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OPINIONS
Diane W. Mufson: Today's workers need realistic retirement planning
A hundred years ago, a discussion on retirement would have been brief and limited.
People stopped work when they could no longer perform the tasks required, and then they figured out how to live their limited number of years on their savings or what their families could provide.
Today, concerns about retirement are common, yet there is a lack of realistic planning under way. Perhaps this lack of action reflects a tendency to avoid worry about the future and the realization that the 21st century retirement path is fraught with pitfalls. Americans of all ages need realistic retirement planning.
In our nation's early days, we were largely an agrarian society with the beginnings of industrialization. Work was hard and long; there was a task for everyone in a family or work unit. Life expectancy was shorter, family living arrangements were more inclusive, and the idea of reaching a time in one's life when you had nothing to do meant a person was really old or ill.
Things have changed dramatically in the past three quarters of a century, probably starting with the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935. Humane concerns forced our nation to deal with the increasing number of older or disabled individuals who were living in dire straights.
As industrialization and big business grew, workers' desire to exit the physical labor of industry as one grew older and employers' preference for younger and less expensive employees promoted the idea that people should stop working at a certain age. With life expectancy near age 65 for Americans in the 1940s, it made sense to have people retire close to that age.
Today, the average American life expectancy is 77 to 78 years. Retirement concerns center largely on having enough money to enjoy life after formal employment ends. Even if Social Security remains healthy, the cost of living has far outpaced the money that comes in monthly checks. If a retiree is among the lucky few who have a pension or a really solid 401(k) account, it may still leave a gap in desired income.
Unfortunately, fear and greed are also emerging in retirement planning, which, hopefully, will not become a "bubble" like the recent housing market. Last month, an ad appeared in this newspaper for a retirement planning workshop. The ad offered an educational program with a free dinner (there are no "free" dinners or lunches) to lead the attendees to believe that their investments could obtain "market-like returns without any risk of principal."
Future retirement plans will not be those of our parents or grandparents. Not only are today's workers likely to live longer, but many are likely to outlast their own savings.
Twenty-first century retirement will probably demand more years at some form of work. No longer will employees spend their work years with just one company as their parents did with Inco, Armco and other major employers. Jobs and careers will change over time; some may be forced to retrain and find new careers more than once. Flexibility, creativity and new directions may be required at an age when the rocking chair was once considered the traditional goal.
Whether it involves having enough money in retirement, finding meaningful activities, developing new skills or employment in post retirement years, one thing is clear, today's employees need or will need realistic retirement planning.
Diane W. Mufson is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Huntington. She is a citizen member of The Herald-Dispatch editorial board and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page. Her e-mail is dwmufson@comcast.net.
