Why Are Boomers Still Working? Maybe We Just Don’t Know How to Retire

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I am a 68-year-old baby boomer1baby boomer美国人口出生率在二战后激增，1946年到1964年间约有7800万婴儿出生，通常把这期间出生的大量人口称为婴儿潮一代。who still works full time.I am precisely who younger people point to when they hear the reports that more of them can’t find jobs and more of me still have ours.

我今年68岁，婴儿潮一代，仍在全职工作。有报道说，越来越多的年轻人找不到工作，越来越多的老年人还占着岗位不走，我就是他们指的那种老年人。

[2]Even as their population numbers have swelled2swell（使）增加，扩大。from 2007 to 2015,the number of 22- to 34-year-olds in the workplace has remained the same,while the number of retirement-age workers has grown 9 percent,according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[2]美国劳工统计局称，青壮年人口在2007年到2015年间急剧膨胀，但22岁到34岁之间的从业人口数量保持不变，而同期达到退休年龄的人口数量却增长了9%。

[3]So why don’t I just retire and make room for someone younger to have a turn at the trough?

[3]那么，我为什么不退休，给某个年轻人腾出位置，让他走出低谷呢？

[4]Every boomer has a different story,but as a collective group our defense has been a heartfelt “we need the money.”As a demographic,we got hit hard in the Great Recession3指2007到2009年间的全球经济大衰退，与2007年美国次级房贷危机、金融危机关系密切。,lost our jobs,our homes and our retirement savings,and so yes,we are still working to replace what we lost more than a decade ago.We are also caregivers to elderly parents,our adult children still live with us,our names are co-signed on college loans and second mortgages,so we have expenses―many incurred4incur招致。in the pursuit of helping others.And lastly,we exist with the constant reminder that we could very well live into the triple digits whether we want to or not,thanks to modern science and rightto-die laws with more holes than Swiss cheese5more holes than Swiss cheese〈习语〉瑞士奶酪上总有很多大大小小的洞，比瑞士奶酪的洞还要多，意思是问题很多。.Too bad neither Social Security or Medicare are enjoying the robust health or predictions of longevity that boomers appear to be having.

[4]尽管经历各不相同，但我们这代人共同的辩护理由是真心“需要钱”。作为一个群体，我们在经济大衰退中遭受重创，失去了工作、房子还有退休金，所以直到现在还得努力工作弥补十多年前的损失。我们上得照顾年迈的父母，下得跟成年子女合住，得和他们一起在大学助学贷款和二次抵押贷款合同上签字。所以，花钱的地方不少，好多都不是为了自己。最后，我们还时时被告知，无论自己愿不愿意，完全有可能活到百岁以上，这要感谢现代科学以及漏洞多过瑞士奶酪的死亡权法。婴儿潮一代身体健康，预期寿命长，但糟糕的是，这令社会保障及老年和残障健康保险不堪重负。

504 Clinical characteristics of children Henoch-Schönlein purpura: report of 91 cases

[5]So yeah,we need the money.Except maybe that’s not all of it.

[5]所以啊，我们需要钱。但不退休的原因可能不止于此。

[6]People need more than financial security to make the leap to retirement,says the Boston College Center for Retirement Research.Work gives us intangible benefits―things like a sense of worth,the knowledge that we are making a contribution and a chance to be part of something.How do you replace all that?

[6]波士顿学院退休研究中心指出，要跨越到退休，人们需要的不仅仅是经济保障。工作可以带来无形的福利——价值感、成就感以及参与事务的机会等。这些该如何替代？

[7]It isn’t even just that my generation has “a notoriously hard-charging6hard-charging熟练且有干劲的；全力进取的。work ethic and drive to get ahead” that can“make it difficult to envision downshifting into the slower pace of retired life,” as Gallup found in 2014.

[7]盖洛普咨询公司2014年的研究发现，我们这一代人“难以想象放慢节奏进入退休生活”，其原因不仅仅是我们“工作非常有干劲、很想出人头地”。

[8]No,it is something else.I don’t know how to retire.While I never thought of how to retire as something that needed to be learned or taught,perhaps it is.

[8]的确，还有其他原因：我不知道该怎么退下来。我从未想过退休还得学习或有人教，但可能果真如此。

[9]The good news is that some corporations are changing their benefits to accommodate workers age 55 and older,mostly because we will account for 25 percent of the labor force by 2020.And some of those benefits include helping people learn how to not work anymore.Lessons include the obvious things like understanding retiree health care options and financial planning,but they also delve into7delve into钻研；深入研究。what your retirement goals are.What will you do when the alarm clock no longer rings each morning?

[9]好消息是，有些公司已开始调整55岁以上员工的福利，主要是因为，到2020年婴儿潮一代将占据劳动人口的25%。其中一些福利包括帮助员工学会如何不再工作。所授课程不但涉及搞懂退休人员医保方案和财务规划等普通内容，还深入探讨退休后的目标。当每天早晨闹钟不再响起，你会做什么？

[10]Some companies are also providing the option of a phased-in retirement,where you go from fulltime to part-time hours but keep allimportant health benefits for you and your family members who need them.Herman Miller,the Michiganbased furniture company that employs 8,000 people worldwide,has a flexible retirement program that couples the reduction of hours for pending retirees with a coaching service.You aren’t just handed a gold watch and shown the door with insincere promises made about staying in touch;you first discuss things like setting goals.And it’s a two-way street: Retiring employees put together a knowledge-transfer plan to mentor their replacements.The flex program gives employees six months to two years to phase out of their jobs.

[10]还有一些公司开始实施分阶段退休计划，员工可以从全职转为兼职，但仍可为自己和有需求的家庭成员保留至关重要的健康福利。总部位于密歇根州的赫曼米勒家具公司在全球拥有8000名员工。公司推行一种灵活的退休制度，一面减少即将退休人员的工作时间，一面给他们提供辅导。退休不再是递给你一块金表，把你请出去，虚与委蛇地表示要保持联系，而是先谈谈设立目标这样的事。灵活的退休方案是双向的：即将退休的员工制订知识转移计划，指导接班人；自己则有六个月到两年的时间逐步淡出工作岗位。

[11]Herman Miller also lets all workers take up to 12 unpaid weeks off while their health benefits continue.This provides a good taste of retired life,and we suspect that more than a few have used it to test their snowbird8snowbird冬季到温暖地区旅居的人。wings,trading in the cold Michigan winter for a warmer climate to see if they like it.

[11]赫曼米勒公司还给所有员工提供12周的无薪休假，期间保留医保待遇。这让员工可以好好体验一把退休生活。估计不少员工已选择利用假期去试试冬候鸟的生活方式：在寒冷的冬季离开密歇根州迁移到更温暖的地方去，看看自己是否会喜欢。

[12]I like the idea of testing out retirement before jumping in the deep end9jump in the deep end〈习语〉指在没有充分准备或指导的情况下开始尝试新的、艰巨的任务。.I also like the idea that retirement could be a gradual change where the balance shifts away from work and more into post-work leisure over the course of a few months or years.■

[12]我赞同在做出退休的艰难决定之前先体验一下。我同样赞同循序渐进地退休，在几个月或几年的时间里，逐步将生活的重心从工作转移到工作后的休闲。□