You can keep saying that, but everyone I knew in my father's generation either did or could retire at 55. Obviously some people continued to work after that. Nobody said that it was mandatory to retire at 55, but just about anyone COULD if they wanted to and did just a bit of planning (i.e. stuck with their company's pension plan). Some people would retire and then go back to work (at least part time) after a while because they were bored. There's still even a remnant "IRS Rule 55" that I believe remains in effect today. Federal Employees all used to reach full retirement age and full pension at 55, and many companies also hit full pension age at 55, and many retired. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood (lower middle class), and nearly everybody there, people who worked at factories, various other plants, etc. ... they all retired by 55 with million-dollar pensions. Next door neighbor worked at an aluminum plant (ALCOA), worked 30 years, raised a family with 4 children on a single income, retired at 55 with a million-dollar pension.
Okay, I can understand your statement with the additional context. There was a brief time, perhaps from the WWII era to the end of the 20th century, when some retirement plans allowed participants to retire with full benefits after a certain time of service, typically 30 years, which would put many of them in their 50's. A lifetime income of 80% of the average of their five highest years' salary was a common formula, there were variations. Some retirement plans also provided full health insurance coverage until the person was eligible for Medicare, plus dental, vision, and hearing aids (not provided by Medicare). These "retire at 55" plans were offered by public entities and large corporations, not by small businesses. Only a small portion of the working class were covered by them, I stand by that statement, it is true.
People started living longer and these plans often were not sufficiently funded to compensate for that, which is why these plans hardly exist now. The Social Security Act was passed in 1935 providing retirement benefits at age 65 ... the average age at death for a male in 1935 was 60 years. That age increased to 65.6 in 1951 and in 2025 was 79.4 years. People are either going to have to work longer to support themselves, or a WHOLE LOT MORE money needs to be set aside NOW to support them in their future retirement years. It's not a "conspiracy theory", its simple arithmetic.
Topic: Job listings of shame (Read 35013 times)