The Cracked Nest Egg
 

Unlike jungle (who tends towards deeper articles wherein the author uses long and hard to pronounce words, and where I have to look up the meaning of some of these words in dictionary.com), I prefer to read stuff that's in plainer English. And nothing is more plain than "Work Until You Die."

It's not practical because we chose to live far outside our means. Keeping up with the Joneses has it's price and we're finally being held accountable for that cost.

Sad but a very true reality. Way too many people these days are stetching their budgets to live a very comfortable lifestyle now with no plan for their future lifestyle.

Cracked Nest Egg? For most it has been cleaved neatly asunder and half has been thrown down a rathole. Either that or torn up like a three legged cat set upon by a pack of wild dingos.
I hope all those retirees enjoy their monthly ration of Chinese produced government cheese. One hopes that with age comes wisdom, trusting a confederation of notorious liars points out a failure to aquire that wisdom. Next time, if there is a next time, they would do well to learn not to sleep with a krait under their pillow.:D

Remember Logan's Run?
 

Working until you die is better than one alternative:

WW

The Straight Dope: Did Eskimos put their elderly on ice floes to die?

Senilicide (the killing of old people) was never universal among Eskimos. It was common in some parts of their range but more so among the Inuit (Greenland to Northern Alaska) than the Yuit (western and southwestern Alaska). Even among the Inuit, some groups found the custom repugnant.
Where it was practiced, senilicide was rare except during famines. As long as there was enough food to go around, everyone got their share, including the relatively unproductive. Given that the usual diet consisted of fairly dependable catches of caribou, fish, and sea mammals, many years could pass between episodes of scarcity. Considering the dangers of hunting, the old and infirm who weren't expected to hunt could outlive a hunter in his prime.

On the other hand, when food did run short, the old and sick were looked upon as drains on the community's resources. Sometimes they were killed - thrown into the sea, buried alive, locked out in the cold, or starved to death. Far more commonly they were simply abandoned to die. The victim might be taken out in the wilderness and left there, or the whole village might pick up and move away while the old person slept. If the villagers were unexpectedly restored to prosperity, they might go back to rescue those left behind. An abandoned person would also be welcomed back as a full member of the community if he could manage to make his way back to the village on his own. But usually he couldn't.

Most of what has been called senilicide is better called assisted suicide (though we can't discount the possibility of old people being pressured into asking for assistance). Unassisted suicide was also common, but in many regions, it was believed that a more pleasant afterlife awaited homicide victims (including volunteers) than suicides. Assisted suicide was always much more common than involuntary senilicide, and was common throughout the range inhabited by Eskimos, Yuit and Inuit alike. In hard times, older Eskimos often felt they were a burden, and asked their younger relatives to kill them. Similar requests could be made by any Eskimo, young or old, for any number of reasons: pain, grief, or clinical depression. The person who was asked to help felt bound to comply even if he had misgivings.

The popular legend that the Eskimos put their old people on ice floes and set them adrift is wrong in detail, but it's not terribly far off in the broad strokes. I can't say for sure how this particular idea got started, but it may have come from the movie The Savage Innocents (1959) starring Anthony Quinn or the novel it was based on, Top of the World (1950) by Hans Ruesch. (Thanks toSDSTAFF samclem for this lead.) I haven't seen the film, but I've just read the book and found two scenes of interest. In one, the mother-in-law Powtee is put out on the solid sea ice to die, only to be rescued soon after. In the other, the wife Asiak walks across the sea ice to drown herself in the open water. At the edge, a piece of ice breaks free under her weight and she floats along on this small ice floe briefly before drowning herself. It's possible that a conflation of these two episodes led to the popular idea of old people being set adrift on ice floes.
In addition to senilicide, some groups also practiced invalidicide (the killing of sick or disabled people). The sick received care as long as there was any hope of recovery. When hope faded, care ceased and they were left to die. Infanticide (especially female infanticide) was also fairly widespread, but not as universal or routine as has been depicted. Like senilicide, it was rare in most areas except during famine.

In good times, a healthy old person (or child or disabled person) was almost never killed or abandoned merely for being a burden. In the few recorded cases where younger family members did kill their elders without cause, they suffered social stigma, the severest punishment available in traditional Eskimo culture, which was essentially anarchic.

None of this is especially comforting when your kids start making noise about putting you in the Shady Rest and how much better it would be than an ice floe. I can only suggest pointing out the economic realities: Even the Eskimos didn't do away with elders who were still providing free room and board

The Savage Innocents (1959) starring Anthony Quinn


Forget all that other stuff, we may have discovered the inspiration for the title to this tune:YouTube - Manfred Mann Mighty Quinn

Career choices
 

Financial responsibility does not stop at the savings account. Career choices have the biggest effect on retirement. Where is the logic in spending the cost of a starter home on college and training to get a job that pays low wages, offers shakey security and non-portable value? And, Lets not forget forced retirement at 65 or sooner if health issues arise.

Skyhigh

Not all of us live outside our means. We have enjoyed a period of unrivaled economic prosperity from about 1995-2007...it's not too unreasonable for some average americans to have enjoyed the fruits of that. No point in leaving it all for the CEO's.

I think the biggest thing that folks have missed is that if you live longer, you have to work longer. The idea that you can retire at 60 (and I'm not just talking pilots here) and live off your savings for 15-18 years is the flaw. The gap was much narrower back when SS was set up. Even with a pension or a 401K, you're still asking alot.

As I put my flame suit on, the age 65 issue is a blessing despite the temporary (but very real) pain that it has caused. Pilots retired at 60 and died earily. Many passed within 5 years of retiring. With better medical care and a different attitude from the FAA about medical issues, pilots will live longer and they will need to work longer too.