Saving For Retirement
Retired workers support themselves either through pensions or savings. In most cases the money is provided by the government, but sometimes granted only by private subscriptions to mutual funds. In this latter case, subscriptions might be compulsory or voluntary. In some countries an additional "bonus" is granted una tantum (once only) in proportion to the years of work and the average wages; this is usually provided by the employer.
The financial weight of provision of pensions on a government's budget is often heavy and is the reason for political debates about the retirement age. The state might be interested in a later retirement age for economic reasons.
The cost of health care in retirement is large, because people tend to be ill more frequently in later life. Most countries provide universal health insurance coverage for seniors, although in the United States many people retire before they become eligible for Medicare at age 65. In 2006, Medicare Part D went into effect, expanding benefits to include prescription drug coverage.
Overall, income after retirement can come from state pensions, occupational pensions, private savings & investments (private pension funds, owned housing), donations (e.g. by children), and social benefits. On a personal level, the rising cost of living during retirement is a serious concern to many older adults. Health care cost play an important role.
Read more about this topic: Retirement
Famous quotes containing the words saving and/or retirement:
“We black women must forgive black men for not protecting us against slavery, racism, white men, our confusion, their doubts. And black men must forgive black women for our own sometimes dubious choices, divided loyalties, and lack of belief in their possibilities. Only when our sons and our daughters know that forgiveness is real, existent, and that those who love them practice it, can they form bonds as men and women that really can save and change our community.”
—Marita Golden, educator, author. Saving Our Sons, p. 188, Doubleday (1995)
“The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)