Many say that life goes by quickly; on average, people should live between 60 and 80 years, depending on the location, some more, some less, but on average it should be around that age. The topic of retirement is curious because it involves long-term preparation, where you work your whole life, contributing a certain amount, saving and investing so that in the future the government, private pension plans, or your investments can cover your cost of living. However, many end up postponing this preparation, others don't pay attention to the changes, but in the end, even those who prepare are only generating an EXPECTATION.
The question that remains is: Will this expectation become a reality in your time? Part of your salary goes towards retirement and/or investments, but will you be able to retire? Could something unexpected happen in your time? This is the type of question few people ask, perhaps due to overconfidence or a lack of options. In the end, the real question should be to prepare for the worst-case scenario and hope for the best. Work with something you're passionate about, so that even if you can't retire, you'll enjoy what you do and be able to do it even at an advanced age. In today's uncertain world, this would be the best way to prepare. Curious? Come and learn more!
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Will You Be Able to Retire?
The first question we must analyze to know if you will be able to retire or not is the age pyramid. Let's take the age pyramid of the United States of America for the year 2026 from the Population Pyramid website. Currently, the total population is approximately 350 million people. The point of showing this figure is to question its shape. Could this be called an age pyramid? I'm no expert, but a pyramid has a triangular shape, and this figure resembles anything but a triangle. That's precisely the problem, because it should be a pyramid!
The current shape of the US age "pyramid" has a base that represents the next generation, much smaller than the middle of the pyramid and close in percentage to the oldest population. This means that, very possibly, if nothing happens to change this scenario, as soon as the adults of the current generation become elderly, the next generation will not be able to fill all the vacant positions.
In this world that is approaching, we may see robots dominating these empty spaces, which would prevent job vacancies, but would also mean that jobs for the next generation would be more difficult to obtain, since if robots entered factories, why couldn't they occupy a large part of manual jobs? Another possibility would be that the working period continues to increase to reach what is now the retirement age. In either scenario, we will have a problem to solve.
In the case of the United States, regarding retirement, the problem isn't as problematic since a large part of the population already invests for their retirement. However, this "pyramid" model is present in several countries around the globe, making it not just a local problem, but a global one! And in many countries, the retirement system isn't private or based on investments made by the population that will pay dividends in the future; instead, retirement is paid for by the current working population. But since this population will decrease in the next generation, the question remains: "Will you be able to retire?"
Work with what you love!
The current scenario, especially for developing countries whose retirement system is financed by the current working class, with the expectation that when their time comes to retire there will be the same number of workers to keep the system running, faces a major problem due to the shrinking base of the pyramid. Therefore, the best course of action is to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, which would be needing to work for a much longer period for the system to function for another period.
Therefore, if you will likely need to work longer hours, then look for a job you enjoy, something you are passionate about. Perhaps one option would be to develop a hobby that could eventually become your profession, or have a more relaxed side job, because even though it sounds nice to say you should work doing what you love, we know that reality is different and doesn't allow for that to happen easily. Furthermore, it's important to remember that in the future you won't have the same health, the same energy, the same physical capacity you have today, and perhaps not even 100% mental capacity, so take these issues into consideration in your choice as well. There's a famous quote attributed to Confucius: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
