Retirement at 65?

The standard of retirement age is something that is uncertain in this world, because of the various life expectancy among the countries and the different morale standards. But seeing the trend of increasing average life span throughout the nations and improvements on many kinds of facilities, the age 65 seems appropriate as a retirement age.

For most of the existing jobs, experience is one of the keys to succeed. And people of the age of fifties are often on their peak of their wit and wisdom due to the experience they gain throughout their mature age, which is the forties and thirties. By letting people to work in their fifties and early sixties, means giving them the chance to shine and excel in their career and thus improving their life qualities and allowing them to have a better life after retirement.

It is actually really sensible setting the retirement age on 65 years old, because the world’s average life span is increasing. This increase is the effect of better healthcare facilities, better food distribution and more effective food production, and better sanitation (Rincon, 2005). This increase of average lifespan means that there will be an increase of the number of older people because people just tend to live longer. This way the retirement age standard of 65 years old does not seem very old, and feels quite justifiable.

Furthermore, there are many facilities that make it easier for people in their fifties to go to work without compromising their health. Transportation vehicles are abundant on the streets, healthcare are affordable, and healthy living is loudly being campaigned everywhere. So people have less risks of getting sick due to illness or fatigue because of their job.

In conclusion, age 65 cannot be seen as too old for a standard of retirement age, because people still got plenty of years to live in retirement if their lifespan are referred to their country’s average. Many kinds of facilities also make working easier for older people such as those who are in their fifties. And also people are really in their best mental condition when they are on their fifties.

References:

Anonymous. (2008)The Retirement Age Act. [Online article]. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/momportal/en/communities/workplace_standards/employment_standards/The_Retirement_Age_Act.html#wbr

Rincon, Paul. (2007) Retirement Age ‘Should Reach 85’. [Online article]. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4726300.stm

Weller, Christian E. (2005) Raising the Retirement Age. [Online article]. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/briefingpapers_raisingretirement_raisingretirement

Arkasha - 16107071

Retirement Age, When?

Some people who work will have limit of their ability, this usually happens if some one reach their determining age or accident, they cannot work well anymore because their physical condition. If someone in that condition, he should retire from his work. According to Wikipedia, Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. Retirement not only caused by age or illness, but also caused by wealth. In my opinion retirement should be determined by condition and decision the employee, it shouldn’t be determined by age,

The retirement age varies, some countries retirement age is different for male and females. It is generally between 55 and 70. In Indonesia, the average age is between 55 and 65. So we don’t know the retirement age surely

The retirement not only influenced by age, In the United State while most view 65 as normal retirement age, many retire before then, sometimes with contributory causes such as job-loss, disability or wealth (Wikipedia).their is politicians still enjoying their work, but their age into eighties. We can also see some people which age twenties stop working because of accident. Rizky Kanata, electrical engineering degree ITB, he can have early retirement because he has done system which can gives him money without working. He gets passive income from that system and makes his financial condition good enough to support his life.
Some people still have certain duty to fulfill, (Wikipedia) for example someone who has been retired, still work to continuing their live and his family’s duty. It caused by some people work, get their salary but they don’t have saving money from their work for their future because some factor such as, economic, their salary is too low, accident etc.
Many corporations are now explicitly recruiting retired workers for their experience, attitude and loyalty. New careers where the 'retired' return to work is an increasing phenomenon in Industrialized countries where inflation has reduced the value of available (Wikipedia). They become senior worker in some industries.
However, early retirement is also help government to reduce jobless because if some one retire, so his job empty and need some else to work in that position. So it will reduce the jobless (Wikipedia).
In conclusion, retirement is not only determined by age, but also some reason. People can still work if they want, and some one can retire from their work if they want too. If people don’t want to retire in later age must manage their condition

Reference:

Retirement. (2008, May 16) [Online article]. Retrieved May 23, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Ecocities: Solution to All Our Problems?

