Green Retirement Blog

Pre-Historic Retirement Planning

What is the natural age to retire? The government tells you that 59 1/2, 62, 65, 72, are years in which you can retire. Those are the ages at which you are eligible to receive benefits from your 401k, Social Security, and Medicare. But I believe that somewhere between 50 and 55 years is the natural age to retire. It is the age at which, you can hand your spear to your children, and allow them to go on the hunt. When your children begin working and contributing to Social Security.

It is only in the last 10,000 years, of humans 300,000 year existence, that most of us have lived non-hunter-gatherer lives. In the really old days, children would be born, hit adulthood at 12, spend a few years learning the tricks of the trade, and take over the role of providers. That meant that pre-historic man and woman could retire around 30 years of age. Considering that pre-historic humans life expectancy was no more than 35 - that wasn’t much of a retirement.

Times have changed, and for the better, human life expectancy in the U.S. is now 75 years of age. However, if the government had it’s way, you would retire at 67 when you can receive maximum contributions from Social Security, giving you a 7 year retirement. Not much better, only 2 more years in retirement, than a caveman 30,000 years ago.

Children born today, reach adulthood at 18, and spend 4 years in colleges and universities learning how to hunt. At around 22 years of age, they become productive providers, contributing to Social Security and Medicare. If men in America have their first child on average at 28 (25 for women), that means starting at around 50 years of age, is when children begin replacing their parents in the work force.

Hence, by this measure, the natural age of retirement should be from 50 to 55 years of age.

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