have a CVA in my 40s, and live another 30 years severely disabled. (I had a series of TIAs in my late teens before I was diagnosed and properly managed, so I know I'm a high stroke risk)
Maybe I'll be running around in my 90s like my nan.
If I saved every single cent of my income from the day I got my first job until I turn 67 (current retirement age in my country) , I'd still only truly be able to afford one of those above scenarios.... Why "hard save" when hard saving will achieve nothing long term, but soft saving can achieve a miriad of important short term goals, and possibly even give me a better chance of making a living long into life.