Retirement?

A friend of mine says you are ready for retirement when the perks are no longer a critical part of your consideration about a new job. I think he has a point.

Two perks drop out early. One is vacations unless you have a very generous vacation allowance. If you are going to do the kind of travel most of us plan for our retirement, a couple of weeks just isn't enough. It takes almost that long to get over jet lag. We have a lot of flexibility about when we travel and frankly the "off seasons" are cheaper and you get better service. We learned that when the kids went off to school. We want to be away longer when we retire. The other class of perks that falls off the negotiating table is anything that requires some sort of continuous employment before you can connect.

Some training makes sense but most of it will not provide a significant return to you our your employer for long enough to make a difference. And at some point you may qualify for Medicare and some health insurance would be nice but it is no longer the perk it was.

My experience suggests that as difficult as it is for us to consider the changes that will be required by retirement, the HR department is finding it even more difficult to think about. Part of the reason I am writing this blog is to network to explore some of these issues for myself and others. Please feel free to leave a comment in the space below.