You know me. I am in your friendship circle hidden in plain sight. My clothes are still impeccable -- bought in the good years when I was still making money. To look at me you would not know that my electricity was cut off last week for nonpayment, or that I meet the eligibility requirements for food stamps. But if you paid attention, you would see that sadness in my eyes -- hear that hint of fear in my otherwise self-assured voice.
你認識我。 我就藏在你朋友圈中不顯眼的地方。 我的衣著無可挑剔—— 它們是我在還會賺錢的 那段黃金歲月所買下的。 光看著我,你不會知道 我上週已經因為沒繳電費被斷電, 也不會知道我已經符合 可以領食物券的條件了。 但若你有留意, 你會看到我眼中的悲傷—— 在我原本自信的聲音中 聽到些許的恐懼。
These days I'm buying the $1.99 trial-size jug of Tide to make ends meet. I bet you didn't know laundry detergent came in that size. You invite me to the same expensive restaurants the two of us have always enjoyed, but I order mineral water now with a twist of lemon, not the 12-dollar glass of chardonnay. I am frugal in my menu choices. Meticulous, I count every penny in my head. I demur dividing the table bill evenly to cover desserts and designer coffees and second and third glasses of wine I did not consume.
這些日子,我會買 1.99 美元的 汰漬洗衣精試用罐, 讓收支能平衡。 我打賭你不知道洗衣精 還有那種大小的包裝。 你邀請我到同一間昂貴的餐廳, 我們兩個人一向很享受在那裡用餐, 但我現在會點礦泉水 加上螺旋檸檬皮, 而不是一杯 要價 12 美元的白葡萄酒。 點餐時我盡量少花錢。 我在腦中小心翼翼地 計算著每一分錢。 我反對平分帳單,因為帳單裡頭 包含了甜點、特調咖啡, 及第二和第三杯紅酒, 都不是我消費的。
I am tired of trying to fake appearances. A friend told me that I'm broke not poor, and there is a difference. I live without cable, my gym membership and nail appointments. I've discovered I can do my own hair. There is no retirement savings, no nest egg. I exhausted that long ago. There is no expensive condo to draw equity and no husband to back me up. Months of slow pay and no pay have decimated my credit. Bill collectors call constantly, reading verbatim from a script before expressing polite sympathy for my plight and then demanding payment arrangements I can't possibly meet. Friends wonder privately how someone so well educated could be in economic free fall.
我好厭倦要在表面上作假。 朋友告訴我,我是破產而非貧窮, 兩者是有差別的。 我的生活中沒有 有線電視、健身房會籍, 及美甲的預約。 我發現我可以自己做頭髮。 沒有退休存款, 沒有儲蓄金。 我很早以前就把它花光了。 沒有昂貴的公寓可以貸款變現, 也沒有丈夫可以倚靠。 數個月來帳單不是遲繳就是沒繳, 讓我的信用受到重挫。 催帳的人常常打電話來, 照本宣科地唸著催款稿後, 才禮貌性地對我的困境表示同情, 接著要求我履行 無法如期償付的還款計畫。 朋友們私下納悶著, 我受過這麼好的教育, 怎麼可能在經濟上摔得這麼慘。
I'm still as talented as ever and smart as a whip, but work is sketchy now, mostly on and off consulting gigs. At 55 I've learned how to fake cheeriness, but there are not many opportunities for work anymore. I don't remember exactly when it stopped, but I cannot deny now having entered the uncertain world of formerly and used to be. I'm not sure anymore where I belong. What I do know is that dozens of online job applications seem to just disappear into a black hole. I'm wondering what is to become of me. So far my health has held up, but my body aches -- or is it my spirit? Homeless women used to be invisible to me but I appraise them now with curious eyes, wondering if their stories started like mine.
