July 18, 2025 • 8 mins
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One in four Americans over 50 are delaying retirement—and the media’s calling it a crisis. But what if the real crisis is retirement itself?
In this episode of Watchdog on Wall Street:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i
WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on:
https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured
One in four Americans over 50 are delaying retirement—and the media’s calling it a crisis. But what if the real crisis is retirement itself?
In this episode of Watchdog on Wall Street:
- Why “retirement” is a modern invention—and possibly a terrible one
- The historical truth about pensions, Social Security, and checking out at 65
- Why idling in Florida isn’t the dream—and how real purpose comes from contribution
- A better path: teaching, part-time work, and the Thanksgiving Week Workweek
- And why the real danger isn’t working too long—it’s quitting too soon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We got ourselves another retirement crisis. How these happen all
the time? Yeah, story after story A year after you
actually did a deep dive in old columns of mind,
the amount of stories I've covered like this. Nearly one
in four Americans over fifty are delaying retirement due to
economic concerns. Survey fines older Americans are kicking the can
(00:38):
down the road on retirement or concerns about the economy
and their own financial readiness to step back from work.
Can I be brutally honest with everybody right now? This
is my opinion. Okay, take it for what you will.
Retirement's stupid. I'm sorry, I retirement not a fan again.
(01:04):
This it's conventional wisdom, okay, nowadays, modern conventional wisdom. And
we always talk about conventional wisdom being poison. Is, oh, yeah,
you work for X amount of decades and it used
to be at have a pension, then you out of
a four to one k, then you get your social
security and then you were supposed to retire, give you
a gold watch, whatever it may be. Anybody actually ever
(01:27):
do any sort of study on this, whether or not
this is actually even good for human beings. Maybe we
can get Robert F. Kennedy Junior to look into this.
With this whole maha thing, retirement for crying out loud,
it's it's a it's a new concept, my friends. Yeah,
it is a new concept. I've written about this before.
(01:51):
Started was like eighteen eighty something, eighty eight eighty nine.
Ado von Bismarck there introduced the first old age social
insurance program in Germany, and the initial setting for retirement
was seventy and people were dying well before that, okay,
(02:12):
at that point in time. Again, it was eighteen eighty nine.
The UK started it in nineteen eight Their initial thing
was seventy as well, they reduced to sixty five. And
we here in the United States started in nineteen thirty
five at sixty five years old. Look throughout history, yeah,
(02:33):
I mean the Roman Empire, if you served in the legions,
they would give you land, they would take care of you,
give you some sort of pension system, after twenty years
of military service. Pretty much in medieval Europe, you would
retire and then you would go and go to a monastery.
You go and work in a month, you become a monk.
(02:54):
You would study religion. I've written about this, talked about
this before. I said that, you know, we need to
start recruiting people that, hey, they want to finish their career.
They work at don't work at Johnson and Johnson for
a period of time, and you know, they they're working
in a laboratory. You know, maybe they want to retire
from Johnson and Johnson had enough. Why don't they recruit
(03:15):
them to go teach chemistry class in a high school somewhere.
You know, if they're only teaching one class a week,
it's a hell of a lot better than getting some
twenty two year old that's got an education degree, like
doctor Jill Biden teach the class. Why don't you get
somebody's an actual chemist to teach the kids. They might
get even a little bit more interested in the subject.
For crying out loud, somebody's actually done it and been
(03:35):
passionate about it their entire lives. I'm just throwing this
out there, Okay, don't retire, don't do it unless again,
I'm gonna give a little quick caveat here. Okay, some people,
some people are able to structure their lives when they
retire where they're actually keeping themselves busy all the time.
(04:01):
What happens, What happens? What happens? You start, you work
out your entire life. You just stop going to the gym.
What's going to happen to your muscles? I'm sorry. Okay again,
I've been in this business for a long time, and
you know I've been saying the same thing. I mean,
(04:22):
maybe gonna be a little bit more blunt. My retirement
crisis white paper that I did several years ago, I
made the suggestion for people to say, hey, listen, you know,
I get it. You know, you work whatever job it
may be for a couple of decades, a couple decades
and a half, three decades, you know, then you want
to retire. I want to move on, you know, Yeah,
(04:43):
take a little time off, take a little bit of
a sabbatical, whatever it may be. But then get yourself
back out there and you don't have to work five
days a week, work three days a week. I call
it like the Thanksgiving week. Work week and Thanksgiving. You know,
Thanksgiving us on Thursday. Most people don't work on Friday.
