Here’s to being young and suffering through another Monday.  My sincere thanks for feeding the Social Security fund so it doesn’t dry up, at least in my time.  Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935. It laid the groundwork for the modern day U. S. welfare system to provide aid for the elderly, the unemployed, and children. More importantly, funds were withdrawn from individual paychecks and invested, allowing for post-employment income. Before that time, only forced retirement existed unless you had accumulated a significant nest egg. Otherwise, you continued to experience the Monday Blahs until you died.

At that time, the average life expectancy was 61, so retirement was an award for beating the odds. It will approach 90 years by 2030, leading to sweeping changes in this system. Workers will predictably have to continue to face the Monday Blahs into their seventies and beyond. They will also be feeding the Social Security kitty longer. Fortunately, I was able to retire at age 65 and begin to collect my hard-earned dollars. My 5-year younger wife will have to wait an additional year to receive the same benefits. I would assume that in the future, our children will have to wait until they are at least 70, or 250 more Mondays of work. I guess that’s the price of living longer, as each generation adds at least five more years of life on top of each five years of work.

For today’s worker, not every Monday is Blah. There’s vacation time and long holiday weekends that reduce the annual total to probably under 45. We didn’t have all those Monday holidays when I started working or going to school, so today’s generation has comparably more leisure time. This benefit will also grow as time goes on, and although work will continue later in life, so will time-off from job. Perhaps shorter work weeks will also cut down on Monday Blahs? However, Tuesdays may take over this distinction. 

I felt my wife’s pain this morning as she reluctantly left for work after an enjoyable weekend. I do wish that she could join me every day and leave those Monday Blahs behind. She has much bigger travel plans than I do in retirement, so she needs to save more money. As more of a homebody, I could live a lot more conservatively than her higher standards. Sometimes I’m envious of her energy and motivation that began to wane for me at her age and even earlier. However, I’m sure I wouldn’t trade being five-years younger for my extra year of retirement. She’ll have to work another year of Monday Blahs.