When to retire?

The Big Question: Is it time to retire?

According to a Gallup Poll in August 2005, 87% of working adults in the U.S. private sector "love" or "like" their jobs.  Another Gallup Poll, in June of 2006, found that 33% of working adults are very or somewhat concerned about "losing a sense of purpose" in their lives after they retire.

Most people have lots of things they want to do in the years ahead...like the experience of traveling that is richest when bracketed by periods of homebound routine.  Many have lists of projects to do such as cleaning out the attic or basement, sorting through several piles of stuff, creating or updating the family tree and editing many years of photos, home movies and videos. But all that is balanced out by the fear of drifting aimlessly in retirement.

Will you have the fortitude to get out there and look for something interesting and meaningful to do during those retirement years?   How will you handle all those unstructured days, weeks and months with only unimportant tasks to do?

It is not just those with ADD (www.WhatisADD.info) who fear they will be lost without the structure of their present job-driven life of schedules, deadlines and obligations.  Take that structure away and many feel they will dawdle over unimportant tasks.  That may be the main reason behind the June 2006 Gallop Poll that found 63% of nonretired people plan to work in retirement, mostly (51%) part time.

The other reason is only about 50% of working adults say they expect to have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, down from 59% five years earlier, according to Gallup.  A separate poll, in the Spring of 2006, found that most (60%) of those expressing little or no concern about their retirement finances say they likely will work in retirement.  What this suggests, a Gallup analyst wrote, is that "a major cultural realignment is under way concerning the way Americans view retirement."

Source: Day of Reckoning, The Wall Street Journal, October 2, 2006