Rant #1,698: I (Who Have Nothing)

My friend retired yesterday after more than 30 years as a high school Special Education teacher.

He first taught in New York City, and honestly, for that alone he deserved the Medal of Honor.

Then he got a job on Long Island, and taught here for many years, and yesterday, he officially retired.

Nobody deserves retirement more than this guy. He went through a lot to get to where he stands today.

He has had some health problems, and getting through the past couple of years has been rough, but he finally crossed the finish line.

Congratulations to him.

His good fortune has forced me to look at my own situation, and well, let's just say that retirement is so far off from me that if I likened my own retirement to my place on a baseball diamond, well, I am pretty much at first base, and not anywhere near rounding the bases and crossing home plate.

Like many Americans, I really don't see myself retiring anytime soon. Not that I don't want to retire--I would do it in a minute if I could--but financial circumstances simply won't allow it.

Since graduating college way back in 1979, I have had a pretty up and down career. I have worked for several firms that are out of business--heck, I even worked in Manhattan in a building and an address that no longer exists--and I have been out of work twice, once for about 18 months and the other time for three months.

At the present time, I have worked for the same company for the past 20-plus years. Really, all I have to show from it is a 401K plan that was started while I was well into my tenure at this job. They simply did not offer it before.

The 401K has, surprisingly, done pretty well through thick and thin, and although at last glance it was pretty much running in place, it is pretty steady, so at least I have that.

But that is all I have.

If I were to retire anytime soon, I would be in pretty bad financial throes, and on the health insurance side, I would be nowhere.

I would have to pay out of pocket for my health expenses, and that is just not doable. It would take every penny I did have to cover my health expenses, and that of my wife, who is pretty much in the same boat as I am.

And that really is the killer here, the health insurance.

That, and the government expects you to work until at least 67 years of age, and that number surely will go up before my number comes up. As it is, I am still eight years away from that current magic number, and right now, it looks like eight long years, and probably even longer.

I have no pension--I certainly don't consider the 401K a pension, it will probably do nothing more than help me out if I really need the money, and for a short time at that--no fallback, nothing that would keep me going if and when I do retire. If it wasn't for the 401K, I really would have absolutely nothing as a retirement cushion, as my savings aren't very good.

My father is still working at nearly age 85. More power to him that he can still work, but is this in my future too? He pays out of pocket for his health care, so he feels he needs to work to keep up his lifestyle.

Is that what our retirement years are supposed to be about?

I always thought that retirement meant just that, taking a step back and finally having the time to do what you want to do, and I am sure that that is exactly what it is for some people.

But it won't be that for me, and won't be that for me anytime soon.

Honestly, my friend has told me he he won't retire 100 percent, he will maybe do some substitute teaching in the district he had worked in, but the great thing is that he will do it on his own terms.

And that really is the key to retirement, doing things on your own terms, not being forced to work because you have to.

I wish my friend well. He has worked hard at his craft, and deserves all the benefits that he will now enjoy in retirement.

Me, my benefits are that I get to wake up at 4 a.m. in the morning, get to work sometime after 6 a.m., work until 5:30 p.m., come home in traffic, eat, watch a little TV, and go to sleep.

And then I get to start it up the same way the next day.

Retirement? Heck, with that regimen, who wants to retire?