Shocking Picture of What Life Will Look Like When You Can't Afford to Retire

[DeadLetterOffice]

46. I'm in my mid-40's...

...and most of the people I know in my age range aren't expecting to retire (including me). We're at best hoping to be able to switch to part-time work when our bodies start to give out. But we have no pensions because our companies don't offer them, or because we've changed jobs every few years, or because we've cobbled together full-time work out of 2 or 3 part-time jobs. We don't have 'retirement savings' -- our paychecks keep the mortgage paid and food on the table and if we're very very lucky they might see our kids through at least some part of college. And many of us think Social Security will be dead and gone by the time we hit 70, and even if it still is around there's no way we can actually live on it.

'Retirement' is one of those things that sounds nice but means nothing to a lot of folks of my generation -- kind of like 'job security' and 'lifetime employment.'