Among all the global world problems today, some of the most overwhelming are global warming caused by carbon dioxide emission, wastes, and energy crisis. All were caused by human activities. Actually we can help to solve these problems, starting from our own environment: the city. In these past years, cities labeled as Ecocities are developed throughout the world, some of the famous examples are Geneva, Stockholm and Melbourne. According to Richard Register, the writer of Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, an Ecocity is “an entire city dedicated to minimizing the required inputs (of energy, water and food) and its waste output (of heat, air pollution as co₂, methane, and water pollution)”. Therefore the development of Ecocities is one thorough solution to overcome the environmental problems and energy crisis of today because of its infrastructure and the eco-friendly processes it uses to support itself.

In order to reduce carbon emission that causes global warming, Ecocities do not use fossil-fueled energy source. Instead they use renewable energy sources such as solar power or wind power to fulfill their energy needs. These energy sources produce energies with environmentally-friendly processes and do not produce pollutants when used, because these energies are converted directly to electricity and as we know, the usage of electricity to power devices does not pollute.

Ecocities also have infrastructures that help solving environmental problems and energy crisis. To reduce the usage of fossil-fueled energy, Ecocities have less car roads and roads are designed for bicycles and pedestrians. This road design also helps to reduce the energy crisis by allowing less car usage in the city, thus also emits less carbon dioxide. The building structures also specially designed to suit the climate of the region, they could be designed to be easily cooled (best for tropical regions, where the sun shines twelve hours per day everyday of the year), or they could be designed to conserve heat inside them (for the four seasoned regions). This reduces a lot of energy usage for heating or cooling houses. The buildings in Ecocities are also arranged in a way so they are not too dense, allowing better transportation and preventing the forming of urban heat islands, and in a way so the sub-urban areas are not too far from the center of the city which gives shorter routes for the citizens to come to their workplace.

Furthermore, Ecocities dedicated 20% of their area as green area, whether it is a park, gardens, or agricultural fields. This way Ecocities are not just reducing pollutions but also producing foods and other goods by themselves which decreases the energy needed to transport those goods if they are not self-produced.

There are still much more of the good side of Ecocities, such as their effective waste management and healthy sanitation. But the ideas mentioned in paragraphs above should have succeed in giving a picture of Ecocities and the reason we should try to develop more Ecocities in our future. Ecocities can solve a lot of today’s environmental problem just by merely existing and goodly maintained, also it can give us better environment to live in and healthier life.

Arkasha - 16107071.

Retirement Age

The employers will someday reach their age limit in doing their jobs. This condition, like or dislike, will happen to all the employers from any kind of job level. They will reach the end of their career. According to online Wikipedia, this kind of situation, called retirement, is the point where a person stops employment completely. The retirement age varies in one and another country and there are also some differences of the retirement age for some kind of jobs. The average of retirement age nowadays is between 55 and 70 (Anon. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement). But, in my opinion, the retirement age should be determined by looking at the condition of the country and the employer’s condition.

The retirement age is, of course, different in one and another country. For example, in Indonesia, the average of retirement age is between 55 and 60 (Ma’moen. 2003:3). In the United States, the average of people will retire when they reach 65 years old. In India, the average of retirement age is between 58 and 60 years (Anon. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement). What makes the differences between one and another country, I think, is because the different condition of each country. Indonesia and also India, which are still the developing countries, have more population than the United States. The number of people in productive age is more than the people in the age upper 50. On the contrary, in the United States, the number of young and old generation is almost the same. So, I think this is why the retirement age in Indonesia and India is younger than in the United States.

The retirement age is also influenced by the employer’s condition. If they are still healthy, although they have reached upper 50, I think it does not matter if they still work in their company. But, when their physical condition is not good enough, I think is better for them to retire.

In conclusion, the appropriate age to retire depends on the country and the employer’s condition. In the countries which have the equal ratio of productive and non productive people, as long as the employers are still healthy and productive enough, I think it does not matter for them to work although they have reached upper 50. But in developing countries, such as Indonesia and India, the retirement age should be limited between 60 and 65. It is because we have to give the opportunities for young generation to work. It also means that the number of unemployment in developing countries will reduce in the future.


