Should we raise retirement age to 80?

[williamtheday]

After all, doesn't work make you young?

[Iron Maiden]

Hell no. I can't wait until I can retire. The government would like that since that means less benefits for them to pay out. They're already raising the age at which you can collect your SS for my generations and those to come. They want you to self fund your retirement and hope your investments don't tank before you get there. That's what happened to a brother in law of mine. During the last crisis just before Obama's election, you literally couldn't move your money fast enough to prevent the freefall from wiping out thousands of dollars.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

**** that ****! I don’t want to work until I literally drop.

[Mormel]

67 is old enough, thank you very much (and they may raise that age by the time I can collect my pension).

[Iron Maiden]

**** that ****! I don’t want to work until I literally drop.

I hear you. I know you always see these actors or actresess working in the 80s and 90s but it's because it's something they love. The ones who made a success out of their careers are usually well off and work when they feel like it or when they've been asked to. This is not our reality or the reality of millions of others. Some will have to work past retirement age because they have a meager savings. It's pretty hard to save much if your wages have been stagnant while your expenses have gone up. The working poor rarely earn a true living wage.

[PaulBullion]

We should put people's brains in robot bodies and make them work for all eternity!

[batnbreakfast]

No, stupid people are already working everywhere. Imagine confused and stupid people!

[Vegan Daddy]

Most Americans don't even live to 80.

[SuperiorIronman]

In my experience when it comes to hiring we at the very least skew towards the younger crowd. You hire younger people in my line of work because they can handle the workload easier than someone in their 50's or 60's (we had people skewing towards 70 last month, all denied) due to physical stress and we have 70 year old employees who literally cannot move certain products or perform tasks.
Not all jobs are office jobs and some active jobs will physically destroy the older employees. My workplace has regular customers who have either dropped dead, or have lost functionality due to a number of factors, but age being a prime example.

If you want people working longer then they need to be in a position to do so, otherwise they should have the ability to retire around the 60's.

[Gray Lensman]

I hear you. I know you always see these actors or actresess working in the 80s and 90s but it's because it's something they love. The ones who made a success out of their careers are usually well off and work when they feel like it or when they've been asked to. This is not our reality or the reality of millions of others. Some will have to work past retirement age because they have a meager savings. It's pretty hard to save much if your wages have been stagnant while your expenses have gone up. The working poor rarely earn a true living wage.

It's one thing to continue working because it's something you love so much you don't want to stop until the coffin gets closed, it's another to have no choice but to do so.

[Iron Maiden]

It's one thing to continue working because it's something you love so much you don't want to stop until the coffin gets closed, it's another to have no choice but to do so.

Exactly. One of my sisters is divorced, never went to school past high school and has been stuck working retail. I keep telling her to at least try for other jobs that don't put her on her feet all day at her age. But I know she probably doesn't have the skills. Trying to enter college at her age is probably not an option and she wouldn't have the money anyway.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's one thing to continue working because it's something you love so much you don't want to stop until the coffin gets closed, it's another to have no choice but to do so.

And the usual reason for that is money, or rather, lack of same, not having enough for retirement, forcing people to work longer than they have to, or, in some instances, should.

[Kevinroc]

We should be expanding benefits to help people retire earlier. Not cutting them so rich people can get a massive tax cut that forces everyone else to work until they're even older.

[williamtheday]

Well, Noah was 600 when he built the ark... Seriously though, my parents ran a store for thirty years and that was enough! And retirees can still keep active with part time volunteer work and (if they can) travel.

[Billy Batson]

Unironically my future. Stupid boomers.