No we don’t we think retiring at 65 is unattainable.

I am so freaking glad I got myself a union job in my mid to late 30s. At least it gives me hope of being able to retire with a pension. Unions need to become a thing across all jobs.

*Young Canadians think retiring at 65 is an outdated concept unaffordable and impossible in this current corporate controlled world

This is patently false. Younger Canadians want to retire at an age where they’re still healthy. But can’t.

My cousin retired at 48.

Astounding, right? A little luck, a little wisdom and careful spending, and also a union job he slid into at 23 and worked 25 years at in various cities until he’d built his time and could retire out.

He’s not perfect; his hands are trashed, but he can still steer his bike and climb rocks. His back is rough but he doesn’t need to lift much, now. So even he’s on the border of health.

He’s living the best life we could hope for, the life this trickle-down myth from the conservatives took from the rest of us.

We need so many unions that the labour rights they claim to fight for become almost a standard; then it will become one. They’re not in the business of helping non-members anymore, but we can use them to our benefit.

And maybe give those cons the boot.

My favourite part of this is that the financial post is clearly trying to make this sound like “…so they’ll retire later.”

But then:

The survey said 41 per cent of 25-to-44-year-olds say they are motivated to retire well before age 55.

The respondents said this is so they can can chase bigger ambitions related to small business, consulting, not-for-profit work, passion projects or creative pursuits. The ambitions reflect a growing desire to “work to live” — rather than “live to work,” especially when it is for someone else.

Only 19 per cent of 25-to-44-year-olds hope to grow their family, while 41 per cent of them are still saving to purchase a home.

As a millennial with a not-amazing but decent paying job, the notion of retirement at all is laughable. What incentive do people like me have to save, when inflation and cost of living are on the trajectory that they’re currently on? Putting money away at this point just means less money for groceries, rent, and enjoyable things. And in 5 years, that saved money will be worth less than it is today.

A lot of bits in that article sound weird but on the whole the traditional retire-at-65 concept is definitely fading away. I think it underplays how much of that is affordability (how many people even think they’ll be able to retire at 65?) but even then I’m seeing friends take long breaks from work regardless of retirement, I’m seeing people work less traditional jobs that they can find different fulfillment in, and I know a rare few who are past retirement age and asked if it was okay to keep working because they love what they do.

I’m personally planning on retiring at 55 when my pension hits the point that it can easily support me, even if another decade of work would grow it further. Who needs money when you have another decade of healthy life? As we learn more about longevity and aging it’s looking more like I’ll have more healthy years ahead of me than any of my grandparents did and I may as well use them.

It’s already 67 down here in Australia. I suspect in another 30ish years when I’m even entertaining the possibility of retirement it’ll be in the 80s.

I don’t think these people work with enough people. I’m working with a few 60+ people and a few of them should’ve retired at 60.

It’s an outdated expectation but shouldn’t be an outdated goal.

No one should need to work after 65 years of age if they don’t want to.

There’s hardly any chance of that happening nowadays though.

Sour grapes.