我還是一樣有才華、一樣機敏, 但工作有一餐沒一餐, 大部分是時有時無的諮詢案件。 在 55 歲時,我學會了假裝開心, 但工作機會已經不多了。 我無法明確記得是何時停止的, 但我無法否認我已經進入了 以前曾經歷過的不穩定、 無常的情況中了。 我再也不確定我的歸屬在哪裡。 我確切知道的是, 數十張線上工作應徵申請表 似乎都石沉大海。 我很納悶我之後會變成什麼樣子。 目前我的健康還過得去, 但我身體的疼痛—— 還是其實是心靈的痛? 我以前都看不見無家可歸的女性, 但現在我會用好奇的目光 來揣度她們, 納悶她們故事的一開始 是否也和我一樣。
I wrote this piece a year ago. It's a composite of my story and other women I know. I wrote it because I was tired of pretending I was all right when I wasn't. I was tired of faking normal. I wasn't seeing myself in the popular press. Nobody I knew was traveling the world or buying a condo in Costa Rica. Very few of my friends had set aside the 15 to 20 percent experts tell us we need to maintain our standard of living in retirement. My friends, many in their 50s and 60s, were looking at a downward mobility, a work-for-life proposition, just a job loss, medical diagnosis or divorce away from insolvency. We may not have hit rock bottom, but many of us saw a sequence of events where rock bottom was possible for the first time.
我一年前寫了這篇作品。 它包含了我的故事 以及我認識的其他女性。 我之所以寫下它是因為我厭倦了 當我失意落魄時還要假裝過得不錯。 我厭倦了假裝一切安好如常。 我沒有在主流新聞中看見我自己。 我不認識任何環遊世界的人 或在哥斯大黎加買公寓的人。 幾乎沒有朋友聽從專家的建議, 將收入的 15% 到 20 % 存下來, 以便在退休後能維持 我們既有的生活水平。 我許多朋友都已經五、六十歲了, 他們要面臨的是行動力下降, 考慮是否要終身工作, 只要一次失業、一次醫療診斷 或一次離婚,就會破產。 我們可能還沒有跌到谷底, 但我們當中許多人 都經歷了一連串的事件, 讓他們第一次覺得, 跌到谷底是有可能的。
And the truth is, it really doesn't take much. The median household in the US only has enough savings to replace one month of income. Forty-seven percent of us cannot pull together 400 dollars to deal with an emergency. That's almost half of us. A major car repair and we're standing on the abyss. You wouldn't know it to look around you -- I'm not the only one in this situation. There are people in this room who are in the same predicament, and if it's not you, it is your parents or your sister or maybe your best friend. We get good at faking normal. Shame keeps us silent and siloed. When I first decided I was going to come out with my story, I did a website and a friend noticed that there were no photos of me -- it was all kind of cartoons like this. Even as I was coming out, I was still hiding.
事實是,要跌到谷底並不難。 美國的一般家庭 存款只足夠代替一個月的收入。 我們當中有 47% 的人 無法湊出 400 美元 來處理緊急事件。 那幾乎是一半的人了。 若車子需要一次大翻修 我們就已站在深淵邊緣了。 看看你四周,你不會知道—— 我並不是唯一處在這種情況的人。 在這間房間中也有人 和我有相同的困境, 如果不是你, 也可能是你的父母、 你的姐妹或你最好的朋友。 我們都很擅長假裝一切安好。 羞恥感讓我們保持沉默和孤立。 當我最初決定要出來 講述我的故事時, 我設了一個網站, 一個朋友注意到 網站上沒有我的照片—— 上面都是像這樣的漫畫。 即使我站出來了, 我也還在躲藏。
We live in a world where success is defined by income. When you say that you have money problems, you're announcing pretty much that you're a loser. When you're a graduate of Harvard Business School as I am, you're some kind of double loser.
