What a dumb question?  Everybody knows love, health, friends and other things are more important than money.  Yet, I was reading a new survey by the Associated Press that 25% of us have absolutely no savings and 25% of us say we have no plans to retire.  Is that just a coincidence?  I think so.  Money doesn’t drive the retirement question as much as people (especially economists) seem to think.

Having watched several members of my family and many friends retire, I find few of them happy about it.  They may have too much time on their hands to worry about their health.  They might interfere with the lives of their children and others.  They may obsess over political issues they have no control over.  And, they fret 24/7 about out-living their money.

Another recent survey found people with jobs are happier than people without jobs.  More interestingly, it found that people without jobs are happier than people who have jobs they didn’t like.

Tying those surveys together, my suspicion is that most people would like to work longer and put less stress on finances and themselves (and their families), IF they began their second career sooner, doing something they like.  Start your own business, be your own boss, and the world will get rosier, I promise!

The world would be a better place for those with gray hair if they read “What Color is Your Parachute:  For Retirement.”