Anti retirement support

In My Humble Opinion
1

We lean older here, and there is a fair amount of discussion about retirement. I’m 66 myself and I’ve shared widely here and in real life that my plans are to keep working unless some health crisis prevents it or I stop enjoying my job. Turns out I’m in good company -

Some 51% of employed Americans 65 or older say they expect to work “indefinitely,”

Some have that decision forced on them by financial necessity, but half are like me, wanting to keep working. Seriously at a quarter of the retirement age population you’d think we’d get more attention.

Benefits of continuing to work - yes those who retire can have a sense of purpose, stay socially active, keep cognitively challenged, get their external validation - but it is built into work for many of us, even those of us with hobbies, enough that

A 2016 study of about 3,000 people, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, suggested that working even one more year beyond retirement age was associated with a 9% to 11% lower risk of dying during the 18-year study period, regardless of health.

and

compared with people who retired, people who worked past age 65 were about three times more likely to report being in good health and about half as likely to have serious health problems, such as cancer or heart disease.

Cognitively too. “Superagers”, people in their 80s and 90s with brain function on par with those decades younger, often have kept working.

So we find that many of them are still working sometimes at their first career path, and other times at a second career path.

But pretty much all the material out there is aimed at those planning or wanting to retire! Not anything for those of the same age who are not

Even the simple fact that I will not need to take RMDs from my company sponsored 401k as long as I keep working for the company, even part time, at any point even after 75, was a factoid that I had to dig for. (I was worried that RMDs on top of income and Social Security would be a big tax hit.)

So more power to the FIRE crowd and to the larger group eager to retire at 65 or thereabouts, no disrespect to the joy you have found. But this thread is aimed at the actually pretty big crowd who are planning on keeping at it instead. Share here please!

Do you get people trying convince you to retire or of how wonderful it is? Who criticize you for presumptively not prepared to retire with other interest? Any ageism in the workplace you’ve had to deal with? If you’re still at it in your 70s what are your future plans?

2

I can see how some persons enjoy their job to an extent they would benefit most in maintaining tenure past 65-70. I appreciate that viewpoint but don’t share it.

I have the type of healthy interests out of my job that would help me continue being mentally, socially and physically stimulated. I’ve made strong plans to merge households with my close relatives that seem feasible.

Financially speaking, I’ve consistently squeezed away retirement funds for 45 years and have built income ladders to mostly fund my expenses at ages 65-death. I’ve been thinking about retiring probably since I was a toddler waddling around.

However I do see OP’s desires and plans as valid and reasonable.

3

I decided I shouldn’t post this so soon in this thread.

4

If you love your job enough to keep working it, by all means. Congrats. That’s a great and enviable position to be in.

5

Yeah If I’m being honest. I’m afraid to stop working. Not for financial reasons but what I will do with my free time. Which basically isn’t anything healthy.

6

I retired 15 years ago (decent pensions, debts paid plus savings.)
Now I can spend my time how I like.
I teach chess and bridge, watch quality series and do a bit of travelling.

7

That is a non-trivial risk.

If I’m honest with myself about my 2+ year retirement period, it has not been spent in pursuit of health. Kinda the opposite. For me at least, there is a strong “kid just out of school for the summer” effect, rebound rebellious I-don-wanna misbehavior after decades of judicious toil on other people’s agendas and schedules. Being newly single on about the same timeline is a double kid-out-of-school influence. :grin:

To my (small) credit, I see that, and am now steering gently back towards living smarter and weller (is too a word), not harder. But it’s a bit of an emotionally thankless slog and backsliding is too easy.

OTOH, I’ve had more fun in these 2 years of freedom than in the previous 10 or 15 of toil and sadness.

I certainly support our OP in his plans. I’m not sure what greater “support” there is. As long as you have the physical & mental capability to perform the job to your and your peers’ standards, and are enjoying it, go for it.


In my industry, where retiring is mandated on your 65th birthday, everybody knows exactly when it’s coming for them. Yes, lesser jobs can still be had in our skillset after that, but they are few, far between, and not nearly as well paid or “glamorous” for lack of a better word.

Many of our folks go on to have physically and emotionally healthy and fulfilling retirements. Many do not and die within a few years, often by age 70. The ones who don’t do well are generally ones who had no life outside of work before retirement. At home they sort of mentally and/or physically just sat around waiting until the next opportunity to go to work rolled around. Lather rinse repeat for 30-40 years. Then when retirement hit they were lost.

So I’ll suggest that if that describes any aging worker here, whether 60, 65, or 70, staying in harness until / unless you can develop your off-duty time into a part-time life worth living is probably a wise move for self preservation.

8

I am 68 and really don’t want to retire. I live alone and work has been a social connection since I lost everyone in my family.

However, I have had some recent health issues that will likely force me to retire within the next year and it does concern me.

I live in a small town and there is just not a lot of volunteer opportunities. My recent health issues will likely prevent me from doing most volunteer work anyways unless they resolve satisfactorily.

So I am kind of stuck. But I am working on some things.

For now I will continue working as long as I can.

I have friends and cousins who constantly implore me to retire and it gets very annoying.

9

I’ve told more than one person close to retirement that retirement does NOT mean “not working”, it means “doing what you want”. If doing what you want includes working, then that is what you should do.

Now, I realize that a portion of that 51% is motivated by financial survival, which means they really have to keep working. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about “want to”, not “need to”, and let me say a hearty “amen” in support of you and those of your ilk.

10

I was going to retire at ~ 67. But I did stop enjoying my job. Been there for 33 years. Things just became overwhelming for me, and a problem is that sometimes it takes years to develop a new application.