在我們所居住的世界中, 成功是由收入來定義的。 當你說你有金錢方面的問題時, 你差不多就等於是 宣佈你是個失敗者了。 當你跟我一樣 是哈佛商學院的畢業生, 你就是某種雙重失敗者。
We boomers hear a lot about how we have underfunded our retirement; how it's all our fault. Why on earth would we draw down our 401(k) plan to cover the shortfall on our mother-in-law's nursing home care, or to pay for our kid's tuition, or just to survive? We're accused of being poor planners and deadbeats -- all that money we spent on lattes and bottled water. To shame and blame is so deliciously tempting. Many of us don't even wait for others to do it we're so busy doing it to ourselves. I say let's own our part: we all could have saved more. I know I could have saved more, and if you were to rifle through my life over the last 30 years, you would see more than one dumb thing I have done financially. I can't change that now and neither can you, but let's not mix up individual, isolated behavior with the systemic factors that have caused a 7.7-trillion-dollar retirement income gap.
我們這些嬰兒潮出生的人, 常聽到我們所提撥的退休金不足, 說錯全都在我們。 到底為什麼要提領我們 401(k) 退休福利計畫的錢, 去補足我們親家母 在養老院的照護赤字, 或是支付我們孩子的學費, 或只是用來生存? 我們被指控是很不懂規劃的人 及遊手好閒的人—— 所有的錢都花在拿鐵和瓶裝水上。 羞辱和責怪別人是如此誘人。 許多人甚至還沒等別人這麼做, 就自己先自責起來了。 我認為大家應各自反省: 我們原本可以存更多錢。 我知道我本來可以存更多, 如果你能快速看 我過去三十年的人生, 你就會看到我在財務上 做的蠢事不只一樁。 我現在無法改變過去, 你也不能, 但不要把個別、獨立的行為 和造成退休金 7.7 兆美元缺口的 系統因子搞混。
Millions of boomer-age Americans did not land here because of too many trips to Starbucks. We spent the last three decades dealing with flat and falling wages and disappearing pensions and through-the-roof cost on housing and health care and education. It used to not be like this. We all remember the three-legged retirement income stool which had the savings and pension and social security. Well, that stool has gone wobbly.
美國數百萬名嬰兒潮的人 並不是因為太常去星巴克 而落到這步田地。 過去三十年間, 我們面臨著通膨、下跌的薪資、 消失的退休金, 以及房價、醫療保健 和教育費用的飆升飛漲。 以前並不是這個樣子的。 我們都還記得退休收入的三腳凳, 它有儲蓄、退休金和社會福利。 而那張凳子開始晃動了。
Take savings -- what savings? For many families, there's just nothing left to save after the bills have been paid. The pension leg of the stool has also gone wobbly. We can remember when many people had pensions. Today only 13 percent of American workers are employed by companies that offer them. So what did we get instead? We got 401(k)-type plans and suddenly responsibility for retirement planning got shifted from our companies to us. We got the reigns but we also got the risk, and it turns out that millions of us just aren't that good at voluntarily investing over 40 years. Millions of us just aren't that good at managing market risk. And really the numbers tell the story. Half of all American households have no retirement savings at all. That would be zero. No 401(k), no IRA, not a dime. Among 55-to-64-year-olds who do have a retirement account, the median value of that account is 104,000 dollars. Now, 104,000 dollars does sound better than zero, but as an annuity, it generates about 300 dollars. I don't have to tell you that you can't live on that.
比如儲蓄——什麼儲蓄? 對許多家庭來說, 付完帳單就已無餘錢可供儲蓄了。 凳子的「退休金」 那隻腳也開始晃動。 我們還記得以前很多人有退休金。 現今美國只有 13% 的工作者 受僱於會支付他們退休金的公司。 那我們反而得到什麼? 我們得到了401(k) 的 退休福利計畫, 還突然把退休計畫的責任 從公司移轉到我們個人身上。 我們得到了支配權, 但也得承擔風險, 結果發現我們有 數百萬人在 40 年間 並非那麼擅長做自主性投資。 我們有數百萬人就是 不那麼擅長管理市場風險。 真的,數字會說話。 半數的美國家庭完全沒有退休儲蓄。 那就是 0 存款。 沒有401(k) 退休福利計畫、 沒有個人退休帳戶,一分錢都沒有。 在 55 到 64 歲之間 確實有退休帳戶的人口中, 存款的中位數是 104,000 美元。 104,000 美元聽起來 的確比 0 美元更好。 但作為退休年金, 它的月領金額大約是 300 美元。 不用我說,你們也知道 這錢不夠生活。
With savings down, pensions becoming a relic of the past and 401(k) plans failing millions of Americans, many near-retirees are dependent on social security as their retirement plan. But here's the problem. Social security was never supposed to be the retirement plan. It's not nearly enough. At best it replaces something like 40 percent of your pre-retirement income.
