Posted on 02/15/2024 8:00:45 PM PST by DoodleBob
In an episode of “The Sopranos”, a popular television series which started airing in the 1990s, a gangster tells Tony, from the titular family, that he wants to retire. “What are you, a hockey player?” Tony snaps back. Non-fictional non-criminals who are considering an end to their working lives need not worry about broken fingers or other bodily harm. But they must still contend with other potentially painful losses: of income, purpose or, most poignantly, relevance.
Some simply won’t quit. Giorgio Armani refuses to relinquish his role as chief executive of his fashion house at the age of 89. Being Italy’s second-richest man has not dampened his work ethic. Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s sidekick at Berkshire Hathaway, worked for the investment powerhouse until he died late last year at the age of 99. Mr Buffett himself is going strong at 93.
People like Messrs Armani, Buffett or Munger are exceptional. But in remaining professionally active into what would historically be considered dotage, they are not unique. One poll this year found that almost one in three Americans say they may never retire. The majority of the nevers said they could not afford to give up a full-time job, especially when inflation was eating into an already measly Social Security cheque. But suppose you are one of the lucky ones who can choose to step aside. Should you do it?
The arc of corporate life used to be predictable. You made your way up the career ladder, acquiring more prestige and bigger salaries at every step. Then, in your early 60s, there was a Friday-afternoon retirement party, maybe a gold watch, and that was that. The next day the world of meetings, objectives, tasks and other busyness faded. If you were moderately restless, you could play bridge or help out with the grandchildren. If you weren’t, there were crossword puzzles, TV and a blanket.
Although intellectual stimulation tends to keep depression and cognitive impairment at bay, many professionals in the technology sector retire at the earliest recommended date to make space for the younger generation, conceding it would be unrealistic to maintain their edge in the field. Still, to step down means to leave centre stage—leisure gives you all the time in the world but tends to marginalise you as you are no longer in the game.
Things have changed. Lifespans are getting longer. It is true that although the post-retirement, twilight years are stretching, they do not have to lead to boredom or to a life devoid of meaning. Once you retire after 32 years as a lawyer at the World Bank, you can begin to split your time between photography and scrounging flea markets for a collection of Americana. You don’t have to miss your job or suffer from a lack of purpose. If you are no longer head of the hospital, you can join Médecins Sans Frontières for occasional stints, teach or help out at your local clinic. Self-worth and personal growth can derive from many places, including non-profit work or mentoring others on how to set up a business.
But can anything truly replace the framework and buzz of being part of the action? You can have a packed diary devoid of deadlines, meetings and spreadsheets and flourish as a consumer of theatre matinees, art exhibitions and badminton lessons. Hobbies are all well and good for many. But for the extremely driven, they can feel pointless and even slightly embarrassing.
That is because there is depth in being useful. And excitement, even in significantly lower doses than are typical earlier in a career, can act as an anti-ageing serum. Whenever Mr Armani is told to retire and enjoy the fruits of his labour, he replies “absolutely not”. Instead he is clearly energised by being involved in the running of the business day to day, signing off on every design, document and figure.
In “Seinfeld”, another television show of the 1990s, Jerry goes to visit his parents, middle-class Americans who moved to Florida when they retired, having dinner in the afternoon. “I’m not force-feeding myself a steak at 4.30 just to save a couple of bucks!” Jerry protests. When this guest Bartleby entered the job market, she assumed that when the day came she too would be a pensioner in a pastel-coloured shirt opting for the “early-bird special”. A quarter of a century on, your 48-year-old columnist hopes to be writing for The Economist decades from now, even if she trundles to her interviews supported by a Zimmer frame; Mr Seinfeld is still going strong at 69, after all. But ask her again in 21 years.
Just who is this Debbie Downer.
Hey, Deb, STAY OUT OF MY LIFE, YOU FECKLESS TWIT.
I retired at 68 at 70 I couldn’t make it anymore, so went back to work VERY part time at Home Depot!! I am making 25.00 an hour work 25 hours a week, also get Medicare supplemental insurance at 1/3 the cost I was paying!! I am VERY BLESSED I am able to work MANY are not!! To be honest I was bored to tears not having a job to go to, you can only play so much golf and hang out at the pool each day before becoming totally bored with life!!
No one can say what is right for someone else.
I chase the sun. Still learning. The daytime temperature in Thailand now is in the 90’s. Florida can get up to the high 70’s. Makes Florida better but you can’t beat the cheap food-tastes great. Been eating French 2-3 times a week. It’s expensive back home. Just have to put up with the long flights.
Spring? I dunno. Perhaps D.C. when Trump gets back in.
Fall. How about New England? Leaves changing colors. Maine lobster.
Something tells me eating is replacing young man’s fantasy. That’s ok. If you’ve taken care of business you’ve earned t.
