To Work or Not To Work

In retirement, that is the question - with many answers.

Photo by airfocus on Unsplash

I have been talking to lots of people lately about retirement. Some say that once they retire, they will never work again, hallelujah. Some say that they will never retire and will continue working as long as they are able, hallelujah. These two positions represent the absolutes – all play or all work.

But most people I talk to fall somewhere between the absolutes. They wouldn’t mind working part-time in retirement, especially if they could work without the pressure and anxiety of being a manager. They worry that they might need extra income if they outlive their retirement savings. Or they “work” at something they have a passion for, regardless of whether it earns a dime. Retirement, as I’ve noted before, is an excellent time to reignite a dormant dream or try something new just for fun.

Semi-Retirement

The middle way between the absolutes may well be the wave of the future. Writer Rocco Pendola, author of The Making of a Millionaire and publisher of a newsletter called Never Retire, calls it “semi-retirement.” He argues that we should embrace it as an opportunity for a more exciting reality than either work or retirement offers us today.

In Pendola’s view, traditional retirement as we’ve understood it is going the way of the dinosaurs. In its place, he says, will be semi-retirement for a lifetime. Instead of focusing on career for 40 years, in order to earn the time to relax, young employees – knowing they will never save enough to stop working altogether – will work less single-mindedly in their prime earning years and continue working for longer, doing what they can do with relative ease as they get older.

That’s a view consistent with The New Map of Life, a 2021 report by The Stanford Center on Longevity, which predicted that the old lockstep model of education, followed by career, followed by retirement will change in response to a world where 100-year lifespans are normal. In their view, workers would break up their work years at intervals with time-outs for education, caregiving, or sabbaticals as they prepare for other opportunities. (I wrote about this in more detail in May.)

All of which may be good news for our children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, for those of us already in retirement or approaching it, the decision to work full-time, part-time, or not at all is not a theoretical concern. It’s real and it’s now.

Reasons to Keep Working

There are any number of good reasons to consider working – whether for compensation or as a volunteer. A writer for the AARP came up with eight, only one of them about money:

• A financial cushion – because if you stay fit and get your beauty rest, you might outlive your savings.

• Mental health – continuing to work keeps the brain fit, especially when you’re learning new things.

• Physical health – working or volunteering slow physical decline.

• Community – well-being in retirement tracks closely with having quality relationships, and any kind of work can create an environment with opportunities for friendships.

• Purpose – Having a job of any kind tends to motivate a person to get out of bed.

• Giving back – Retirement gives you an opportunity to help others as you help yourself.

• Fun – Work that you enjoy doing, in the company of people you like, adds up to enjoyment.

• Serving the greater good – Millions of jobs are unfilled. Taking on work may be doing a local business a big favor.

If you decide you do want to find work, here are nine online job boards that match older adults to jobs. Most of them are free.

On a personal note, I’m on that middle path between the absolutes. I’m having great fun reinventing myself as a newsletter writer and podcaster, with time to be an occasional volunteer and grandfather on demand. The pay is quite modest, but short of the total collapse of Western civilization in the next 25 years, I shouldn’t need to seek a paycheck ever again. Hallelujah.

Still Seeking Retirees to Interview

For a research project, I’m looking for people who have retired within the past five years to talk about their experiences in transitioning from work to non-work (or less work). I’m also looking for people who plan to retire within three years. If you’re willing to be interviewed, please contact me at don@donakchin.com for details.