Is RETIREMENT really a choice today?!

    Lets roll back a decade or two - the early stages of  Information Technology or Information technology-enabled boom. I belong to that decade. I graduated, had a fairly good english language proficiency. This enabled me to get a job in one of the earlier GCCs established in our country. Over the past decade and half, this job with the regular promotions and increments, helped me steadily migrate economic classes. Today I have a decent standard of living, a standard which a decade and half back, I would assume "luxury" given my economic strata. This must be true for most of us who passed out in 2000s - 2010s. And all of this happened because of a single reason - "the labour arbitrage" - availability of cheap "skilled' labor in our country viz-a-viz the cost of doing the activity in the parent nation of the employing country (The US, Europe & Australia to some extent). 

    With this backdrop most of us have lifestyle that requires a significant and constant flow of income to pay out our loans (Home, Car, Credit cards & personal), save for retirement, put our children in colleges that are on-par with "high-end" schools they attended and last, but not least, take care of health that has been battered severely by this "New Standard" of living - long hours of siting, late sleep and limited sleep, food habits not in-sync with our body cycles. 

Alas, the reality hits. Don't they say - "He who gives, takes away". 

    The IT revolution has only got bigger and with new technologies (read AI) coming, the labour arbitrage is shrinking. Bots are able to do tasks much cheaper than their human counterparts, making human capital redundant. Add to it, an unlimited supply of labor (higher number of youths passing out with degrees), the worst-case scenario for mid-level IT Jobs going extinct has never been so real. A typical mid-level IT employee carries a 10-15 years "corporate" experience and a pretty good english proficiency - two key skills that enable his survival day-in and day-out. But AI is fast ditching out the "experience" to the entry level candidates who seem anyways way more proficient than what we are even today!. Mind you - this resource is far cheaper and flexible than the mid-level employee! Alas - The advantages that the mid-level employee provides no more exists leading to existential crises of mid-level jobs. The same labor arbitrage that once gave us jobs is taking it away. 

    Where is all of this leading us to - "Forced Early Retirements". Today we can see bundles of people who are forced to leave the plush jobs because there are no takers for them(their job replaced by mix of AI & entry level employee) or they feel less valued in their organisation or they have health issues that make them less competitive, leading to performance issues. Those that overcome all these and sustain face huge anxiety issues and incredible stress that again causes irreparable damage to their health and life.

    While this is the reality, there is a parallel truth - truth of people who are sagacious about how they perceive life. Most of these people have unique hobbies that will help them sustain life (keep themselves busy though monetarily not that rewarding), Saved and are saving smartly for the rainy day (if it comes) and accept life graciously (Quit happily, if they have to) - helping them live a stress-free healthy life. 

    What's in it for me/us -  The paradise of easy job is behind us in our humble opinion and the coming times are going to be as challenging as one can imagine. The work life span may not be as long as (25-30 Years) in recent past neither as consistent (think of contractual work instead of fixed employment). Each one now have to spend cautiously and save consciously because retirements are no more a matter of choice, it can well be forced on us.

For any financial Planning queries, please contact Droplet Wealth at invest@dropletwealth.com.