Isn’t retirement a fairly modern idea? Didn’t people in relatively recent times (say, 100 years ago) just work till they died or lived off the alms of their relatives? We got an economic boom for the boomers which allowed pensions as an invention and they used it heavily, but now the economic situation is completely different so the new generation does not stand to have the same retirement luxury.
I am by no means a historical or economic expert so I may be completely wrong.
Yeah I’m not sure exactly. I know in my country - Australia - we only started our compulsory retirement fund, superannuation, in 1992. Which is 12% of every paycheck goes into a retirement fund.
So the first generation who have had that their whole working lives hasn’t actually retired yet! That would be some gen x’s and all working millennials.
Theoretically, millennials + who have worked consistently should build up a decent super fund by the time they retire. But of course a lot happens in the world since the inception of super and it’s now a thing that people can access it early to buy a house - which was never the point of superannuation, it’s supposed to be locked away as a retirement fund.
So I really don’t know how it’s going to work long term. I know boomers who have retired with a great amount of super and yeah, the plan was that the upcoming generations should be even more better off because boomers would only have had super for like half their working life but y’know, economy changes.
A lot changes in 30 years. Hopefully for the better at some point!
No. That isn’t how people lived. You call it “alms,” but alms had a specific definition. Giving alms was giving to poor beggars in the street. Taking care of your elders was not alms. It was just something you were culturally and often legally expected to do. The Ten Commandments include “honor thy father and mother.” In modern times, this tends to be read as “respect your elders.” But in premodern times, this really meant, “take care of your parents when they’re old.” It was such a societal obligation that it was a literal commandment from God.
What really tended to happen was that children would take over family businesses, and then in turn support their parents when they could no longer work. Are you a farmer? You have kids. All of them help on the farm when they’re young, but most move out when they get married. One of your kids works on the farm into adulthood and keeps doing so on the understanding they’ll inherit the farm. You and they work on the farm until you’re too old to work. Then they take over, and you keep living on the farm in your elder years. In these final years, you help out with whatever chores or childcare for your grandkids that you can manage.
Family businesses were the main form of retirement savings. You passed your farm, your shop, your workshop, etc to your kids. Then you lived with them in your final years. Agreeing to take care of you was a prerequisite to taking over the business.
Retirement is a modern idea. But looking after the elderly or infirm in your tribe probably dates back to when we were using stone tools and living in caves.
Alms of the relatives is pretty much it, buuuut retirement has been a thing for the upper middle class for a while. Just about every british story in the last few hundred years has a significant portion of their main characters ‘retiring’ to the country, as an example.
Go back further in history, and yeah, you’re living with relatives after you can’t work at your trade anymore.
Isn’t retirement a fairly modern idea? Didn’t people in relatively recent times (say, 100 years ago) just work till they died or lived off the alms of their relatives? We got an economic boom for the boomers which allowed pensions as an invention and they used it heavily, but now the economic situation is completely different so the new generation does not stand to have the same retirement luxury.
I am by no means a historical or economic expert so I may be completely wrong.
Yeah I’m not sure exactly. I know in my country - Australia - we only started our compulsory retirement fund, superannuation, in 1992. Which is 12% of every paycheck goes into a retirement fund.
So the first generation who have had that their whole working lives hasn’t actually retired yet! That would be some gen x’s and all working millennials.
Theoretically, millennials + who have worked consistently should build up a decent super fund by the time they retire. But of course a lot happens in the world since the inception of super and it’s now a thing that people can access it early to buy a house - which was never the point of superannuation, it’s supposed to be locked away as a retirement fund.
So I really don’t know how it’s going to work long term. I know boomers who have retired with a great amount of super and yeah, the plan was that the upcoming generations should be even more better off because boomers would only have had super for like half their working life but y’know, economy changes.
A lot changes in 30 years. Hopefully for the better at some point!
No. That isn’t how people lived. You call it “alms,” but alms had a specific definition. Giving alms was giving to poor beggars in the street. Taking care of your elders was not alms. It was just something you were culturally and often legally expected to do. The Ten Commandments include “honor thy father and mother.” In modern times, this tends to be read as “respect your elders.” But in premodern times, this really meant, “take care of your parents when they’re old.” It was such a societal obligation that it was a literal commandment from God.
What really tended to happen was that children would take over family businesses, and then in turn support their parents when they could no longer work. Are you a farmer? You have kids. All of them help on the farm when they’re young, but most move out when they get married. One of your kids works on the farm into adulthood and keeps doing so on the understanding they’ll inherit the farm. You and they work on the farm until you’re too old to work. Then they take over, and you keep living on the farm in your elder years. In these final years, you help out with whatever chores or childcare for your grandkids that you can manage.
Family businesses were the main form of retirement savings. You passed your farm, your shop, your workshop, etc to your kids. Then you lived with them in your final years. Agreeing to take care of you was a prerequisite to taking over the business.
Retirement is a modern idea. But looking after the elderly or infirm in your tribe probably dates back to when we were using stone tools and living in caves.
Alms of the relatives is pretty much it, buuuut retirement has been a thing for the upper middle class for a while. Just about every british story in the last few hundred years has a significant portion of their main characters ‘retiring’ to the country, as an example.
Go back further in history, and yeah, you’re living with relatives after you can’t work at your trade anymore.