Rollin Say

Considering that I’m most currently concerned with, you know, figuring out my own career path, figuring out what I want to do, focusing on my studies, I’m currently applying to medical schools.  I guess I haven’t really thought about retirement after.  Though I do know that I want to be a doctor, I’m not really sure…I’ve haven’t really thought about the prospects of retiring from that career, since I haven’t even begun. 

I guess I’ve been kind of surrounded by my parents, who have already been dealing with this for quite some time now.  My mom -- she took an early retirement.  She worked at the same company since she got out of college, and she took an early retirement about 10 years ago, almost.  So I kind of went through an experience with that.  It was pretty interesting.  My dad on the other hand -- he kind of works for himself.  He retired from corporate work back when I was much younger. 

I hadn’t thought about it in that light that much – at least not for my own retirement, thought I’ve certainly noticed that this economic downturn -- it’s put more pressure on, you know, not only my parents, but people of, you know, the older generation, people who are working now.  It’s put more pressure on them to continue working for longer, whereas some of them may have retired earlier in the past, you know, before this recession.  Now they are staying in work for longer. 

I definitely think that it’s an important thing especially for, you know, a society, a country, that they have to, you know, have some way of securing their livelihood, the standards of living for the people that have been working – you know, supporting the country, really the blood and sweat of the country for the past 30 years or 40 years that they work.  And I think that’s part of the incentive a lot of times, to work in certain professions.  Even though I know I didn’t really consider it much, but I know a lot of people do consider, you know, what are pensions like when they started with a job?  What are the benefits like?  I think those are very important things, because after working for so long, you’re working at the same time, not only for your current, but for your future. 

Yes, I think pension programs are important.  For a while now people have been talking not only about the healthcare crisis, but about Social Security, but I personally haven’t heard much talk about programs or policy changes directed at pensions specifically.  It’s something that deserves to be discussed.  You know, it’s something that affects or will affect many many people, especially as the baby boomers continue to age and start to retire. 

I would tell them [lawmakers] to make sure they don’t forget about it, and make sure that they’re considering, you know, everyone in the population, because a lot of hardworking American people, who have been working most of their lives, they need to be able to retire and enjoy a decent standard of living.