A coworker of mine is turning sixty-five and is going to
retire right away. She and her husband have worked all their lives and are
ready to enjoy some free time.
“I’d like to travel,” she says. I nod my head supportively
until she tosses in a grim caveat. “But we have to do it soon.” She sweeps her
hand across her obese body, as if submitting it into evidence, “We don’t have
much time left.”
I utter some encouraging phrases before heading to my own health
wrecking office considering the pervasiveness of this story. It could be dubbed
“the retirement fallacy”: buying into the notion that a life spent working in exchange
for a few blissful decades at the end is a good bet. Not so, if one arrives at
retirement age sick and broken, the money saved for that trip around the world vanishing
into medical bills.
Of course, there is a “choice” component to a healthy
lifestyle, but working full time clearly discourages it. First, deliberate
exercise and healthful meal preparation require time. Once all the average
working person’s hours are truly accounted for, there is very little of
that left. Meanwhile, the chronic stress associated with the often-grueling
activities of working-class jobs leaves a person exhausted at the end of the
day. The activities often used for recovery, like smoking, drinking, or watching
television, further erode the working persons’ health. Many a treadmill bought
and abandoned in the living room, sufficing as an expensive coat rack.
My more conspiratorial self is tempted to call the
retirement fallacy a deliberate arrangement: a scheme that has been inflicted on
the working class since its advent. The concept of retirement is dangled like a
swinging chocolate carrot, enticing the worker to sacrifice her peak years making
other people rich, spoil her health in the process, only to get shipped off to
the packer when she is no longer useful: an entire class of Orwellian Boxers.
It is for this reason that I am not waiting for some
enlightened rich person to normalize the twenty-hour work week; as of several
months ago, I adopted it anyway. I’ll
put it into words the investor class can understand: I am choosing to spread my
retirement out over the remainder of my life instead of taking it as one lump
sum.
The benefits of working part time have been well documented.
It is not just for physical health; it improves mental health, lowers stress,
and increases happiness. I’ve noticed
that there is more time for self-improvement: more time for creative endeavors
and DIY projects. There is less of an impact on the environment. I am driving
less, consuming less, and attempting to raise some of my own food. I am still
“working”, but I can see the direct results.
I realize that most people are not able to do this. A combination of luck, choice, preferences,
and privileges make this plan viable for me. For example, if my mind remains
sharp, I have the type of job I can do well into my old age. I earn enough of an hourly wage so I can still
afford the basics while working fewer hours. The most glaring advantage of all?
I have no kids. Because of these factors and more, I have the option to be
poor.
Naturally, there are risks. The most striking is ageism:
just because I’m able to work doesn’t mean the job market will have me. Also, an unfortunate life event, like a
chronic illness, would indeed spoil my plans. However, even if I unleashed my
full-time earning potential now, a catastrophe would exhaust my meager savings
very quickly. Besides, by investing in my health, I am mitigating much of that
risk.
I’ll admit that for some, mostly the wealthy, the retirement
life-structure works beautifully. For others, retirement may not be the
anticipated reward, but simply icing on the cake. Because of a full-time commitment, a working
person can reap all the benefits of modern society and live comfortably. That
may be enough for some people, but I’m sure there are many who feel shafted, as
I do.
Thwarting my indoctrination is not easy, and I worry about
the barriers that a society hellbent on destroying me will accomplish just
that. However, I refuse to continuously subsidize the rich with my time and
labor at the expense of my health and happiness. I am choosing time over money.
I’m investing in my health instead of my 401K.
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