I am not sure if this would mean that in time to come, it will become a trend to literally work till our last breaths. It seems like the message we are getting - that we should continue to work for as long as we can. But is there any real good in this??
If it is a case of purely helping senior workers who become 'rejected' by employers because of age alone, then I think the legislation should be applauded. But I think the message is more than that, and that is what I dread.
Will life become more meaningful if there is no longer such a thing as 'retirement'? What about that promised leisurely enjoyment of the nest which we are all so desperately seeking to build up in our more youthful days?? I don't know about everyone else, but I don't look forward to working all my life, past 62 years of age (which, in my view, is already quite high).
Yes, I definitely will not want to burden my children when I get older. But I don't want to have to clear tables at hawker centres or collect supermarket trolleys from carparks in my 'golden years'.
A thought also came to my mind about my friend N and her resentment about her impending retirement. For her, maybe the new legislation will be good or comforting news. But she is probably the odd one out - you see, her children are grown up, she has no major financial commitments, does not travel and has no specific hobby or plans to occupy her post retirement. On top of that, she feels good to be 'in charge' in the office.
Sigh. Maybe my mind is not working so well these few days, so it may not be good time to discuss this.
I was still like this last night:
And now, my nose is so blocked that I can only breathe through the nose and the cough is so bad that when I cough, my chest feels like it is going to collapse.
1 comment:
Unfortunately, most working people, even those well-paid ones now, will realise when they reach their 60s, they may not be able to afford retirement.
What with that big house, that big car, those fancy restaurant meals, and so on.
Also, they may have used up their CPF or savings for their children's schooling fees and their children are still not yet financially independent or otherwise.
It is a vicious cycle, with the wealthy government asking the people to foot most of the bills themselves (they call it co-payment) and then these people realised that they are left with almost nothing in the bank in their sunset portion of their lives.
Therefore they will most likely have to carry on working, at a lower salary. Some will go to the extreme to work as cleaners at MacDonalds, but then again money is everything in Singapore, isn't it?
To be honest, I also do not have much of a financial plan, but at least I have a pension (pension is NOT THE SAME as CPF or savings).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pension
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