References:
Ma’moen, M. (2003). Menghadapi Masa Pensiun dengan Senyum. Bandung: Yayasan Kusumah

Retirement. (2008, May 13) [Online article]. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement


Fida Farhana (16107063)

Appropriate retirement age

Appropriate Retirement Age

Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. (Wikipedia) Retirement happens when someone’s physical conditions do not allow him to work anymore. It can also happen when someone’s age has reached the limit obliged by government.

The age of retirement is different in every country. Some countries oblige the worker to retire at age 50(France), 60(India) or even 65 (United States). Surely the retirement age is only for employee who works in public company. If the employee works for his own company or if he works in private company, the retirement age is different depends on his will or the company’s will.

Retirement age is influenced with so many factors, some of them are occupation and financial condition. Professors used to work until their eighties because of their knowledge is rarely found, while athletes obliged to retire about their thirties because of their physical conditions are worse than younger athletes.
If someone’s financial condition is enough for his entire life, he could stop working. For example is Robert T. Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, he retires at age 40 because he has system which can gives him money without working. And this passive-income-system makes his financial condition good enough to support his life, so he can have early retirement. But other people are forced to work after their fifties because they still have certain duty to fulfill. For example, parents who has kids in age about forties has duty to pay for their kids education.

For the conclusion, I think the retirement age can not be obliged because it depends on someone’s condition, such as financial condition and physical condition.

Citation lists :
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement)

thank you, Sir.

Sir, I have posted all of the tasks you gave and re-post some of them.

TASK 1: MY HOMETOWN:JOGJA

TASK 2: BLOGGING !

TASK 3: HOW TO MAKE A GLASS

TASK 4: CHILD LABOR

TASK 5: TELEVISION

TASK 6: INDONESIA'S CULTURE

TASK 7: PENSION, WHY NOT?

FINAL TASK: NATURAL DISASTER: BEAUTIFUL AIM IMPLIED BEHIND THE DAMAGE

As long as I’m doing the tasks, I also gained many ways to write some article technically.
I hope those technique will help me in the future.
I’m thanking you for your patience in checking our tasks.
The shortness of time in class also makes Academic Writing is exactly the most enjoyable yet effective subject.

- Laksmi Larastiti. 16107059 -

RETIREMENT AGE

According to thefreedictionary.com, retirement means withdrawal from your position or occupation. People usually retired because of their age, physical condition, health, and so on. In many countries, retirement age varies between 55-70. In Indonesia, the employees enter their retirement phase on age 55-56. But there are some employees that have to retire early because of their dissabilities to work.

The retirement age varies from country to country but it is generally between 55 and 70. In some countries this age is different for male and females. Sometimes certain jobs, the most dangerous or fatiguing ones in particular, have an earlier retirement age .
In the United States, while most view 65 as normal retirement age, many retire before then, sometimes with contributory causes such as job-loss, disability or wealth. However, the Old Age Survivors Insurance or OASI, better known as the Social Security system has age 62 as the earliest retirement age. Normal retirement age for Social Security has historically been age 65 to receive unreduced benefits, but it is gradually increasing to age 67. For those turning 65 in the year 2008 full benefits will be payable beginning at age 66.
The retirement age in India for public sector employees is enhanced from 58-60 years in July 2007. In Malaysia the retirement age has just recently been raised from 55 years to 56 years.
Many politicians, scientists, lawyers, television anchors, and professors still work well into their 70s, however some actors, models, athletes, and musicians only work until their 30s.
Military members of the US Armed Forces may elect to retire after 20 years of active duty. (http://www.wikipedia.org/)

The average retirement age is defined as the average age at which individuals within a certain group or demographic retire from employment. The average retirement age is not a stable number that remains the same over generations. Instead, it changes, varying according to trends in employment, retirement, and life expectancy. For example, in the United States, the average age at which individuals retired in 1910 was 74 years old. In 2002, however, the average retirement age was 62. (http://www.wisegeek.com/)

