There's been a few regrettable posts here about losing ones job at silverback-age and similar. It can be really tough, and the problem
surely has different tones in different countries. It's darn bitter not to be able to "land" into retirement in a way you may have planned.
 
I've become more and more scared of aging when I look around today. They're talking about a higher retirement age, and at the same time so many of the working ones must take care of their Alzheimer-struck parents or other relatives. In the 60's there was so much more people in working age compared to retired ones, that aging wasn't a threat to be scared of.
 
The number of (really) old people is rising rapidly and the institutions for old peoples care are running out of resources. Demented seniors are treated by foreign gig-nurses who don't speak the local language, diapers are changed, if they are, maybe, recreational services and physical treatments are cut etc. And thanks to modern medicine they can keep you alive, preserved, like that for 20 years.
Demented people who are unable to get up from bed are living alone, visited only once a day by a nurse.
 
It's too often I don't want to think about the future, and if I do, I get depressed.

No "deep" comments from me (as I start over financially from scratch at age 50), but birthdays DO beat the current alternative and there's definitely a school of thought out there that you attract what you think about most so, from now on, I try not to take anything too seriously and keep a positive attitude!

Another 50 here, and positivity is the key.. and while I would like to riposte with my usual wit banal approach I will just echo Ko this .is ..is ..is
 

craigb
No "deep" comments from me (as I start over financially from scratch at age 50), but birthdays DO beat the current alternative and there's definitely a school of thought out there that you attract what you think about most so, from now on, I try not to take anything too seriously and keep a positive attitude!

 

Kalle, I hear what you are saying.
There are days when I have to just shut the door on those thoughts, as they can become
over-whelming.
Almost like 'ignorance is bliss'...
or  "I have my hand in front of my face so you can't see me"
 
Craig your perspective is great.
I too believe that what you 'put out there' is usually what you end up with.
Some days it cam be a huge battle to keep that positive vibe.
Especially when those around you are just the opposite, filled with negativity.
 

I'm really not following how it's "negative" and I guess
it's because analytical thinking to help me make decisions
hopefully attracts results that I had planned for.
 
 

As I see the work ahead of me getting less and less to the point that I'm not sure what I'll be doing in a year, or maybe even 6 months...I think about the same kind of things (I'm also 50).  Personally I feel I need to work another 12 years minimum, and I know it won't be easy getting a new job if this one goes away because my skillset is pretty specific.
 
However, I am not alien to the idea of changing careers!  I've only had this career for 14 years!  before that I was in a technical job, but in repair and installation, not design, (and no where near the defense industry then!).
 
If I lose my job here I will very likely pursue a change of career.  I just hope I can get by on a much lower salary during the transition time and for the rest of my life (the career change I would choose would pay much less than what I am getting now!).

Kalle, I certainly see your point. The boomers are booming everywhere here in the states. I think one of the primary goals of any person starting to get older is their health. If a person is healthy they won't be as dependent and will enjoy their quality of life more when those later years come along. I look at my dad who is in his late 70's. He doesn't move as fast but he does pretty much whatever he wants . He lives by himself . We check in on him periodically but he is pretty self sufficient. 
 
  I have some friends who are 15 years ahead of me and I just want to slap them every time I arrange to meet with them and they say, Well you're the working couple and since we are, you know retired how about we do that on the weekend? I swear every time I have talked with them in the last 6 months some how the word retired has come up at least three times in every conversation :) . I mean, I have at least 15 more years of  labor to pull before I can wake up whenever I want  and not worry about needing to be somewhere. I honestly look forward to that day, if it ever arrives. Unless they make the retirement age even higher I have a long time to look at a clock going off at 5:30AM every morning. The weather doesn't matter either, day in and day out 5:30 it is. Just to wake up and say to myself, what do I want to do today? is a luxury.I know others have it worse probably waking up at 4am and maybe they have like 25 years until they could ponder retirement.
 
 OTOH many of those people retire and do NOTHING but eat and watch TV. As a result they start to gain weight. These are the folks I see in my area that can barely get off the tour bus to make it to the buffet.  I guess we can never have it all. I have a decent job and my health is good as far as I know. I don't hurt for anything. I don't want to be 15 years older in order to get to retirement and I don't want to be any kind of a couch potato. I wouldn't doubt that after I get there I will miss some things about working. I will surely do something productive with my time. What I have seen time and time again with people I have known who retired is they get off of a schedule, they get lazy and then their health starts to decline.
 
 I have recently been involved with a situation where some people I knew went into a nationally top rated retirement home.I helped move them. The dining room looks like a place for a queen.. full service.1st rate breakfast every morning. There are pools and workout rooms and reading rooms and activities etc. etc. A very nice place. The actual living space is like a small apartment. I think I would rather pay help to mow my lawn instead of selling my house to afford to live at a place like that. You pretty much give up everything in order to be there. Retirement looks like it can be pretty good though. Elder care is probably a good investment.
 
 If I get to where I want to be I'll be healthy enough to function, active and enjoying those years. I just hope my hearing doesn't go and my fingers still work.

Its a hard world right now..  No doubt there!!

It is indeed brutal. What's even worse are the people who worked their whole lives doing the right thing and planning for the future only to have their pensions or retirement savings outright stolen from them.
 
However look on the bright side. You've had the benefit of enjoying the reasonably stable times and got to live your lives. I'm in my thirties and had my career yanked from me due to health and will likely die penniless and alone. Unless I can pull a miracle out of my butt I also get the pleasure of enjoying the next 30 years or so until that happens in poverty and pain.
 
Well... that was a happy thought. Ugh.
 
But best of luck to ya'll. I have to watch my mom deal with the whole having her retirement screwed with because of some corporate weasels (who are of course now turning record profits again but not fulfilling their previous commitments) and their government enablers. Makes me sick to my stomach.