The Unretired

My coworker Hagen, at or near retirement age with his home long paid off and with sufficient time served at a few employers to guarantee a pension, will not retire.

His funeral and his retirement party will fall on the same day. But his is a matter of choice, not circumstance, because he loves his job.

That's how I feel about my job, it is so interesting and fun that they almost don't have to pay me to do it. A consequence of this might be that I continue to work beyond what I would have to, which is something I would have never had said, never! two years ago.

Contrast this with the hordes of baby boomers now donning new attire at Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart (or substitute any big box store name you can think of). Retirement for them will be deferred until the situation improves. For now, they are the Unretired.

Long hoping to extract home value in the form of reverse mortgages or selling high and moving low, these sources of 'income' have been wiped out. Straddled with debt if they did the cash-out re-fi for that new Buick and other consumer Jonesing, or straddled with no income because they counted on using their housal unit as a retirement ATM, the Unretired will shortly appear in droves, looking for any work, menial or otherwise, they can find.

And it likely won't be work they'll enjoy nor feel very secure about keeping. Not a good position to be in if TSHTF.

As the doomer, I have positioned myself in a bomb-proof soceitally required job that I love, with a willingness and ability to work for less, (much less), than I make now if it meant keeping a job. I carry sufficient cash and commodity reserves to survive (however unpleasantly) for 60 months if I did lose my job without having to tap into any retirement accounts or home equity. I carry very little debt, and could eliminate it completely with a modest 401(k) withdrawal. I'm not Mormon...but I am wondering...does it make any sense to stockpile food?

The action of stockpiling food would immediately take me from being just a frugal, economically resourceful fellow to a paranoid, maniacal, fringe survivalist, wouldn't it? I mean, who does that sorta shit in this day and age? No one I know.

The thing is, we live in a just-in-time society. Inventory doesn't exist. If our economy suddenly devolves into a CAT V storm, I'd be out there wrestling with every other Elk Grovian for basic essentials, and I am not one for that.

So...how about having just a few months supply of propane and non-perishable food on hand? Is this lunacy? I already have made accommodations for a long supply of insulin, something that if lacking in any calamity for a sustained period would cost my life.

Should I?