To answer questions about normal retirement age, the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office (1982) conducted national surveys of adults 60 years of age and older in four industrialized nations --- Japan, USA, England, and France. A much larger percentage of the men over 60 in Japan were in the labor force (57%) than in the USA (33%), England (13%), and France (8%).
When asked, “What do you think is the best age to retire?” a majority of the older men in England and France said 60 years of age. In sharp contrast, only 14% of the older men in Japan and the USA, in proportion of older men who favored saving while working was at least twice that advising reliance on social security. (Santrock 1997:559)

Sociologist Alex Inkeles and Chikako Usui (1989) believe that these cross-cultural data suggest that the marked differences in the rate of employment among those over 60 in Japan and the USA, compared to England and France, are mainly due to attitudes and values about work, and about reliance on oneself (and on relatives, in the case of Japan) rather than on the government and its social security system. (Santrock1997:560)

Beside the cultural factors, there are some other facors that cause retirement. It finds that retireesare in poorer health than workers of the same age and are more likely to have a condition that limits or prevents work. The younger a worker was when leaving a job, the more likely the departure was involuntary due to job loss or poor health. In addition, workers with pension coverage are more likely to retire than workers without pension coverage, while workers who would lose health insurance coverage upon retirement are less likely to retire.

In conclusion, I think retirement age can't be decided generally, there are some factors that effects an employee to retire. But it is better for older employees to enjoy the rest of their lives and giving chances for the younger employees who could do the job more optimally.

References

Santrock, John W. Life-Span Development 6th Edition. 1997. Texas: Brown & Benchmark Publishers.

Retirement. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.wikipedia.org/

What is the average retirement age? Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-average-retirement-age.htm.

Definition of retirement. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/retirement

Retirement on the right moment

Basically, Indonesian employee enter the retirement phase on age 56 . The system of retirement usually through the free function phase on 55, then they are completely retire on 56. There is some exception for civil employee in Indonesia, especially for teacher or professor, they could teach until 60 or 70 years old. However, lots of Indonesia employees decide to stop working on 56 years old (Suruji 2008). It means, those ex-employees should continue their life from benefit of the retirement salary. It’s better if they have some additional fund like investments or another works after retire. As the employees' welfare and better living-age expectation, many people get some psychological shock to get retire on age 56. Why should they jobless early if they are still productive enough to work.

According to Wikipedia Online article, “Early retirement can be at any age, but is generally before the age (or tenure) needed for eligibility for support and funds from government or employer-provided sources. Thus, early-retirees rely on their own savings and investments to be initially self-supporting, until they start receiving such external support.”

Employees become the focal point of when and how to retire and weigh factors such as work, community, self and family that may affect their choice to retire. More specifically, they might consider how they are viewed by their supervisors and perceive job growth opportunities; their relationship to family and any caregiving responsibilities they may have; what in the community may be keeping them there or their sense of belonging within the community; and how their past self and values relate to the possibilities of new friends and activities in their future self.(Dittman 2004:78).

According to those statements, we can get some conclusion that retirement can be better if it happens on the right moment. The right moment means not too young and not too old. Not too young can support someone to gain much salary and evolving part of career development, not too old can prevent the workers who incapable for work anymore.
Being retirement is not as bad as we think.Psychologist J. Fagan was retirement at age 50. At first he admits that he would missed contact with his professional colleagues. “I moved from being a big fish in a little pond to just fish alone”, He said. And then he tried to brites books, and now become a lecture in psychology classes. "I'm doing some of the things that I never had time to do," says Fagan, now in his fifth year of retirement. "It's a wonderful life in retirement."

Sources :

Retirement. The Online Wikipedia. Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Dittmann.(2004, November 10). Retirees are shifting interests, reinventing careers and changing the very definition of "retirement." Retrieved May 22, 2008. American psychological Association.78 p.

