Retirement slipping away on Kiwi seniors
The notion of retiring at 65-yearsold is being put out to pasture as life expectancies increase and people continue to work through choice and necessity.
The traditional model of getting an education, working until 65 years of age and then retiring is fast becoming redundant as people are living for an extra 20 or 30 years.
Consultant Geoff Pearman said retirement was a lovely 20thcentury concept that was no longer relevant today.
Pearman spoke to an audience of about 30 people at the Ascot Park Hotel, Invercargill, this week about life and work after 50 years of age.
Pearman runs consulting business Partners in Change, an organisational and workforce consultancy that works with individuals and employers to understand and adapt to the ageing of the workforce and population.
When he was born 65 years ago, society’s expectations of life were much simpler and laid out, he said.
The traditional model was that people would spend the first 20 years of their life getting an education, then spend the next 40 years working before they retired at 60-years-old to live for another 10 years.
However, as the life expectancy in New Zealand increased people were now living 20 to 30 years after retirement which brought its own challenges, Pearman said.
The extra years were no longer a bonus but something people would have to plan for, he said.
In 2054, the average life expectancy for women will be 96 years and for men 95 years.
People over 65 were continuing to work today because they needed to support themselves as they aged or they were content with what they are doing.
The idea of retirement did not appeal to some people as they felt the label meant they had been put out to pasture and were not contributing, Pearman said.
In 2016, there were an estimated 700,959 people who were 65 or older and that number was expected to rise to more than 1.2 million by 2036.
New Zealand had the second largest rate of workforce participation of people aged 65 or over in the OECD.
Employers needed to be aware of the changing demographics and become an age-friendly employer and provide flexible conditions for people over 50, Pearman said.
Declining birth rates also meant that for employers there would not be the pipeline of labour there was when the baby boomer generation was coming through, he said.
Garry Popham, 54, of Invercargill said he fit into the category quite well having spent 25 years in business before heading into a different career pathway within his trade.
Popham ran his own trade business but eventually got out of it and now works for trade retailer Mitre 10 Mega.
‘‘I’m one of those people that won’t retire because I enjoy what I do.’’
The skill set of people aged in their 50s was pretty good, Popham said.
Grey Power Southland president Peter Kennett said for most older people they retired when their health no longer allowed them to carry on in their job.
Personally, Kennett had continued work as a teacher into his early 70s because he found it enjoyable.
Going on 77, Kennett has since taken on more responsibilities within the community and said he was even busier now.
He believes his mother and father were not as active as him when they were the same age.
However, someone like his son-in-law, who was a builder, may not continue to work beyond 65 because the job was physically demanding.
His son-in-law was already starting to have the aches and pains he would associate with someone of his own age, Kennett said.
While most people were good to work with, some were biased and looked down on older employees thinking they were not up to the task, Kennett said.