Is 16 too young to retire if you have no money? Why does the US offer so many early retirement programs?

And...why do I have to contribute to their early retirement program, while I wait until I'm 67 to retire? Two people understood the question.

Public Comments

1. What are you talking about?
2. i don't get it.
3. Retirement has nothing to do with money.
4. If you are 16 and want to retire then you are the laziest human being on the face of the earth!! Go to work and be a productive citizen!
5. I don't know, I think it's because when your retired all you do is spend money, so the government probably looks forward to that, and taxes can be unfair, I live in Canada and we have to include welfare in our taxes to support people that are too lazy to work.
6. Umm....you can never retire without any money, no matter how old you are, so the first part of your question is moot. The US offers early retirement programs as incentives for us to actually save our money for the future. And...you have to contribute to Social Security (not "their early retirement program") because it is required by law.
7. You and me are just suckers. We should have smoked crack and dropped out, we could be living and eating on the government dime.
8. Governments still need money from their citizens, working or not. So, the money to pay for retirement programs are either your savings or to keep the programs running. Who retires at 16? What a waste. That's way too young -hopefully they're still in school!
9. It seems that the disability programs have become just that for many people who are simply too lazy to work. They don't understand that we all have our problems, but still work and contribute. Therefore, they justify their "situation" to not try at all.
10. If you have found a way to support yourself and benefit society, retire at will. But since you will not have contributed much if anything to a retirement program, do not expect Government or a business to supply you with money to live retired. You still will need shelter, food, clothing, probably at least heating, certain essential supples as tools you cannot make yourself, and salt, unless you are in special places. Retire at 16 if you like if you have acquired the independent wealth, or vast knowledge you need to last the rest of your life living on nothing, and I envy you a little, tho you will never have the satisfaction of doing a good job well and pleasing people, and contributing great things to the human race. Early retirement programs are so that people do not work until the last dog is hung, but have money to retire before they are too old, after working enough to have made their contribution to society. A bit like France's very long vacations, only at the end of a regular work schedule for many years...off on an early permanent vacation with money to enjoy it before you are too old to enjoy. AND, it opens the job back up for someone else to work, and earn. Saves companies some on wages also, at some expense of quality as they lose the experienced workers and the new ones have to make the old Mistakes until they learn. No old ones to show them the hints and kinks. But I think the economics is very shaky, since you are basically forced to save while you are working to have money and free time to enjoy together, or it causes severe inflation as the government makes unearned money for you. Usually you can opt out of early retirement, unless you have a company to work for that is in bondage to liberals who demand the early retirement. I am not familiar with any program that forces you to work extra time to contribute to others quitting early in their career, but there could be such a counterproductive program messed up by the government bureaucrats somewhere. Why would you work until 67 and not opt out of early retirement? Although the longer you work, if you survive, the greater your retirement on Social Security will be. Especially if you come from a family with long lifespans and stay healthy, then retiring late means you have more money to enjoy w/o having to work, and you are probably still healthy. And the variety of programs offered are to coax more people into early retirement so more younger people can have jobs, and the companies have more money for golden parachutes for their top management positions.
11. You appear to be a little confused. "Workers are eligible for Social Security benefits if they have worked for 40 quarters (10 years) in jobs covered by Social Security. The amount of benefits they receive depends on the income they have earned throughout their work lives. Under the program, lower-paid workers have a higher percentage of income replaced in retirement than do their higher-paid counterparts." http://www.law.georgetown.edu/workplaceflexibility2010/law/ssa.cfm "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. Early retirement is also a euphemistic term for accepting termination of employment before retirement age as part of the employer's labour force rationalisation. In this case, a monetary inducement may be involved." wikipedia