I would like to work untill I am 60. Then I may do some voluntery service in some spiritual center.( It's my wish to spend old age in some spiritual ashram). As of now I am also taking a break from career for my ds but I already started thinking of atleast part time job ( no idea how I will manage with lo) !! I feel having a job gives me more financial security, keeping busy in a professional way is much better for me to keep my sanity . Definitely it will increase my self confidence. Yeah I agree when I was working I had no time for anything ..Missed many functions ,festivals and fun moments but i think it's part of it.. My mother was working and I always missed her . She was not with me whenever I needed . My aunts always used to be at home and I felt how lucky my cousins are..So I decided I won't go for job for when I will have a baby.. My MIL never worked. After marriage I saw "she can't agree with her son being independent" cause she thought doing a -z for her son is her job !! She was so much mentally dependant on them ( never go to any spiritual or any other communal activity ) That made me feel I have to do job and I don't want to end up like her !! Every coin has 2 sides !!
Personally I would like to retire and lead a stress free life.. having said that I would definitely want to engage myself in some activity outside..but with a flexible time.. 2 hrs in the morn .. come home.. take a nap and wait for my DD to come from school and take care of her till bed time.. Do festivals and have chit chat friends without having to think too much. I can't be alone. I need people around me... (But huh !! can only dream of it for now.. )
I am not sure what you mean by retirement. As a SAHM, you take care of the household chores, you are the primary care giver for your young son, you take care of your DH's routine. That is "not working"? How is that even retirement? Even though you dont get a "pay", the work you do has lot of economic value. I took a break of 3 years from my job for each of my kids, and I can tell you those years I had put in a lot more work than I do now as a full time working mom. Far from retirement that was. To me retirement is when my primary financial needs and those of my dependents for the rest of my life are reasonably taken care of, and I have the time to pursue my interests/activities without worrying either about my finances or chores for a large part of the day. I dont think I can do that before my kids are out of high school. And right now I dont want to either. Maybe in 10 yrs time? I might take up organic gardening, volunteer at children's home, promote active living in the community ...
By retirement I mean the dictionary meaning.. (going by meaning of dictionary "The act of retiring or leaving one'sjob, career,or occupation permanently,") Yes totally agree Sahm and home maker role is no easy. But here am talking about retiring from occupation... Btw thanks for sharing your retirement plans
Oh but I have seen so many people Persuing their hobbies and doing things which they couldn't afford to do while managing job and house...
@yellowmango @Rihana @Laks09 @SGBV @anika987 @MalStrom @sanjuruby3 @madras2018 @blackbeauty84 your inputs please[/USER]
Dear @sumalynux, you asked us "when do you want to retire". I said "I will work till I die if that is possible", Anything can be included in that category, not only my career/job. The thought I shared is my view on "retirement". That is all. You can take it or leave it. My intention is to not to compare any working or Sahm or anything else. I have a full time job, I am a full-time mom/ homemaker etc. whatever you one can call it (doing both). Still I cannot think about siting in my home and not be part of something else. I enjoy being very busy. So my views are based on that. I have no intention to devalue the efforts of any homemaker, as I know how much time and effort it requires. I am also aware that many people enjoy that role well and like to stay that way.I enjoy it too. I still have hobbies, I do whatever that makes me happy, but I will continue to do that when 'I retire'. Do you think there will be any retirement for sahm? I dont think taking care of my kids or home is a job, it my duty and responsibility. But the definition of happiness or factors that bring happiness/satisfaction is different for everyone. May be my answer is that I don't want to retire as long as I can, based on wikipedia definition ("the action or fact of leaving one's job and ceasing to work"). Whether you agree or not, I feel that you took a break. But when kids go to college/busy with their own life, and you will be alone in your home, may be you need to find some other activity than what you are doing now. You may take time to understand what I meant as your kid is too small now.My parents had full time jobs, but they were forced to retire by govt by 55-60yrs, I thought they were very young to retire. They were doing all household job plus some activities, still I thought they should have taken up some other job even part time and be part of society outside home. That would have made them more active and happy or given them deviation from routine house jobs/activities. Even small small things they neglected while they were so busy, became serious matters.. Slowly it affected their health. That is another reason for my current thinking on retirement. When we are busy with something outside home we will not be worried much about unhappy things in our home. May be you have a very happy life but not everyone. For those people ,going outside home may bring more happiness/deviation from routine things. Anyway, enjoy each moment in your current life with your kid, time moves so fast..I miss it..Have a great time..
Thanks for your reply.. I just want to make clear am not trying to argue or offend.. Just that when I started this thread, I was mostly trying to find when do women like to retire from their professional occupation.. (They might do volunteer or part-time but am talking about retiring from full fledged career) No I know what am doing am not taking break or sabbatical I have decided to retire permanently from my professional occupation.. Yes am aware I need to change my activity to keep myself occupied, based on my commitment at home and availability of time... I agree we all come to decision of keep working or retire or do part-time things for different reasons.. N I feel both working or homemaking has its own pro and con..we cannot argue our decision of working or being home is correct. Different things work for different people...
Good luck OP with your retirement plans. I shared what I think will work for me.. Your first post in this thread, gave me the idea of that you are talking about making enough money and retire early. So my reaction is based on that. As I said, I cannot imagine it even if I can save millions $. I think, only in universities we can hold the same position till we die( my professors doing that, of course by reducing the work load ), I am not aware of other professions. In all other case one have to retire from current job (after 30/35 years to get full pension or will be forced to retire by 60 yrs or my age limit depending on the country/employer). So if we want to work again we have to find some thing else (not job even activities or pursue other passions)...For normal working people, if they dont work, they wont be able to support kids education plus other expense. Even if they want to retire early it is not possible for them. If you dont mind share the name of the job, I wonder how one can make money by normal career (not business) within in 12 yrs so fast, especially in USA where lot of money is needed if we want to fund kids education, living expense etc...
Ha ha ha I see a thin thread of debate.. which I am Not interested in.. I will leave you with your plans of working.. Good luck for you with your plans. I don't know if you're question was sarcasm or genuine curious/wondering, however I will take it as genuine question and answer it..(because your post didn't have question, later added/edited To answer your question I am in usa for only 6 months I have never worked here..Nor intend to settle here So all my working and savings is in India. I was a software engineer for 12yrs that's it. I never gave a penny of my sal to dh to run family. So I kept investing my salary, which has grown to good amount now.. Btw we will still have single income since dh is gonna work..( we are mid 30 couple.) Top to it eventually I will be inheriting property from my parents.. Btw my way of living is very simple.. Though we had big salaries all along we stayed only in 1bhk. We never bought car or home so no emi And I have only one son, so my investment will take care of his higher education and our old age days.. PS: I am no way advocating people to retire. As said it all depends on individual needs and interests.