Both of my parents (no longer together) are still working hard. My dad is 74 and at the top of his game, career-wise, but he is in a learned profession, so that makes sense. I see him slowing down in the next couple years, but I doubt that he will ever actually retire. My mom is 70 and is the head of a non-profit. She works about 60 hours a week, sometimes more, with a brutal travel schedule. She loves it, so I see her doing it for at least a few more years. It will be her last job though.

My inlaws are all retired. My mother-in-law retired at 35 when my sister-in-law was diagnosed with a devastating illness. My sister-in-law retired at 35 when the illness became too incompatible with work and she could go on disability. My father-in-law retired at 58 after a long career in law enforcement.

My mom was a SAHM her entire life (very poor family- college was never an option for her). My dad has been in semi- retirement as chairman of the board for 5 years now, he officially retired this year at 64. They spend their time here (where all three children and 10 grandchildren live), FL in the heart of winter, and a beach house in summer. It's pretty much my retirement dream.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they retired 20 years ago. My mom passed away last year and my Dad is probably not going to last the next year. Dad retired at 65.

I cansee that as we go along, later retirements wil be the norm. The 65 age for retirement was set at a time when the expected age of death was near 65. Now it is close to 80. There is no reason wh it shouldnt be raised to 72 or 75- at least for pension and social security payments.

It depends. My FIL owns a construction company and did harder labor his whole life. No way could he make it to 75. My dad is 61 and has lots of health problems. I see he's slowing down at work. Many, many men still die in their 60s. Maybe if you work a cushy office job you could work until 75. The 70 year olds that I work with though are a huge hassle. They can't seem to accept change, still can't work their iphones or Microsoft Excel.

My dad retired at 49; my mom was a special needs teacher and retired in her early 50s (she hung on for the health insurance). They are 71 and 70.

Anonymous wrote:How can the younger generation get a chance at jobs if people never retire? If they have the money to retire and don't because they're scared of being bored, that's very selfish.

Retirement is a relatively new concept. Post war. Plus, Social Security and other retirement plans were set up at a time when the life expectantly was closer to 65. It makes sense that people are now waiting later to retire since the life expectancy has increased significantly. It is not a conspiracy or selfish. The younger generation can get jobs the way they always have: create it themselves and through job growth. It is not the previous generations fault that you can't find a job.

My parents retired in their early sixties. They are lovin' life!

Both parents are still working (Mom is 64, Dad is almost 68). My Dad is actually already has two retirements coming in (one corporate and one military), however, choses to work a full-time job (and has another part-time position). Mom works part-time but more than she worked when we were growing up. Their home and all their assets are paid for.. I really wish they would both just retire and take time to stop and smell the roses (not to mention spend some time with the grandkids).

Anonymous wrote:How can the younger generation get a chance at jobs if people never retire? If they have the money to retire and don't because they're scared of being bored, that's very selfish.

Yep!

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Anonymous wrote:Inlaws retired at 63 and 64 with $100k retirement savings and Social Security of about $3k/month.
Awesome.

Do they own their house?

Yes, it's worth about $75k. And it's $3k total, each has a little more than $1k in SS monthly. Their parents lived to be 93 and 94.

Depedning on where they live, it is very doable.

It's not when they spend it like its water and poo poo any suggestions to be cautious and, say, not buy a new car every 3 years in addition to having 2 iPads, 2 kindles, 2 laptops, 2 iPhones and the latest TVs in every room.

And even if they were frugal, you really think $100k is going to last 2 people 25 years (conservative guess)? One illness and they're done

Very alarmed att the 100k. That's very very little. Home health care is 21 an hour and 15k and up for nursing residential.

Mom retired from the postal service a few months ago after I had my second kid. Dad retired shortly before. They are now our full time child care, which is pretty awesome.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Inlaws retired at 63 and 64 with $100k retirement savings and Social Security of about $3k/month.
Awesome.

Do they own their house?

Yes, it's worth about $75k. And it's $3k total, each has a little more than $1k in SS monthly. Their parents lived to be 93 and 94.

HOnestly, where my parents live, their homes are about 80-90K and the COL is low enough that they would be just fine on 3K a month. Its medical overages that get tricky if one gets sick, prescriptions etc. But their day to day expenses are actually pretty low. They are really active though, so they are still working as they are 60 and not slowing down much but if they weren't into travel and all that, I could see them being fine with that.

My mom is 59 and has cut her hours back quite a bit but still works and probably will for another 4-5 years, maybe more, she didn't save much when she was younger because, well there wasn't much to save!

My dad is grandfathered into a pension (which he lucked out at since he has no education, etc) and is 60, he hates working so much that he is taking the lower amount at 62.5 than waiting until 65. He's never enjoyed work at all though, so I am not surprised.

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Neither is retired, and both are around 80. They are crazy about their work, though, and will likely never give it up.

What do they do?

My mom went on disability a few years ago when her multiple chronic conditions made holding a full-time job impossible. She was in her mid-50s. My dad is retiring at the end of this year, he'll be 67. I have no idea what he's going to do with himself.

My parents are 63 and 64 and neither will be retiring anytime soon. My mom will need to work for at least two more years before she can get her pension. My dad is semi-retired.--He quit his stressful job last year and is flipping houses (he was doing that on the side for a few years before quitting his job).