3% of all business owners make 84% of all private biz income. Why? They’re not covering for unknown weaknesseses.
Bismarck had it all wrong - Retirement blows chunks.
Shut up. Sit down. LIve invisibly. Go out quietly.
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This article was published on October 20, 2010. So far, 4 people have left their thoughts. Share your own thoughts.
I’m working on my third book “Retirement is a Bankrupt Industrial Age Idea” and the research confirms everything I’m seeing in the world around us – the title of my book reflects reality. We’ve got to rethink the whole idea.
The Industrial Age, which is a very short 175 year snapshot of life in the last 10,000 years, left us with a lot of great toys and a luxurious lifestyle, but we’ve paid dearly as a society for it. The whole bankrupt idea of retirement is one of those casualties. You should get a Business Maturity Date instead.
Retirement – The Worst of the Industrial Age
We were sold a bill of goods by Bismarck who thought up the crazy notion of retirement in 1889 (he set it at 70 when the average age at death in Germany was about 49). The entire idea is only 121 years old – for 10,000 years before that we did just fine without it.
It is the icon of the worst of what came out of the Industrial Age – “Shut up, sit down, work hard, live invisibly, don’t talk back, make the company successful, be loyal, and go out without making waves. We’ll take the best 45 hours of your week and the best 45 years of your life, and if you survive all that, we’ll let you do something significant with your life when you’re done.”
The Next Generation Has Already Opted Out
The X,Y and Z generations know this is bankrupt. But they’re still hearing their mothers voice in their ears telling them that the top three priorities in life are safety, security, and stability – all three which are deadening to the idea that anything significant will happen in your life.
Great reward only comes from taking a risk – it doesn’t even have to be a great risk, just take one.
Big Business is Dead, Long Live Small/Local Business
Retirees who bought the lie know by experience it isn’t working. There is a better way. Fortunately the world is actually going back locally.
The era of big business is as dead now as the railroad was in 1903 – neither one of them knew it at the time, but it’s over. Long live the local business owner, which is exactly what they will do – without the bankrupt notion of retirement and all it represents hanging over them.
Read more on what Rieva Lesonsky says about the retirement myth here, then come back and talk with me.
Here’s some ways to solve it, too.
I believe you will enjoy life more, have more fun, relax more, and probably even take more vacations if you never retire. Love to hear if you think I’m nuts.
Add Your Own
Thoughts
Pamela Atherton
10/20/10
Of course you’re nuts, Chuck! But you’re also right. I think for some people, retirement is death. And I can’t see you EVER retiring!!
Jen Orvis
10/21/10
Jen
The interesting thing about Gen X and beyond is that they are incorporating ‘retirement’ mentality into their current life. They seem to be working towards more balance (keeping hobbies & interests in sight) so they are not working to one day be able to live. Life is a balance of all things, and the trip should be enjoyed. (I am an Xer : ))
Perhaps this is a European ideal we are adopting. What do you think?
Chuck
10/22/10
Pam,
Thanks for confirming – it’s good to be nuts.
Jen,
To your point that Gen X is incorporating retirement in their current life – I could only explain my oldest daughter as having retired directly out of college – working to live vs. living to work. They younger generation will help us figure this out because they are farther removed from the damage caused by the Industrial Revolution.
Laura Blakeman
11/30/10
Love this post, not simply because it’s true. I’m Chuck’s “retired” oldest daughter. Which is to say, I have a business and life too. Imagine that! What I’m finding via conversation with many a fellow Xer is that this concept of living while working sometimes turns into an extreme diversification of income channels, which allows for a rich daily experience but results in little time, little money. Not always, but usually. The question then becomes does specialization bring the financial stability that mom/dad (not mine) says it does? Are the tradeoffs worth it in the corporate world? It will be interesting to see how the paradigm continues to evolve. Hurry up and finish your book dad, we need good role models.
Chuck
01/16/11
Laura,
Thanks for being part of the journey – you rock!
Working on the book – stay tuned. :)