隨著儲蓄下降, 退休金已經名存實亡, 而 401(k) 退休福利計畫 讓數百萬的美國人失望了, 許多快退休的人要仰賴社會福利 來當他們的退休計畫。 但問題來了。 社會福利從來就不應該 被當作退休計畫。 它不夠,且還差得遠。 它頂多能提供你 退休前 40% 薪資的金額。
Things have changed a lot from when social security was introduced back in 1935. Then, a 21-year-old male had a 50 percent chance of living until he was 65. So he retired at 60, did a little fishing, kissed his grandkids, got his gold watch -- he'd be dead within five years of receiving benefits. That's not the pattern today. If you're in your late 50s and in good health, you're going to live easily another 20 or 25 years. That's a really long time to make ends meet if you are broke.
從 1935 年社會福利 開始施行之後, 世事發生了許多變化。 當年,21 歲的男性 有 50% 的機率 可以活到 65 歲。 所以他 60 歲會退休, 去釣釣魚,親親他的孫子孫女, 買一隻金錶—— 在領了五年的福利金之後, 他就會死亡了。 現今的模式不是這樣的。 如果你快要 60 歲 且健康狀況不錯, 你很容易可以 再活個 20 到 25 年。 如果這時你破產了, 你將有漫漫長路要去維持收支平衡。
So what's the play if you've landed here and you're 50 or 55 or 60? What's the play if you don't want to land here and you're 22 or 32? Here's what I've learned from my own experience. The cavalry's not coming. There is no big rescue, no prince charming, no big bailout in the works. To have a shot at something other than being old and poor in America, we're going to have to save ourselves and each other. I've had to come out of the shadows, stand here openly, and I'm inviting you to do so as well. I'm not going to tell you that it's not easy. I ventured though to tell my story because I thought it would make it a little easier for people to tell theirs. I think it's only through our strength in numbers that we can begin to change the national "la-la" conversation that we are having on this retirement crisis. With so many of us shell-shocked and adrift about what has happened to us, we're going to have to build up from the grassroots, forming what I think are resilience circles. These are small groups of people coming together to talk about what has happened to them, to share resources and information and to begin to figure out a way forward. I believe from this base that we can find our voices again and sound the alarm -- start pushing our institutions and policymakers to go hard on this retirement crisis with the urgency it deserves.
所以,如果你是在 50、55 或 60 歲 遇到這種情況,該怎麼做? 如果你現在是 22 或 32 歲, 不想淪落到這地步,又該怎麼做呢? 以下是我從自身經驗學到的。 沒有救兵會來救你。 沒有什麼大救援, 沒有什麼白馬王子, 也沒有大型財務救濟計畫。 在美國,若想要有機會 脫離又老又窮的狀態, 我們就得要拯救自己和彼此。 我已從陰影底下走出來, 公開站在這裡, 我也邀請各位這麼做。 我不會告訴你們這不容易。 我冒險說出我的故事 是因為我認為這樣做能讓大家 較容易說出自己的故事。 我想也只能靠群聚眾人之力, 我們才能開始改變國家 針對這個退休危機 和我們所進行的「不切實際」對談。 鑒於我們對於所經歷過的事 都已感到身心俱疲和無所適從, 因此我們得從根本開始建立起, 形成我心中的恢復圈。 恢復圈就是由人們組成的小群體, 聚在一起談論發生在他們身上的事, 分享資源和資訊 並開始找出能向前行的方法。 我相信在這個基礎之上, 我們就能再次為自己發聲 並敲響警鐘—— 開始督促我們的機構和政策制定者, 努力處理這個具急迫性的退休危機。
In the meantime -- and there is an "in the meantime" -- we're going to have to adopt a live-low-to-the-ground mindset, drastically cutting back on our expenses. And I don't mean just living within our means. A lot of people are already doing that. What is called for now is to, in a much deeper way, ask ourselves what it really means to live a life that is not defined by things. I call it "smalling up." Smalling up is figuring out what you really need to feel contented and grounded. I have a friend who drives really beat-up, raggedy cars, but he will scrimp and save 15,000 dollars at one point to buy a flute because music is what really matters to him. He smalled up.
