Work until death?!

[prn]

Hi all,

This is a rather grim topic, and somewhat antithetical to the purpose of "retirejapan", but I've had a couple of colleagues, students, and friends tell me recently that they don't plan to retire, and health permitting, to just keep working until they die! One case was a Japanese student in his mid-60's who was a business owner (apparently wealthy) and another was British teacher colleague, early 60s, also wealthy. In both cases they seem to be able to afford retirement, but are choosing to keep working.

Health permitting, will you continue working even if you can afford to retire?

[goodandbadjapan]

Only if I am doing something that I want to do and am able to travel and take time off to what I want, as I want. I know lots of people, too, who say they will work until they die - it may be a choice or it may be necessity, but I think it is very hard to really know if somebody else is wealthy or not. They may earn a lot and seem to have a lot of money, but they may also spend a lot and not have very much put away!

If I found myself bored doing nothing I might take on some kind of easy job for the social aspect, but otherwise, probably not!

[RetireJapan]

Great topic

I enjoy many things that look like work: writing, speaking, teaching, running this site. I plan to keep doing them (and things like them) for as long as I can. They are, after all, interesting and satisfying.

However, I hate being on a schedule and having to do things. For me the best kind of 'work' is limited projects that I can do when I feel like it. Right now I work at a university (pretty good conditions) and teach classes in the evening. I'm looking forward to not having to do both of those.

At some point I will be able to 'work' wherever I want whenever I feel like it. Bliss

[adamu]

I focus more on Financial Independence than Retirement. I'd like to have the knowledge that working for a living is optional. Once the necessity is removed, you have the freedom to work or not work, but it's the freedom that's important.

[ricardo]

I think that working until death is untenable for most people as your physical condition will ultimately prevent it. This sort of statement simply belies a total lack of financial and other planning. It goes hand in hand with statements like “I can’t afford a pension/to save for my retirement” and demonstrates an abrigation of the responsibility to plan for the future.

“Work until I die.” Really? Seriously??? You’ll be able to do that in your nineties or hundreds? (Hat tip to the exception, the new Malaysian Prime Minister, however!). Your physical and mental condition will allow you to work with other people and undertake your tasks?

Meanwhile back in the real world....

[eyeswideshut]

For me, retirement = financial independence. In other words, I can work or not work in my discretion without having to worry about having enough money. That is true freedom to me.

It is funny, I spent so much effort and time getting out of English teaching but I sometimes think that, once I retire from my current career, I may go back to doing it just part time. I actually kind of enjoyed the Eikaiwa gig while I was doing it and only left because it was a complete dead-end career wise (at least for me). Plus it would generate beer money and get me out of the house which in turn will help prevent early onset senility (unless it already too late!) . That said, will Eikaiwas still exist 5-10 years in the future and if so, would they want to hire a senile old gaijin dude? I suspect the answer to both is probably no.

[StockBeard]

In OP's case, it seems both people in the examples are wealthy. So from my perspective, they "are" retired and just happen to be doing what they like. I'm not surprised that a business owner considers their business a "hobby". A bit more surprised for a teacher, but if they really like their field and have passionate students, why not.

[RetireJapan]

That said, will Eikaiwas still exist 5-10 years in the future and if so, would they want to hire a senile old gaijin dude? I suspect the answer to both is probably no.

I think the mass-market, hobby-style general eikaiwas will have trouble staying afloat. Specialised, focused boutique eikaiwas or extremely mechanised cram schools will probably still be around.

If you want to teach on the side, get private students. Much much better than working for someone. You get all the tax deductions for self-employment, as well as complete control over your schedule, pricing, etc.

[jcc]

I might get a part-time job at a charity or ngo for something I truly believe in, but for the most part I'm looking to retirely early to enjoy the hiking and rock climbing before I'm too old, spend more time with people I care for and try out all those things I've got on the back-burner(like carpentry and dog ownership). I think people that plan to work until death have made their job into their main hobby(good on them if that's the case and they enjoy it). I've got too many interests outside of work for that to happen