The Most "Not Even In The Same Ballpark" Conversation I Ever Had With A Co-worker

[~bs]

We've talked about this before but I think the traditional concept of retirement has been changing and evolving. This is partly due to financial concerns but it's also due to longer life expectancy and older folks wanting to stay active and engaged beyond the traditional retirement age. Many current "retirees" are still working. They may have left their careers but they haven't hung it up and taken up residence on a rocking chair on the back porch. And many 65+ folks haven't left their careers at all. I know doctors who practiced into their 90s. I had a patient who was a hostess in a restaurant well into her 80s. She had worked there for 40-some years. My mom is 88 and was still working part time until about a year ago and probably still would be but the job no longer exists. None of these people were doing it for the money, though it was a nice perk and helped stretch out the savings.

With the rise of the gig economy and online opportunities, I think we're going to see more and more people engaged in working for pay, at least part time, well past 65 whether they need the money or not.

Good points, if anything, it's perhaps indicating that the "retire at 65" model may not be realistic going forward - given the lower retirement savings and escalating medical cost. I think most will continue working past 65 (if their health holds up), not because they WANT to, but because they dont really have a choice in the matter. I actually find it quite sad to see people retirement age obviously suffering from ailments who cannot stop working. Not everyone's physical AND mental health will hold up past their 60s.

You did make a good point earlier, people have already been retiring without pensions, even during their heyday, maybe 30% of americans didnt have one.

In some ways, it doesn't make sense to retire as a doctor/dentist if your health holds up. It seems like your earning potential only goes up as you age and you develop your client base. By sacrificing your free time during your golden years and continuing to work, you can make a big difference in what you can pass down to your kids and/or to the community. Your time is better served by working and donating money than it is doing low value community service.

[~bs]

That's what I'm in line for, however it'll be 25 or so years until I retire so anything can change. If I stay with my current employer, in the 35th year of working for them, I can retire and take home 100% of my salary in retirement. But like I said, that's 25 years down the line, and who knows what's going to happen.

Yup, nothing is ever guaranteed. There could be changes to pension law or perhaps government/company bankruptcy that will drastically reduce or eliminate what you're expecting to receive. I'm sure the current retirees faced similar fears when they were in their 20s and 30s.

I treat saving for retirement as a stool with many legs. If one or two legs gets kicked out, at least you wont end up flat on your *ss. The pension is but one leg in my stool.

[disneysteve]

In some ways, it doesn't make sense to retire as a doctor/dentist if your health holds up. It seems like your earning potential only goes up as you age and you develop your client base. By sacrificing your free time during your golden years and continuing to work, you can make a big difference in what you can pass down to your kids and/or to the community. Your time is better served by working and donating money than it is doing low value community service.

Another factor is that depending on your job, reducing your workload may not be all that difficult. In my current job, I work full time 36 hours/week. I could easily cut back to part time and do 20 hours/week instead. I could potentially do that by working just 2 days/week, a 12-hour shift and an 8-hour shift, and be off 5 days a week. I would make a little over 100K. That would be a pretty sweet "retirement" job. Or I could cut back even farther and go to per diem status with no assigned hours and just pick up whatever shifts I want. I think the requirement is 8 hours/month but that's no problem. There are always plenty of open shifts available. So we would be free to travel or do whatever and I could work a few days a month just to keep me connected and make some extra money.

[~bs]

^

I know of a dentist that recently retired and sold his practice to a younger "protege". He now works part time for her. A win-win situation as it eases the transfer of clients, resulting in less people leaving, allows him to keep busy doing meaningful work passing down knowledge, and providing her with invaluable experience as she gets her practice off the ground.

But yeah, the demand is there and will likely always be there. So as long as youre a doctor in good standing, your services will be needed.

[disneysteve]

But yeah, the demand is there and will likely always be there. So as long as youre a doctor in good standing, your services will be needed.

Another option is locum tenens, which is essentially a temp service for physicians. They place docs in short term jobs. That can be anywhere in the country for anywhere from a week or two to several months. They cover living expenses, malpractice, etc.

I used to think about doing that in the future but the advent of electronic medical records has made it far less appealing. It can take a couple of weeks just to learn and become reasonably productive on an EMR you've never seen before. So unless I could limit my availability to jobs that have the same system I'm already using, that probably wouldn't work out. It was far easier when everyone used paper charts.