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Monday, October 25, 2010

Back from Europe

In case any of you in my humble blogdom were unaware, I have returned from my 5 week stay in Europe.  I'm going to try to increase my blogging output to maybe twice a week.  I've gotten rather lazy as I succumbed to the Euro way of life with the Frenchman on strike because they are being forced to work an extra 2 years before retirement.

Anyway, I have some stories to tell about my trip to Paris.  I'm debating on just telling each rather boring day at a time (Sunday through Wednesday).  Or doing categories like my thoughts on the people, the socialism, the capitalism, the strike and the android.  Or maybe I'll just cram it all into one huge 500 word essay.  Once I finish debating with myself I'll post it (either as a series or a single post).

5 comments:

  1. Actually that’s wrong. To get full pensions, French workers will need to work till 65. It’s exactly an increase of 5 years, not 2 years.

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  2. Depends on which "workers" you speak of.

    If you have a "complete payment record" meaning you have worked the full amount (like 160 trimesters of something like that), then you can retire with full pension at 62.

    If you have an "incomplete payment record" meaning you have not worked the full 160 trimesters, then you can't retire until 67.

    It's a bit more complicated than that. I found this site very helpful: PENSIONS.

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  3. You can retire at 62; provided you managed to stay employed for 162 trimesters, which comes to 486 months. That's over 40 years!
    So to retire at 62 with a full pension, a Frenchman needs to be employed for over 40 years. That’s means to retire with full pension at 60, that means they have to start working before they are 22 years old and be employed for the next 40 years without a break of more than 3 months in between. Considering that some people only finish their education in their mid 20s (collage, university), retirement with full pension by 62 is almost impossible under the new rule. To get full pensions, the French will have to retire at 65.
    That’s why the strikes have a 70% approval rate among the French people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A bit of an oversimplification. It also matters how much money you earn to some extent.

    70% approval rating because the French are lazy.

    I've been working since I was 18. Paid my own way through college. If I could retire with a full pension after 40 years of work I'd be ecstatic! Hell, I'd be ecstatic if I could retire with a full pension after 45 years of work.

    And the French already only work 35 hours per week with 6 weeks of vacation.

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  5. Whether someone should retire after 40-45 years of work is a separate issue and argument. Hell, I’m not even European so who am I to argue about that. I’m just saying that under the new French rules, retirement at 62 with a full pension is almost impossible. The actual age of retirement is 65.

    ReplyDelete