Freedom, but not at 55
Just over thirty years ago, an ad firm gave Canadians a goal. The slogan, “Freedom 55” seemed right. A financially prudent individual, having spent more than half of their entire life in the pursuit of wealth, would now have the savings and investments required to retire. That magic word. No death, reduced taxes, the “right” to forego our role in the workplace.
Let’s fast forward and see how realistic this was/is as a measure of success. Last night, I joined with a group of old friends, and that permits me to look at where my peer group sits on the issue. A group of roughly a dozen of us, all squarely in the standard age range for retirement in Canada; that is, already past the 55 point and moving quickly into senior citizen status. All of us with college level educations, solid work histories, no serious health issue (we are not about to die, just yet).
And, out of the dozen, seven are still “punching the clock”. For some, no sign of an end strategy. For the rest of the group, the decision to retire was based on a number of factors. Not one can claim to have won the “Freedom 55” trophy in our personal marathons.
So, if we fit the categories that a younger person would mention in planning retirement (age, health, education, financial stability), what happened? The reality is clear. Our group accepts that work isn’t a negative thing, and the whole idea that a financial planner can buy us off (with our own money) is simply a fallacy.
