early retirement

While on vacation, I picked up the latest GQ, a magazine I've never read before. I was entertained by most of the articles in the magazine, so I'm thinking about getting a subscription.

A piece in this month's edition is titled "The (very) Early Bird." It's written by a 28 year old single man who got laid off, and then decided to move into a retirement community to see what retirement holds. "I started thinking. What's going to happen if I finally get to retirement and it sucks?"

Since I can't find the article online, I'll reprint in full a paragraph I found most enlightening:

I've found that once retirees retire, it's not uncommon for them to want to unretire. They've made it past the initial stages of adjustment, and now they're experiencing the onset of restlessness, not to mention residual guilt because they do nothing productive all day long. Doris, who works as a clerk in the Century Village clubhouse, as unretired three times already. "Every time I retire, I realize I'm not happy doing nothing." she says. "So I get a job."

So if retired people aren't happy being retired, why don't we just allow people aged 22-30 "retire." Then once you turn 30, you start working until you die. Fellow bloghead Jason Coleman first got me started about this idea. The more I think about it, I think he's on to something.

During water cooler conversation at work, some of us dream about starting a new political party, titled "the common sense party." (No decision yet on the mascot)

Here's a sampling of the party platforms: Flat tax. Investement in alternative energy. Balanced budget. No religion in government.

More on the common sense party later. For the time being, however, I'm adding mandatory retirement for all people aged 22-30 to the list. Maybe I'll make a run for office in '08.