Suruji (2008, April 11).Hidup Memadai di Masa Pensiun. [Online Article] Retrieved May 22, 2008 from the World Wide Web : http://financialplanners.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/hello-world/

Astrid.16107093

Retirement Age, Hard to be Limited

According to Wikipedia Online Article, “retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely” (Anon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement). Retirement age depends on the regulation of the country, or disability of each people to continue working because of several reasons like illness, accident, and the type of work. The regulation of retirement age from country to country is different. Each country has its own standard of retirement age for its employees. In Indonesia, the retirement age is about 55 years old. It is different with United States of Amerika that has set the regulation for its citizens to retire at the age of 65 – 67. Meanwhile, in Singapore, people can work until they are 62 years old (Gultom, W. http://www.gultom.org/page5.html). From the fact above, I believe that it is hard to give maximum age of retirement because it is different from people to another. Many factors such as the kind of job, the skill of people, and the change of productivity age are influence it.

The kind of job can influence the retirement age of people. People which job is need much stamina and good physical condition at young have to retire earlier than people who work in government or education field. For example, athletes like badminton athlete and football athlete retire at 35 – 38 years old. It is happened because people have optimum stamina at the age of 20 – 30. When people step on 35 years old, their stamina and physical condition is worse, so many athletes retire at that age. It’s different with teachers and other civil worker who don’t need much stamina to do their work; they retire at age of 56 – 60 (Anon. http://www.unmiset.org/legal/IndonesianLaw/perpu/PP196040.htm). Meanwhile, art workers don’t have retirement age because they are long-life worker.

The skill of people can also encourage the retirement age of them. People who have good skill in working are probably have longer working time than other people who don’t do their work well. For example, many civil workers especially the head of department of government and the ministry that still qualify in working are given working time prolongation by the government until they are 65 – 70 years old (Andi. http://exuico.multiply.com/journal/item/9).

The change of productivity age will make the retirement age becomes different from time to time. Nowadays, the number of life-hoping that shows the healthy level of people always increases. This increasing makes the productivity age rising too, so the retirement age will be changed by government. Now in Indonesia, life-hoping is increasing from 66,2 to 70 years old. So at age of 60, somebody still in a good condition and has high productivity. It’s become one of reason why Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono wants to rise the retirement age from 55 to 60 (Sila. http://www.indomedia.com/bpost/112006/26/depan/utama12.htm). It means that retirement age is depend on the productivity age and can change anytime.

In conclusion, it is hard to limit the retirement age. Many factors make the retirement age of each people is different. And it is better to let people work optimally until they cannot continue their career, but without side out the government regulation.

References:

Andi. (2006, November 24). Perpanjangan Kerja. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://exuico.multiply.com/journal/item/9.

Anon. Undang – Undang Indonesia. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.unmiset.org/legal/IndonesianLaw/perpu/PP196040.htm.

Anon. Retirement. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement .

Gultom, W. (2007. March 12). Menikmati Masa Pensiun. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.gultom.org/page5.html.

Sila. (2006, November 26). Batas Pensiun 60 Tahun. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 11, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.indomedia.com/bpost/112006/26/depan/utama12.htm.

The Perfect Time to Retiring

Retirement is generally understood to be the time when people stop working and start collecting a pension (Murray Gendell 2001). The point in time at which a worker decides to withdraw from the labor force is determined by a number of factors. Some factors are personal and others are regulatory. Personal factors contain the worker's health, family situation, and personal aspirations. While regulatory factors contain the condition and prerequisite of normal retirement age in public and private pension plans (Monthly Labor Review, October 2001).

Personally, I think there are several things to consider before you want to retirees. First you have to deem in what age you want to stop working. It’s important in order to plan your job; you must work harder if you want to retirees earlier. Some people said that you should retire at the age of 50, while in others people can work until they are 70 or even 80. The most common age in retiring is at age 62-65, the government policy in every countries not suggest you to retiring more than that age. (http://www.labour.g.ca).