同時—— 還有個「同時」—— 我們得要有節儉度日的心態, 大大縮減我們的開銷。 我的意思並不只是量入為出。 很多人已經那麼做了。 在更深層的意義上, 現在需要做的, 是要問問我們自己, 擺脫物質束縛的人生真諦為何。 我稱它是「簡約且具質感」。 簡質的生活就是要找出讓自己感到 真正滿足和踏實的必要需求。 我有個朋友開著一台破銅爛鐵的車, 但他省吃儉用, 直到存夠了 15,000 美元 就去買一支長笛, 因為音樂對他來說才是真正重要的。 他過著簡約卻具質感的生活。
I've had to also let go of magical thinking -- this idea that if I just was patient enough and tightened my belt that things would go back to normal. If I just sent in one more CV or applied to one more job online or attended one more networking event that surely I'd get the kind of job I was used to having. Surely things would return to normal. The truth is I'm not going back and neither are you. The normal that we knew is over. In this new place that we are, we're going to be asked to do things that we don't want to do. We're going to be asked to take assignments that we think are beneath our station and our talent and our skill. I have had to get off my throne. Last year, a good friend of mine asked me if I would help her with some organization work. I assumed she meant community organizing along the lines of what President Obama did in Chicago. She meant organizing somebody's closet. I said, "I'm not doing that." She said, "Get off your throne. Money is green."
我也得拋開不切實際的想法—— 以為如果我能有足夠的耐心 並束緊腰帶, 一切就會回到以前的常態。 如果我再寄出一份簡歷表, 或是再上網多申請一個工作, 或是再去參加一場人脈交流的活動, 那我肯定就可以找到 以前做的那種工作。 一切肯定就會回歸常軌。 事實是我回不去了,你們也一樣。 我們所知道的正常已經結束了。 在我們現在所處的新階段, 我們會被要求做我們不想做的事。 要去接受那些我們認為 以我們的地位、才能和技藝來講, 實在是大材小用的工作。 我得要離開我的寶座,放下身段。 去年,我的一位好友問我 能不能幫她做些組織、籌畫的工作。 我以為她指的是社區組織, 就像歐巴馬總統在芝加哥做的一樣。 結果她指的是整理某人的儲藏室。 我說:「我不做那種事。」 她說:「放下你的身段, 錢是『綠色』的。」
It's not easy being part of the advance team that is ushering in this new era of work and living. First is always hardest. First is before there are networks and pathways and role models ... before there are policies and ways to show us how to go forward. We're in the middle of a seismic shift, and we're going to have to find bridgework to get us through. Bridgework is what we do in the meantime; bridgework is what we do while we're trying to figure out what is next. Bridgework is also letting go of this notion that our worth and our value depend on our income and our titles and our jobs. Bridgework can look crazy or cool depending on how you were rolling when your personal financial crisis hit. I have friends with PhDs who are working at the Container Store or driving Uber or Lyft, and then I have other friends who are partnering with other boomers and doing really cool entrepreneurial ventures. Bridgework doesn't mean that we don't want to build on our past careers, that we don't want meaningful work. We do. Bridgework is what we do in the meantime while we're figuring out what is next.