Do that every week. You're going to be in a
(05:04):
much better position mentally. You're going to be a much
better position physically. And I know I'm going to get
to people saying, oh, I don't know what you're cheesy
for you to say, well, what about people that are
roofers and what about people that are plumbers and all
this stuff. I'm like, I get that. I understand that
certain jobs are physically demanding and there's going to be
a point in time you're not going to be able
to do them. But that does meaning to check out
on life. You've been a plumber your entire life. You
(05:26):
can't go teach at a vocational school. Find something else
to do. I mean again, it's going to be better
for you, you know what I kind of thing is.
I don't know why I've hated it my entire life.
Quick story my grandparents grandparents. My grandfather worked for General
(05:49):
Electric up in Schenectady. After he retired after per time
up in Aumany, they moved down to Florida, Port Richie, Newport,
and we used to go down there all the time.
It was pretty much. That was it. It was just retirees,
and it was depressing to me. It's depressing. I oh, yeah,
(06:13):
well I can play golf and I can go fishing.
Oh that's great. You can steal golf and you can
still go fishing. But we can also still really contribute
to society. Can me ask a questions? You think that
you know, I think God really wants you to check
out after all the knowledge and all of the things
that you've done in your entire life, to say, hey,
you know what, that's it. I'm hanging it up. I'm
just gonna it's gonna golf and fish all day long.
(06:37):
I'm sorry. I know this is I'm being brutally honest
with people here, but I think retirement's bad. I really do.
I think you unless unless, like I said, you got
you can structure your life and you're disciplined enough where
you're gonna have you're gonna be doing something every single day.
(06:59):
To me, you know, it's like a death sentence. I
will never retire. Hey, you have to take a look
at you know, truly successful people. I have any field. Well,
Michael Jordan retired. He retired from basketball. He didn't retire
you understand the things he does, the businesses that he runs,
(07:21):
the charities that he does. Shaquille O'Neal, Mick Jagger, the
stones are bloody going on tour. Does Mick need any
more money? No, Warren Buffett, Charliemuk, I can go right
on down the list, Mario Gabelly, any sort of field. Now,
I get it. I do understand. I do understand. Again,
(07:44):
your capacities diminish. Okay, surgeons. Doctors are not able to
do that. But you know what you can do. You
can go back and teach, you can do something else.
It can still contribute because you have a lot to offer.
All these people out here. One in four Americans delaying
retirement delay for good. Okay, it was a construct. It
(08:08):
was a construct put together. And again I don't agree
with the construct. It was dumb from the get go. Yes,
should we help people that are down on, people that
get injured, all of these things. But now it's it's
like setting stone. Now we say, oh no, I can't
raise the retirement age. No, no, no, no, no, no,
(08:29):
oh my god. This looks like we're being banned throughout history,
throughout history until Ido von Bismarck and eighteen. Let me
get the exact date. Yeah, eighteen eighty nine. Okay, everybody
just kept working. Watchdog on Wall street dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We got ourselves another retirement crisis. How these happen all
the time? Yeah, story after story A year after you
actually did a deep dive in old columns of mind,
the amount of stories I've covered like this. Nearly one
in four Americans over fifty are delaying retirement due to
economic concerns. Survey fines older Americans are kicking the can
(00:38):
down the road on retirement or concerns about the economy
and their own financial readiness to step back from work.
Can I be brutally honest with everybody right now? This
is my opinion. Okay, take it for what you will.
Retirement's stupid. I'm sorry, I retirement not a fan again.
(01:04):
This it's conventional wisdom, okay, nowadays, modern conventional wisdom. And
we always talk about conventional wisdom being poison. Is, oh, yeah,
you work for X amount of decades and it used
to be at have a pension, then you out of
a four to one k, then you get your social
security and then you were supposed to retire, give you
a gold watch, whatever it may be. Anybody actually ever
(01:27):
do any sort of study on this, whether or not
this is actually even good for human beings. Maybe we
can get Robert F. Kennedy Junior to look into this.
With this whole maha thing, retirement for crying out loud,
it's it's a it's a new concept, my friends. Yeah,
it is a new concept. I've written about this before.
(01:51):
Started was like eighteen eighty something, eighty eight eighty nine.
Ado von Bismarck there introduced the first old age social
insurance program in Germany, and the initial setting for retirement
was seventy and people were dying well before that, okay,
(02:12):
at that point in time. Again, it was eighteen eighty nine.
The UK started it in nineteen eight Their initial thing
was seventy as well, they reduced to sixty five. And
we here in the United States started in nineteen thirty
five at sixty five years old. Look throughout history, yeah,
(02:33):
I mean the Roman Empire, if you served in the legions,
they would give you land, they would take care of you,
give you some sort of pension system, after twenty years
of military service. Pretty much in medieval Europe, you would
retire and then you would go and go to a monastery.
You go and work in a month, you become a monk.