Summer. Attend the Milwaukee GOP convention? I don’t think so. The elites disappoint.
Find a hobby...I choose a new one every couple years...painting, sculpting...but I have my old stand by...History...our local Historian calls me every few weeks...and I get the opportunity to do some research for a local resident. Bonus...my son, who works out of state, always helps me with these little projects.
It's as simple as that.
I knew that I would slow down when I was older; perhaps age would make it take more effort to accomplish the same thing that my younger self could do with lesser effort. Perhaps my mind began to wander towards other things I could be doing with the time I had left, while I was still able mind and body to do them.
I knew that I would have to keep retraining on the latest technologies to keep competitive with new recruits. In IT, that wasn't a problem in the 90s, 00s, and 10s, but technology has changed so much in the last 10 years that the kids coming out of schools now are learning what they can do with high-powered computers, not how to make the high-powered computers work (like in my generation).
In my days, we learned file structures, data structures, relational databases and object models to store large amounts of data that can be retrieved and reported efficiently. Today, new recruits come out of schools learning "big data" techniques for mining and analyzing disparate data that my generation was busy learning how to gather, store and connect.
Retraining became too expensive (in terms of effort/return) at that point later in my career. It just wasn't worth it to stick around anymore when a career that I had planned for and executed well left me financially independent to enjoy the rest of my life at play without worry.
-PJ
There are a lot of people who are simply unwilling to give up the power.
Brandon is figurehead of the problem as are Schumer, McConnell, Pelosi and others but the root problem is ego: “There will never be a person as well suited to do X as I am.”
One, it’s not true, no matter how superb the individual; and those I named are definitely not superb.
(OK, that’s one.5: the incompetent, evil, and corrupt definitely don’t want to give up because they’ll be exposed and some of them are far worse than that.)
Two, even for the well-intentioned, if there’s nobody behind you ready for the spot, you’ve done a crappy job as mentor, which means you failed in your job anyway. Good bye.
Unfortunately the youth culture inculcated in the 1960s means that the normal respect and deference due the elderly is shot, and now the people who made that happen are the elderly reaping the contempt they heaped on others.
I’m was lucky, only 59 minutes for me if the roads were good.
Love my retirement, and I have accomplishments every day.
-PJ
If you don't have outside interests or hobbies other than your job, you'll be totally miserable when you retire. I worked with some men who had enough time on the job to retire, but decided they'd rather die on the job, and be carried out. There is life after retirement. It's what you make of it.
I'm not one of those individuals that feels they have to be around people, or need to be doing something productive every minute of the day. The less people I see, the better. I enjoy being alone, and don't need someone to entertain me. I'm very independent.
I went to college while I was working full-time, and completed my B.A. and M.A. I did it to prove to myself that I could, and never used my degrees for my job. I spent many years researching the Civil War, traveling to do research, visit Civil War sites, and met many nice people during those years. My mother died at 69, and I decided that if I wanted to travel, I'd do it while I could still get around. I did go overseas in 2006 and 2007, but at 76, I only travel to visit the very few family members I have left.
I'm an avid book reader as well. I always have 5 hardback/paperback books going at once, and two books on my Kindle that I read before going to bed each night. I spent the majority of my later career years working the 3-11 p.m. shift, so when I retired, I continued with the schedule of staying up late. I usually head into bed around 4 a.m. or so, read for an hour, then turn out the light.
Just remember, the older you get, the faster time flies, so take your retirement, and enjoy it.
Would you say the same thing about Trump?
Grandchildren are the reward for having children. Older men that missed out, victims of western female masculinism, have the option of retiring to the Philippines and making their own grandchildren.
WOO HOO ..... me too.
Maybe we could do a you tube channel ...teaching men to be happy in retirement, and seminars all over the country, wright a book, do a documentary ...
hmmmm......
Naw ..... sounds to much like work ... and besides ... I have to WORK on my shop. Just topped out the roof.. hanging on with my toes 20 feet in the air.. now the real fun starts.
keep having fun ... I am 8-)
As I turn 63 today, I contemplate retiring at 65. Unfortunately, when I also contemplate my limited cash and assets, I realize that is not likely, short of a winning lottery ticket.
In Canaduh, many years ago, an insurance company, London Life, had a series adverts concerning investment, called ‘Freedom 55’. At my present rate, I’ll have ‘Freedom 95’, if I live that long!
“Won the Indy 500”
Did you really?
If you did .... that is AWSOME
....
if you made that up ..... shame on you .... I really wanted it to be true.
I figured I’d retire at 65 but my employer has other ideas.
Well that’s just stupid. No one I know who is retired does those things, and the most common lament is that we are busier now than when we were working fulltime.
Time spent FReeping is NOT wasted!
I want to retire but I have 5-7 years min/max.
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