成為先遣隊的一員 要開創出新時代的 工作和生活方式並不容易。 萬事起頭難。 因為是最先,所以還沒有支援網絡、 通路以及典範…… 還沒有政策,也沒有方法能告訴我們 如何向前行。 我們正處在一個重大改變當中, 我們得要找到度過難關的方法。 這段時間我們所做的就是架橋工程; 當我們試圖在想出下一步時, 這段過渡期我們所做的事 就是架橋工程。 架橋工程也是要屏除掉 我們的價值是取決於 我們的收入、 頭銜及工作的謬誤。 架橋工程看起來可能很瘋狂、 也可能很酷, 就看當你個人的財務危機來襲時, 你要如何應對。 我有些有博士學位的友人 在連鎖大賣場工作 或是開優步、利夫特, 也有其他朋友和嬰兒潮的人, 合夥做了很酷的創業投資。 進行架橋工程並不表示我們不想要 建基在我們過去的職涯之上, 也不表示我們不想要 做有意義的工作。 我們當然想要! 架橋工程是在我們試圖 找出下一步該如何走時, 同時間所要做的事。
I've also learned to think strategy not failure when I'm sort of processing all these things that I don't want to do. And I say that that's an approach that I would invite you to consider as well.
我也學會了當我在處理 這些我不想做的事情時, 要認為這是權宜性的策略 而非意味著失敗。 我也希望能邀請 各位考慮一下這個方法。
So if you need to move in with your brother to make ends meet, call him. If you need to take in a boarder to help you pay your mortgage or pay your rent, do it. If you need to get food stamps, get the darn food stamps. AARP says only a third of older adults who are eligible actually get them. Do what you need to do to go another round. Know that there are millions of us. Come out of the shadows. Cut back, small up; think strategy, not failure; get off your throne and find the bridgework to get your through the lean times.
如果你得要搬去和你的兄弟 一起住來讓收支平衡, 就打電話給他。 如果你得要分租房間 來支付你的貸款 或支付你的房租, 就去做。 如果你需要領食物券, 就去領那天殺的食物券。 美國退休人員協會說,只有 1/3 符合領食物券的長者會去領取。 做你必須要做的, 讓你能再撐一回合。 要知道還有數百萬像我們這樣的人。 走出陰影。 縮衣節食, 過簡質的生活; 把這當做是策略,而非失敗; 放下你的身段, 找到過渡期的解決方案 讓你能撐過拮据的日子。
As a country, we have achieved longevity, investing billions of dollars in the diagnosis, treatment and management of disease. It's not enough to just live a long time. We want to live well. We haven't invested nearly as much in the physical infrastructure to ensure that that happens. We need now a new way of thinking about what it means to be old in America. And we need guidance and ideas about how to live a richly textured life on a much more modest income.
我們這個國家已經 達成了長壽的目標, 投資數十億美元 在診斷、治療和管理疾病。 光是活得久還不夠。 我們也想要活得好。 我們還沒有投資同等的錢 去做實體的基礎設施 來確保我們能活得好。 現在我們需要一種新的思考方式, 想想在美國變老的意義為何。 我們需要指引和建議, 讓大家知道 如何運用適中的收入 來過具質感的生活。
So I am calling on change agents and social entrepreneurs, artists and elders and impact investors. I'm calling on developers and disrupters of the status quo. We need you to help us imagine how to invest in the services and products and infrastructure that will support our dignity, our independence and our well-being in these many, many decades that we're going to live.
所以,我要號召改革人士 社會上的企業家、 藝術家和年長者們, 還有具影響力的投資者們。 我要號召發展者和現況改變者。 我需要你們來協助我們, 設想如何在服務、產品 以及基礎設施上來投資, 以維護我們的尊嚴、 獨立性以及我們的福祉, 讓我們能在接下來的 幾十年都能活得更好。
My journey has taken me from a place of fear and shame to one of humility and understanding. I'm ready now to link shields with others, to fight this fight, and I'm inviting you to join me.
我的旅程已經把我從 心存恐懼和羞恥 帶到了謙卑和理解的境界。 現在我已經準備好 要和其他人聯手抵禦, 要打這場仗, 我也邀請各位加入我。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)