Every time I tell someone that I plan to retire between the ages of 50 and 55, I get the same suspicious look and hear the same response: FINANCIALLY IMPOSSIBLE!
Robert, who has just returned from 3 weeks in the Seychelles, calls me a dreamer. Marie, who has just bought a new Mercedes with heated seats, claims that my calculations are wrong. Thomas, who does not know the difference between an ETF and TF1, would consider himself lucky to stop playing modern slave kill yourself at work working at 64. It's only possible for the rich and the high-earners, Louise adds!
I recently read (almost with tears in my eyes) that the average retirement age in Switzerland is 63.5 years. Although 58% of the William Tells take early retirement, the average retirement age remains atrociously high. Why? Because the Swiss who stop fill the pockets of their leaders working before the ordinary retirement age usually do so only 2 to 3 years earlier.
So, am I completely crazy? (in fact the answer is surely yes, but in a rather para-psycho-patho-sociological than economic context). Am I just an idealist who has understood nothing about how the economy works and dares to question the Swiss pension system, which is so admired?
This is what the decent people were saying: Anticipating your retirement means creating serious gaps in your pension and reducing your lifelong pensions. It means having to live or survive on almost nothing. It means not taking advantage of the system, or even being fooled by the system.
Thinking differently from the masses is not welcome in our standardized, formatted and sanitized (Swiss) society.
With a conversion rate that is already very low and doomed to decrease further drastically in the coming decades (ageing of the population, number of workers per retiree in free fall), is it reasonable to think that waiting until 65 to receive a pitiful pension that is doomed to remain fixed until one's last breath is really the panacea? What about inflation?
And with the added guarantee of not bequeathing any of the assets in your 2nd pillar to your descendants. What if doing like everyone else and choosing the easy way out was the worst solution? What if in fact it was the system that was fooling us?
The ratio between active people and pensioners is decreasing. It fell from 7 contributors in 1948 to 3.8 in 2012. And parity is expected around 2050.
As for the conversion rate, which is used to calculate the level of pensions, it decreased from 7.2 to 6.8% between 2005 and 2013. The 2020 Old Age Pension reform provides for a lowering of the conversion rate for the mandatory part to 6%. The conversion rate could well be around 4% within 15 or 20 years. At such pitiful levels, you might as well take matters into your own hands...
To do this, you need to get organized, plan, and start preparing for your financial independence, or rather, your FREEDOM, as early as possible!
To all those evil, self-righteous tongues I shout it loud and clear: Retirement after 60? UNTHINKABLE!
Discover more from dividendes
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Français 
English 
Italiano 
Deutsch 
Español 
Português
Once again dividinde, I share 100% your opinion. For most people, a very early retirement is not only impossible, but above all it does not even cross their mind! Sometimes it is just because they like to work, in this case if it is fully conscious, no problem. But very often it is just because of ignorance. And that is a great shame…
When you hear the discussions at work, you immediately realize that for many, normality has its charm. What can a 23-year-old rascal know about retirement? He dreams of retiring in 10/15 years, but let's not crush his dreams.
I find that people generally never question themselves, so to question “the system”… Good luck to them
And very good article, as usual :)
Thank you Jérôme and Brudy for your comments.
It's true, many people don't even think about the possibilities that exist to get out of the system until they are so old and worn out that they will never be able to enjoy their golden years again. Time flies by and no one ever comes along to tell you that it's time to live life to the fullest - unless it's already too late.
Others refuse to question the system for fear of change and the unknown. The need for security and reference points is so strong for human beings that many people will never dare to leave their comfort zone. These souls become prisoners of their chains and, out of habit, even end up loving them.
Is man really born to spend his best years locked in a gray concrete office growing old under neon lights? Should money dictate all our choices to the point of stealing our time? Isn't life more beautiful on the banks of a river listening to the song of birds drunk on freedom?
Asking the right questions is already giving yourself the means to change things.
That's why it's important to start very early, from the age of 20-30. The sooner you start, the easier it is to quickly achieve your goals, without having to tighten your belt. On the contrary, while others will sweat to make ends meet later, those who took the lead will laugh. La Fontaine has already taught us everything with his animals: the cicada and the ant / the hare and the tortoise. That says it all. Nothing better has been invented since.
I am a 32 year old civil servant and I am very happy to see that other people share my opinion!
On the other hand, life doesn't always go as we wish...
There are always some problems along the way, that's normal. The important thing is to stay the course.
The more unexpected events there are, the better equipped we are for what comes next.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and failures are only failures if we haven't learned from our mistakes.
I think the most important thing is to always know who you are, not to lie to yourself and to know where you want to go in life.