Retirement

I don't think that I will ever retire unless I become physically unable to work or if the job market for hospital pharmacists dries up. The future is, of course, unknowable so I may not be able to continue but I will make my plans to continue. There are two main reasons for continuing to work--one financial and one personal. The financial is simple: It takes a lot of money to maintain a comfortable, interesting life; it has been my experience that having money seldoms makes a situation worse. The second reason is that I flat find staying home boring. I can enjoy being at home for several days at a time but after that I want to go somewhere and do something. I enjoy homemaking to an extent but not as a total life.

Deciding not to retire has a couple of benefits. First of all, I don't have to feel pressured to live ultra-frugally both now (in order to retire later) and in the future when I would ber living on a fixed, limited income. Now this is not to say that I will not continue to save for a rainy day but it does replace the negative pressure with a more positive knowledge that the rainy day fund is there if needed. Another benefit is that not retiring encourages good practices of both mental and physical health. Lastly, not retiring gives "permission" to enjoy the here and now as long as debt is not incurred and the rainy day fund continues to grow.

I know this is not an option for people who do hard manual labor or who have physical disabilities that cannot be accomodated in the workplace. It is also not a good plan for those who have jobs they find boring or who work in unpleasant situations. And finally, it is not for those who find homemaking the calling of their lifetime.