Second you have to deem about your fund when you stop working. You must consider your savings in order to support your daily need to continue your life. You must calculate your income and your expense since you’re no longer working and your income just come only from social securities.

Last, the most important thing you have to consider before you want to retirees is you must make your own decision based on your own circumstances. All the personal factors and all the regulatory factors just guide you to determine the perfect retirement age. Some people like Johnson and Satran still working because they still want it, the jobs are not physically demanding and they are not ready for a steady diet of golf and fishing. "I'm better at work than I am at golf," said Johnson, who has been at Securian for 44 years and heads a group that has grown at an 18 percent annual growth rate over the last 10 years. Dr. Leon Satran, 72, said “retirement is not quite on my radar yet" Satran, who practices at Fairview's Children's Clinic on University Avenue in Minneapolis, has been a pediatrician since 1969.

In conclusion, I think when you can still working and you fell enjoy in it, nobody can’t ask you to retiring. But you must manage when the perfect time you must retire and prepare all the condition that will happen when you retire. Over that all, the best time to retiring only knows by you.



References:

Retirement. The Online Wikipedia. Retrieved May 15, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement

Social Security Online. Retrieved May 15, 2008 from the World Wide Web: www.socialsecurity.gov

Labour. Retrieved May 15, 2008 from the World Wide Web: www.labour.gc.ca

Hadzipetros, Peter (2005, February). Retirement may not mean retirement. Retrieved May 15, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/retirement/index.html

Phelps, David. (2007, September).Census: Retirement age doesn't mean 65. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 15, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.startribune.com

Gendell, Murray. (2001, October). Retirement age declines again in 1990s. [Online Article]. Retrieved May 15, 2008 from the World Wide Web:www.urban.org/center/ibp/Projects/upload/retirement-numbers-labora.pdf

PENSION, WHY NOT ?

As hard as a hard worker would work, there must be a time when they will take so much breath at the final. It may be a finish line for them at the rest of their life. This situation, frequently called retirement or pension, is a kind of a situation that some people would have waited for this time so long, but some of them just don’t even want to put their duty for infinity. I think the way someone worry about his or her retirement is influential to how they will face it next.

Pension, usually linked by age, often considered as the worst reality that everyone has to look out on it. On this modern era, occupation is a one of several necessary factors that can raise your social position, self-esteem, and obviously your fund income. So it won’t be that shocking if we heard that some pensions does take their retirement day too badly, instead, they should have enjoy their relaxed atmosphere. This situation also causes someone will be late in preparing their retirement day.(Jacinta, 2008)

Retirement day has to be well-prepared so it won’t be a problem for the pensions. In Indonesia, generally, someone would take their retirement day on 49 years old. If we compare with Singapore or India, they are far much earlier in preparing retirement, that is on 34 – 44 years old. Indonesian people seem afraid of ‘retirement day’ word, while maybe they have not known before that retirement precisely could reduce our maximum capacity of our brain(Tarie, 2008). Moreover, we will gain so much quality time with our family, because we have so many spare time in enjoying the benefit of our employment before.

Finally, we can conclude that retirement is a process that we should manage before we decide when will it be happened. we also should change our point of view on seeing the concrete of a retirement day.
If we still have enough power and spirit to work, why not? But we have to remember that there are some generations below us that someday, they supposed to change our position.
We have throw away the suggestion that says whether retirement is a boring thing because retirement day is the time when we will realized that what we have done is totally meaningful to our future.

References

Pensiun. Wikipedia Indonesia home page. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensiun

Siapkan Kebutuhan Masa Pensiun Sekarang. HARIAN UMUM SORE SINAR HARAPAN homepage. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.sinarharapan.co.id/ekonomi/eureka/2005/0506/eur1.html

Perlunya Training Pensiunan. Retrieved May 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://pancaroba.com/2008/05/05/perlunya-training-pensiunan/