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Comment by phtrivier

2 days ago

Considerations of a poor billionaire being bored apart - why is it that we still consider work and retirements as "black or white" things ? It might have made sense for physically exhaustive works, but for anything intellectual, wouldn't "progressive retirement" make much more sense ? As in, starting a certain age, provided you're physically and mentally able, of course, you get to work 80% of your time (in civilized countries where retirement is payed by states from taxes, you would get "about" 20% of your pension, but your employer would keep paying taxes), then 50%, then 25%, then 0 ? Would that be easier to finance given life expectancy increase (barring WW3, of course) ?

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phtrivier

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leonhard  2 days ago

This basically exists in Austria as “Altersteilzeit” [0] (“old age part time”). You even get 50% of your loss of income back through social security. So e.g. when reducing work by 40% you still get 80% of your salary. I’m guessing this is to incentivise employers to keep people near retirement employed as it would be much more expensive for the state to finance them if they were unemployed.

[0] https://www.oesterreich.gv.at/de/themen/arbeit_beruf_und_pen... (only in German unfortunately)

TacticalCoder  2 days ago

> ... wouldn't "progressive retirement" make much more sense ?

Of course it does. I've seen it in my parents' generation: many wanted to reach retirement do "do nothing" and, well, they just lost their marbles. Doing nothing is neither good for the body, nor for the mind. Endless TV watching or endless pina colada drinking in the pool (or both at the same time): idleness brings absolutely nothing good.

But my parents' friends who kept working a bit (like my godmother who kept supervising her real estate agency): she stayed sharp and fit.

People think they're going to read and do exercice etc. but truth is: most are going to do jack absolutely shit. And turn to the latter.

So keeping partially active is the best thing possible.

I see it with my mother-in-law: 70 y/o, still working, daily, with my wife (they own a little SME). It keeps her in the loop: she still knows how to use a computer, her mind is quick. She's not idling.

The financial aspect of it all is something else: but people doing nothing is not what a society needs.