(02:54):
You would study religion. I've written about this, talked about
this before. I said that, you know, we need to
start recruiting people that, hey, they want to finish their career.
They work at don't work at Johnson and Johnson for
a period of time, and you know, they they're working
in a laboratory. You know, maybe they want to retire
from Johnson and Johnson had enough. Why don't they recruit
(03:15):
them to go teach chemistry class in a high school somewhere.
You know, if they're only teaching one class a week,
it's a hell of a lot better than getting some
twenty two year old that's got an education degree, like
doctor Jill Biden teach the class. Why don't you get
somebody's an actual chemist to teach the kids. They might
get even a little bit more interested in the subject.
For crying out loud, somebody's actually done it and been
(03:35):
passionate about it their entire lives. I'm just throwing this
out there, Okay, don't retire, don't do it unless again,
I'm gonna give a little quick caveat here. Okay, some people,
some people are able to structure their lives when they
retire where they're actually keeping themselves busy all the time.
(04:01):
What happens, What happens? What happens? You start, you work
out your entire life. You just stop going to the gym.
What's going to happen to your muscles? I'm sorry. Okay again,
I've been in this business for a long time, and
you know I've been saying the same thing. I mean,
(04:22):
maybe gonna be a little bit more blunt. My retirement
crisis white paper that I did several years ago, I
made the suggestion for people to say, hey, listen, you know,
I get it. You know, you work whatever job it
may be for a couple of decades, a couple decades
and a half, three decades, you know, then you want
to retire. I want to move on, you know, Yeah,
(04:43):
take a little time off, take a little bit of
a sabbatical, whatever it may be. But then get yourself
back out there and you don't have to work five
days a week, work three days a week. I call
it like the Thanksgiving week. Work week and Thanksgiving. You know,
Thanksgiving us on Thursday. Most people don't work on Friday.
Do that every week. You're going to be in a
(05:04):
much better position mentally. You're going to be a much
better position physically. And I know I'm going to get
to people saying, oh, I don't know what you're cheesy
for you to say, well, what about people that are
roofers and what about people that are plumbers and all
this stuff. I'm like, I get that. I understand that
certain jobs are physically demanding and there's going to be
a point in time you're not going to be able
to do them. But that does meaning to check out
on life. You've been a plumber your entire life. You
(05:26):
can't go teach at a vocational school. Find something else
to do. I mean again, it's going to be better
for you, you know what I kind of thing is.
I don't know why I've hated it my entire life.
Quick story my grandparents grandparents. My grandfather worked for General
(05:49):
Electric up in Schenectady. After he retired after per time
up in Aumany, they moved down to Florida, Port Richie, Newport,
and we used to go down there all the time.
It was pretty much. That was it. It was just retirees,
and it was depressing to me. It's depressing. I oh, yeah,
(06:13):
well I can play golf and I can go fishing.
Oh that's great. You can steal golf and you can
still go fishing. But we can also still really contribute
to society. Can me ask a questions? You think that
you know, I think God really wants you to check
out after all the knowledge and all of the things
that you've done in your entire life, to say, hey,
you know what, that's it. I'm hanging it up. I'm
just gonna it's gonna golf and fish all day long.
(06:37):
I'm sorry. I know this is I'm being brutally honest
with people here, but I think retirement's bad. I really do.
I think you unless unless, like I said, you got
you can structure your life and you're disciplined enough where
you're gonna have you're gonna be doing something every single day.
(06:59):
To me, you know, it's like a death sentence. I
will never retire. Hey, you have to take a look
at you know, truly successful people. I have any field. Well,
Michael Jordan retired. He retired from basketball. He didn't retire
you understand the things he does, the businesses that he runs,
(07:21):
the charities that he does. Shaquille O'Neal, Mick Jagger, the
stones are bloody going on tour. Does Mick need any
more money? No, Warren Buffett, Charliemuk, I can go right
on down the list, Mario Gabelly, any sort of field. Now,
I get it. I do understand. I do understand. Again,
(07:44):
your capacities diminish. Okay, surgeons. Doctors are not able to
do that. But you know what you can do. You
can go back and teach, you can do something else.
It can still contribute because you have a lot to offer.
All these people out here. One in four Americans delaying
retirement delay for good. Okay, it was a construct. It
(08:08):
was a construct put together. And again I don't agree
with the construct. It was dumb from the get go. Yes,
should we help people that are down on, people that
get injured, all of these things. But now it's it's
like setting stone. Now we say, oh no, I can't
raise the retirement age. No, no, no, no, no, no,
(08:29):
oh my god. This looks like we're being banned throughout history,
throughout history until Ido von Bismarck and eighteen. Let me
get the exact date. Yeah, eighteen eighty nine. Okay, everybody
just kept working. Watchdog on Wall street dot com
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