What is middle class in Calgary?

[The Yen Man]

One other aspect about working is, you feel connected to society by having regular interactions with co-workers, clients, peers, etc. When you're retired, you'll probably be spending a lot more time by yourself, and this can get pretty boring.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

One other aspect about working is, you feel connected to society by having regular interactions with co-workers, clients, peers, etc. When you're retired, you'll probably be spending a lot more time by yourself, and this can get pretty boring.

Or with the Wife, and no one wants toooo much of that

[djsFlames]

Eh.

Funny thing I've found is if you spend from a mindset of abundance, ends will always find a way to meet to accommodate that. Regardless of your circumstance.

Then there's people that have a decent amount of money yet are stingy about spending and believe money is scarce, and they end up in loads of debt or a bad situation and always feel like they're running on that treadmill of not having enough.

A lot of people in this city sweating on that treadmill.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Eh.

Funny thing I've found is if you spend from a mindset of abundance, ends will always find a way to meet to accommodate that. Regardless of your circumstance.

Then there's people that have a decent amount of money yet are stingy about spending and believe money is scarce, and they end up in loads of debt or a bad situation and always feel like they're running on that treadmill of not having enough.

A lot of people in this city sweating on that treadmill.

Are you joking around with us or is this something you actually believe?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Locke

At the same time though there are people who would have no idea what to do with themselves when they're retired. They want to work as long as possible.

It gives them a reason to get up in the morning, something to do. Its their routine.

To each their own.

I feel like on occasion it's worth ensuring a retiree has a good routine though. I hope I'm not fear mongering, but I feel like there's a significantly higher risk of male retirees dying early if they don't have a routine during retirement.

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

My dad retired early this year and he's at a loss for things to do. I've never seen someone so committed to tracking down slighlty cracked door jambs and chipped fence paint to fix. Personally, I could probably work away at random backlogs for a decade of retirement before I ran out of things to do, but in my dad's case I almost get the sense he misses working.

I think it's a combination of the two. Some people barely do anything other than work, so losing work is losing a major part of their identity and social life. Others put only what is needed into work and thus it's not too difficult to remove it from their life.

On a side note: GuaranteedEV, not to pry, but I'd suggest you keep tabs on your dad. That level of boredom is not healthy IMO. You might want to look into a part time job your dad could do (handyman stuff? Hardware store?) or a major project he can work on to pass the hours so he can better ease into retirement. Something that gives a good routine until he can find things to do other than work as a normal routine is a good thing.


When I have the retirement conversation with people, there's many who refuse to retire due to fear of boredom, and those ready to drop all things at the retirement date with no idea what they will do. I've often talked to people about the idea of staggering their vocation from full time to part time prior to making the jump. The reason for this is that there seems to be a lot of men who are newly retired who randomly drop dead from natural causes. If there isn't a specific reason to wake up the next day, the body might literally say there's no reason to wake up tomorrow, period. That's a scary thought. Having a routine for retirement is pretty important IMO.

I don't know the science behind it or if I'm leaning on false info, but I assumed that when you've spent decades of your life wound up and ready to go at another day of work, you're at a certain level of constant fight/flight attitude. But if you end up in a situation where you suddenly relax and no longer have a wound up fight/flight attitude, your body may relax too much and you end up dead via heart attack or stroke or something.

Maybe it's like an additional shock to go from working to full retired in a day. Possibly it's like how hot to immediate cold can shatter a glass baking pan, but hot to room temp, then room temp to cold is no big deal.

[puckedoff]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Maybe it's like an additional shock to go from working to full retired in a day.

Never go full retired

[nik-]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Eh.

Funny thing I've found is if you spend from a mindset of abundance, ends will always find a way to meet to accommodate that. Regardless of your circumstance.

Then there's people that have a decent amount of money yet are stingy about spending and believe money is scarce, and they end up in loads of debt or a bad situation and always feel like they're running on that treadmill of not having enough.

A lot of people in this city sweating on that treadmill.

None of this makes any sense.

[Fuzz]

When I retire I'll be joining the International Society of Cloud Yellers, and the Association of Old Men Keeping Kids Off Lawns. That should fill hours and hours.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Slava

It's more and more common (at least anecdotally) that people work longer, and the shift is that they're working because they want to, not that they need to. Filling 40 hours a week with things to do consistently is not as easy as people expect. I find that clients work in all kinds of jobs after they retire, or volunteer or do something to get them out of the house, socializing with people and keeping busy.