When I saw what a great crew we have, and that my wife and I have plenty for retirement, I pulled the plug. I will retire 12/12/25 (my wife retired 3 months ago). I’m done. I don’t want to have to learn some other coding method or practice.

I’m still sharp, but am losing my edge. I do play chess everyday, and have started piano lessons. I don’t want my mind to turn to mush. But I don’t want to work no more, no more. My first paying job was when I was 11 years old, I done.

But really, it depends on what you get out of work. I’m ‘friends’ with all of them, but don’t see it as a social activity at all. I hate meetings or any type of party or get together. Partly due to the fact that I’m about half deaf. In a group of people, I have no clue what anyone is saying.

More power to you if you want to continue to work, and I feel for you if you need to. Or that you don’t know what you would do if you retired.

11

More power to ya, Dseid. Really happy for you.

I haven’t made any effort to search for resources for folk in your situation. Tho I’m pretty much counting down the 2 years before I retire at 67, I didn’t find it too tough to figure out when RMDs would begin. I would imagine there are SOME resources out there for the working elderly. Maybe something through AARP? Or would it be worth a 1x consultation with a financial planner?

I’ve had people - mostly older golf buddies - asking me for years when I would retire. Never bothered me.

12

Re: RMD’s. My wife and I got a financial advisor. It’s a little complicated since we inherited my mom’s IRA accounts and those still need to be paid. I strongly suggest a financial advisor.

We are in a sort of different spot than most though. The county we work for opted out of paying into Social Security, and instead you/they invest your own money. It’s not an option to not invest. There was a short window for counties in Colorado to do that. Two counties did. Worked out well at least for me and my wife.

13

I’m in my early 60s, working at a job I enjoy although I’ve only been at this position 1 year after being laid off from my previous job in 2024. I plan to work until 65 for the health care but then happily retire. If we can work it out so I can retire at 64 I’ll happily do that. There’s too much I want to do in retirement, not tied to the calendar, to wait. Mostly travel opportunities, but also outdoors activities close to home. I will volunteer to keep active, but on my schedule.

14

These are correlations, not necessarily causations. I suspect what they represent is people with more health problems being more motivated to retire.

Isn’t that just because retiring involves many choices, some of them quite complicated, which people must navigate successfully on their first (and only) try? What material do you need to keep doing what you have already done for decades?

15

Until about 2½ years ago, I thought I was going to be retired (corporate decision) possibly next year, but more likely the following year, if not 2027. However, corporate winds shifted, so unless I croak, start suffering cognitive decline, or get fired, I’ll be around for a few more years.

My problem with retirement is that my job is all I have ever had in my life, so I’ll have what time I have remaining in my life to do. . . what? I have no friends, family, hobbies, etc. And ironically, now that I’m financially able to travel just about anywhere I want, it’s mostly lost its appeal.

16

This is a profound truth.

Me, I retired from a high-stress career, and am now doing what I want. Which is a whole lot of nothin’…Because I enjoy doing nothin’. But if you want to keep working, good for you! You don’t need to apologize to anybody, and you don’t need to ask for support. Like back in high school…you don’t have to do what everybody else is doing, and if they make fun of you, that’s their problem, not yours.

A friend of mine is a lawyer still working after 70 because “I get to work with a lot of young people, it’s fun” And I said “gee, why would I want to work with young people?–they’re smarter than me.” So now I work (volunteer) with puppies at the Human Society…it’s more fun, and I get to be the smartest guy in the room.
.

17

I didn’t enjoy my job for the last 2 or 3 years of it, I was being edged out and ignored when it came to being trained on new technology, it was a dying industry (newspapers) with a lot of turnover and stress, and it was made clear to me that my institutional knowledge after 34 years was of no particular value. In fact I retired 10 months “early” (i.e. before my 66th birthday). My sister did enjoy her work (OR nurse and PA) but she said when she retired that it was like getting out of jail, mostly I think because she was forced to be on-call for a fairly busy small-city hospital; plus she has a lifetime project which is keeping her very busy during all of her available time.

I certainly wouldn’t criticize anyone for wanting to continue working for whatever reasons they have. I think ageism is certainly a potential issue, but if you are keeping up mentally and physically with all the new young things that keep appearing every month, more power to you. My retirement has not turned out quite like I expected, but what ever does? I have no complaints about the outcome.

18

I mean… yeah, that’s to be expected right? Also, 0% of all currently working people have suffered a fatal heart attack in the past 5 years. It’s far more likely that chronic health conditions force a retirement than retirement creates health problems. It’s only by controlling for this variable that you can know the true impact.

19

That’s pretty much how I feel about it. If there’s nowhere you’d rather be, and you are ok with continuing to have your life constrained by a job, then more power to you.

Personally, it’s not so much the job that I hate, it’s the idea that I can’t you know, travel when I want, sleep in when I feel like it, decide to take a three hour lunch and go run errands when I want, etc… And if I do have sufficient vacation time, I’m still asking for permission as to when I can use it and how much.

Nope, I’ve got to go do someone else’s nonsense that I’m moderately interested in doing on their schedule. I’m starting to resent this more and more the older I get. Work starts to feel like a waste of my time; I work in IT, and I know that nothing I do actually lasts but for a short period of time. So I resent the urgency and intensity surrounding it- why are we so wound up when this won’t be in use but for maybe a decade at most, and probably a lot less?

I can’t wait to be out from under an employer’s thumb and feel free in ways I haven’t since I was in college or shortly afterward.

20

They asked if health was a reason for those who retired and controlled for the answers in the study.

https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/de9169bf-fcff-4c4d-954c-501c0222bef1/content