On changes to Social Security: 'I will be 65 next Friday...'

January 25, 2011 — I will be 65 next Friday. I retired when I was 63 years and 7 months old; however, as my job category involved very high stress levels, I would have retired about three years earlier if I had been able to financially.

I’ve said for years that for those proposing the raising of retirement ages for social security purposes, they should get out there and work on fishing boats, work as loggers, toil as steel workers, and any number of other physically demanding jobs and see how they hold up.

Sure, there are a few who can work into their later years doing some of these jobs, but not the average person. Just because medical science can keep you living longer doesn’t mean medical science can keep you in such good physical health that you can continue to work. Some will say that people can switch to easier jobs when it becomes necessary, but there are not enough easy jobs to allow that.

— Case Enoch (Farmington, Maine)

Note: This letter was in response to “Ball and chain: the human cost of raising the retirement age.”