Yeah, but the people retiring now are still from a generation when A) people were accustomed to having a lot of social contact, B) adults (especially men) gained their sense of self-worth from work, and C) indolence was frowned upon.

I'm not sure those factors will still hold true 20 or 30 years from now. I don't see people who already spend 25 hours a week watching Netflix and playing videogames having a tough time adjusting to not having a job to go to every day. Also, I doubt the automated workplace of the future will have a lot of unfilled service industry jobs for seniors to take up. A lot fewer people will be needed to staff the plumbing section of Rona, and those jobs will be highly sought-after.

[Knalus]

One of the things I love about Calgarypuck is that after about page 5, you can never really tell what the conversation is going to be from the title of the thread.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Knalus

One of the things I love about Calgarypuck is that after about page 5, you can never really tell what the conversation is going to be from the title of the thread.

I could easily tell, personally. We're talking about how with little money you have to spend from a mindset of abundance to be financially set, or have lots of money, spend carefully and head to financial ruin.

Your choice.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

One other aspect about working is, you feel connected to society by having regular interactions with co-workers, clients, peers, etc. When you're retired, you'll probably be spending a lot more time by yourself, and this can get pretty boring.

Do you have any idea what my movie, TV show, book and steam game library backlog is?!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Yeah, but the people retiring now are still from a generation when A) people were accustomed to having a lot of social contact, B) adults (especially men) gained their sense of self-worth from work, and C) indolence was frowned upon.

I'm not sure those factors will still hold true 20 or 30 years from now. I don't see people who already spend 25 hours a week watching Netflix and playing videogames having a tough time adjusting to not having a job to go to every day. Also, I doubt the automated workplace of the future will have a lot of unfilled service industry jobs for seniors to take up. A lot fewer people will be needed to staff the plumbing section of Rona, and those jobs will be highly sought-after.

Yeah I can see that. Retirement could be totally different 25 years from now, but that’s impossible to know today. A century ago no one retired, and it’s really a modern construct, so in a lot of ways we’re still figuring this out.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Do you have any idea what my movie, TV show, book and steam game library backlog is?!

By the time I'm retired, VR will be advanced to the point where I won't ever not be in it. I'll just be a blubbering mess hooked up to a machine while I get sustenance through an IV tube.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Knalus

One of the things I love about Calgarypuck is that after about page 5, you can never really tell what the conversation is going to be from the title of the thread.

Sounds like a fun contest. The mods could delete the titles and see if people can piece together what the thread is about from just the last few pages. I am sure a lot would just be about what defining the meaning of various words.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Eh.

Funny thing I've found is if you spend from a mindset of abundance, ends will always find a way to meet to accommodate that. Regardless of your circumstance.

Then there's people that have a decent amount of money yet are stingy about spending and believe money is scarce, and they end up in loads of debt or a bad situation and always feel like they're running on that treadmill of not having enough.

A lot of people in this city sweating on that treadmill.

you can't be serious. I honestly don't think you could be any more wrong.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Eh.

Funny thing I've found is if you spend from a mindset of abundance, ends will always find a way to meet to accommodate that. Regardless of your circumstance.

Then there's people that have a decent amount of money yet are stingy about spending and believe money is scarce, and they end up in loads of debt or a bad situation and always feel like they're running on that treadmill of not having enough.

A lot of people in this city sweating on that treadmill.

I'm guessing this has to be some sort of joke post. That's like saying the guy who doesn't care what type of food he eats will eventually gravitate to healthier food choice by nature and be healthier than the person who adheres to a strict diet, as that person always eating healthy eventually becomes a fat slob because they are obsessed with eating healthy?

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Eh.
Funny thing I've found is if you spend from a mindset of abundance, ends will always find a way to meet to accommodate that. Regardless of your circumstance.

Reads like an "even-steven" Seinfeld quote

[Mr.Coffee]

One thing that bugs me and always kind of has with those people that don’t retire because they don’t want to be bored (but can easily afford it), is like, man, you’re filling a role that someone else could potentially need (or the upward mobility that frees a spot on the bottom rung).

Great that you get to keep your mind busy, but you can find other things to keep your mind busy. Meanwhile it really is difficult for young people to get into a decent career and get a solid income that you could start a family.

You’ve worked 40 years... give someone else a chance to make a life. Comes across as just a little selfish.

[Peanut]

Baby boomers are nothing if not selfish.

I said what I said.