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Why you should never retire; Pleasure cruises, golf and tracing the family tree are not that fulfilling
The Economist ^ | January 25, 2024 | Bartleby

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: career; cruises; genealogy; golf; retirement
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To: DoodleBob

I love my job, but when asked when I plan to retire, I tell people it’s “TBD” - Two Bad Days. I can punch at any time I want.


101 posted on 02/16/2024 2:44:24 AM PST by USAF1985 (Joe McCarthy is a hero...he was absolutely, 100% correct! (Let’s go Brandon!))
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To: DoodleBob

To add a second thought to the retirement equation… NO ONE that is on their death bed thinks “I should have spent more time at the office.”


102 posted on 02/16/2024 2:48:07 AM PST by USAF1985 (Joe McCarthy is a hero...he was absolutely, 100% correct! (Let’s go Brandon!))
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To: GMThrust
Don’t travel, we hang around at the house-live in very rural Alaska on the Kenai river. Very fulfilling.

Your vacations are staycations. Who needs TV when you have YouTube? Loads of 4k travelogues there. I would need hi-speed internet where you live. 25mbps at least. YouTube has loads n loads of homesteader content. Some are really raking in from YouTube paying them ----- https://www.youtube.com/@OffGridLife/videos

103 posted on 02/16/2024 2:49:56 AM PST by dennisw (In Trump we trust. All others pay cash)
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To: Paladin2
My daily commute is now a five mile, 10 minute commute to the local National Forest to have my cardio rehab dog trainer take me me for a couple of miles hike and then drive 5 miles back to the compound.

-- Everyone has two doctors. Their right foot and their left foot.
--  Walking is the best medicine --Hippocrates
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” ~ Tacitus

104 posted on 02/16/2024 3:00:32 AM PST by dennisw (In Trump we trust. All others pay cash)
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To: DoodleBob

Don’t know about never, but like working, have flexible hours and like the people I work with. Win-win all around.


105 posted on 02/16/2024 3:03:42 AM PST by Fury
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To: DoodleBob

Even when an employee reaches their mid fifties corporations start ushering them to the door so they can hire a couple of new grads to replace them for less money.

Plus, your life is pretty pitiful if the most meaningful part of it is your job. A career is a massive waste of life, not its fulfillment.


106 posted on 02/16/2024 3:23:21 AM PST by hopespringseternal
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To: AlaskaErik

“I make more in retirement than I did when I was working. It just took a little planning.”

Thats a pretty rare thing these days. The company who bought us last year is planning to give the IT dept the boot at the end of 2024 and no one out there is willing to hire a 60+ year old IT guy these days.

I’m figuring the best thing financially for my family is for me to drop dead before I get the layoff so they can collect on the Life Insurance.


107 posted on 02/16/2024 3:27:19 AM PST by CapnJack ( )
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To: Noumenon

“golfing is time not spent training at the range”

Time and money spent at the driving range is better spent on the golf course, but don’t be too disappointed in yourself or the course if you come out with a bad score.


108 posted on 02/16/2024 3:32:14 AM PST by equaviator (If 60 is the new 40 then 35 must be the new 15.)
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To: DoodleBob

An issue is as it always is that there is a prejudice against senior people. You can be able to spin straw into gold, but after 65 or so, people don’t want you in the work place,


109 posted on 02/16/2024 3:53:38 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dreams)
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To: DoodleBob

An issue is as it always is that there is a prejudice against senior people. You can be able to spin straw into gold, but after 65 or so, people don’t want you in the work place,


110 posted on 02/16/2024 3:58:05 AM PST by Jimmy Valentine (DemocRATS - when they speak, they lie; when they are silent, they are stealing the American Dreams)
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To: Big Red Badger

Pretty amazing. My husband ran into Scott Goodyear and had a lengthy conversation with him in Phoenix, AZ at a race in the late 90’s. He’s been to the Indy 500 many times. He’s a big fan of Formula 1 , Indy Cars and other non-Nascar racing.


111 posted on 02/16/2024 4:25:59 AM PST by Baldwin77 (DJ & JD 2024 (Trump-Vance))
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To: DoodleBob

I worked for Honeywell in the eighties. They had 98,000 employees. On average, they only sent out 18 retirement checks. That meant the average employee died 18 months after retiring. I knew people who retired and lived much, much longer. I noticed a difference between those who died and those who lived. The ones who died had their identity tied to their job. If you asked them “who” they were they’d say, “I’m a radar engineer for Honeywell.” Those who lived would say, “I’m an aspiring author,” or “I love fishing more than anything else.” Those who died early derived their identity from their work. Those who lived much longer derived their identify from family, church or from some deep well in the mountains of their mind.

I’m so glad I retired. I had developed so many physical problems I don’t know how I’d function in the workplace. I often see men much older than me bagging groceries or manning a register. They aren’t doing it for something to do. They’re out of money and must work to eat. Bagging groceries was my first ever paid job. It wasn’t fulfilling then, and it would be agony now.


112 posted on 02/16/2024 4:33:27 AM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: cherry

Get a hobby. Volunteer.


113 posted on 02/16/2024 4:39:58 AM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: DoodleBob
Nearing end of a 45-year career in aviation - they want me to stay, they treat me well and I want to stay (I think) - not sure if/when to pull the trigger on retirement.

I'm involved in several ministries, politically active and perform community service volunteering. So I've got plenty to do when I retire.

It's just the finality of it that has me nervous.

114 posted on 02/16/2024 4:46:22 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("You'll never hear surf music again" - J. Hendrix)
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To: DoodleBob

I worked to live, I did not live to work.


115 posted on 02/16/2024 4:51:02 AM PST by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: CIB-173RDABN; Mr. K
I worked to live, I did not live to work.

I, on the other hand, work to live but love to work!

116 posted on 02/16/2024 4:52:13 AM PST by Lazamataz (Laz 2005: "First, we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.")
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To: Honest Nigerian
The notion that pursuit of money is the way to spend one’s later years is sad.

I don't pursue money.

I pursue the sense of accomplishment.

117 posted on 02/16/2024 5:01:47 AM PST by Lazamataz (Laz 2005: "First, we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.")
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To: Gen.Blather
The ones who died had their identity tied to their job.

Uh oh. I'm screwed.

118 posted on 02/16/2024 5:02:49 AM PST by Lazamataz (Laz 2005: "First, we beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them.")
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To: Lazamataz

“The ones who died had their identity tied to their job.
Uh oh. I’m screwed.”

You’re a porn star?!


119 posted on 02/16/2024 5:06:17 AM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: Lazamataz

Sense of accomplishment….. I early retired from the corporate world at age 53. We have spent the last 11 years restoring a 125 acre cattle ranch. Building fences, working cattle, clearing trails through the wooded parts with my tractor. Repairing and updating the house. I am now rich in sense of accomplishment….


120 posted on 02/16/2024 5:10:31 AM PST by kjam22
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