3 ms·

You also likely can't work into your 60s doing work like this. Some people move into management, assessment, inspection, etc, but not everyone can do that. Ther

You also likely can't work into your 60s doing work like this. Some people move into management, assessment, inspection, etc, but not everyone can do that. There's more going on here than stigmatization (which I rarely see in real life), these jobs have a different set of concerns that we aren't good at dealing with socially.

pc86 10y ago
Barring accidents, injury, or bad luck (e.g. a car crash or something), you can absolutely save enough to retire as a plumber before your body starts to break down. Especially if you assume SS will still be around for a new plumber's retirement, which may or may not be the case. Even without, it's doable. I know two plumbers socially and both are in their late 40's. One owns a plumbing business so mainly does office/marketing tasks but one is just a standard plumber and does plenty well for himself and his family.
- posguy 10y ago
  This ^^, you can do well as a plumber and retire after 2 or 3 decades of working if you play your cards right, leaving you with a fairly functional body and freedom from working 1 to 2 decades ahead of most people in the US.
- stinkytaco 10y ago
  Which brings up another issue: manual jobs involve non-trivial amounts of physical risk. Not only does getting injured negativly affect your life you will always do better working than on disability. And I agree that it's possible for some people to own a business or or do office work, but not everyone who is a plumber today will be able to do that. There are fewer owners than workers. I don't think we should discourage trades, but we can't sugar coat them either. I used to work as a mechanic and never met one that was 65 (the SS retirement age). The safety nets in place are optimized for people who work office jobs, not manual jobs.
  - cryptarch 10y ago
    Is that where insurance and/or trade cooperatives come in?
posguy 10y ago
I've definitely seen people work to retirement or occasionally injury in both industries, in the latter case long term disability picks up the tab using money paid in during the first 30 or 40 years of working.

pc86 10y ago

Barring accidents, injury, or bad luck (e.g. a car crash or something), you can absolutely save enough to retire as a plumber before your body starts to break down. Especially if you assume SS will still be around for a new plumber's retirement, which may or may not be the case. Even without, it's doable. I know two plumbers socially and both are in their late 40's. One owns a plumbing business so mainly does office/marketing tasks but one is just a standard plumber and does plenty well for himself and his family.

posguy 10y ago
This ^^, you can do well as a plumber and retire after 2 or 3 decades of working if you play your cards right, leaving you with a fairly functional body and freedom from working 1 to 2 decades ahead of most people in the US.
stinkytaco 10y ago
Which brings up another issue: manual jobs involve non-trivial amounts of physical risk. Not only does getting injured negativly affect your life you will always do better working than on disability. And I agree that it's possible for some people to own a business or or do office work, but not everyone who is a plumber today will be able to do that. There are fewer owners than workers. I don't think we should discourage trades, but we can't sugar coat them either. I used to work as a mechanic and never met one that was 65 (the SS retirement age). The safety nets in place are optimized for people who work office jobs, not manual jobs.
- cryptarch 10y ago
  Is that where insurance and/or trade cooperatives come in?

posguy 10y ago

I've definitely seen people work to retirement or occasionally injury in both industries, in the latter case long term disability picks up the tab using money paid in during the first 30 or 40 years of working.