As you know my name is Nestor and I am a secondary school teacher. My speciality is technology.
I am going to talk about retirement age. Well, I am forty years old, and most of you will be wondering why I have chosen this subject. The answer to this question is very easy. Last week I was in the teacher's room and even though most teachers of my school are younger than me, they were talking about the new age retirement proposal made by government and business organizations. They want to fix seventy years old as the new retirement age for everyone.
But before going on with my presentation, I would like to ask a question. As you know Japanese people are considered to be very hardworking. Taking this into account, which do you think that is the official retirement age in Japan?. I'll give you three options:
A.- 60, B.- 65, C.- 70.
What do you think is the right answer? At the end I'll give you the reply.
Going ahead with my presentation, I have to say the discussion was very intense. There were mainly two positions. Some of my colleagues thought that teaching is vocational and for this reason they would like to be teaching until the age of seventy old or later, if they felt in good condition. The rest thought they would be very old at that age and they would like to enjoy life before dying.
From my point of view this issue is very complex and it depends on the type of person you are and your circumstances. That is, the appropiate age retirement is influenced by many factors, unfortunately most of them can't be controlled.
The most important factors are (at least for me):
1.- Financial situation. If you want to retire, you should have enough money to do that, a pension or savings.
2.- Job satisfaction. If you don't enjoy your work, you will have to think about retirement.
3.- The type of work you do. It's not the same to be a footballer that to be a politician, your work requirements are very different.
4.- Your physical and mental health. As you get older you’re not guaranteed your health.
In conclusion before retiring you have to evaluate many things and make the best decision for you.
To end, the correct answer to the question I have asked at the beginning is that retirement age for japanese people is settled in 60 years old.
Thanks for your attention. I'll be glad of answering all your questions.
