Are you really going to retire?

THE CONCEPT MAY SOON BE GONE Retirement seems unwanted these days as it is unviable for our world.

In the scope of human history, retirement is a very modern concept. Until the end of the 19th century, anyone of working class or who was engaged in subsistence living had no choice but to keep working until they were no longer physically able to, or they died.

It’s generally accepted Chancellor Otto von Bismarck first proposed the national retirement age idea in 1881. To appease socialist reform demands, he suggested the government provide a pension to all over a certain age so they no longer had to work.

Initially, he set this age at 70 – around the average life expectancy.

This was later lowered to 65, the age also adopted by the US in 1935, when American men’s life expectancy was 58.

The World Health Organisation says the average life expectancy in Germany is now 81 and 79 in the US. And these numbers are climbing.

Yet retirement age has stayed the same. At 65 you’re expected to leave and live off whatever you’ve managed to save. Many countries, including SA, have social security in place to ensure the elderly aren’t consigned to absolute poverty, but there are few places where the state guarantees a comfortable retirement.

Today it’s possible to enjoy good health for 20 or 25 years after you retire, and to live for another ten or 15 years afterwards. In other words, you could work for 45 years, and need to support yourself for another 40 years from what you’ve earned.

It’s perhaps odd that the concept of retiring hasn’t changed much in over 100 years. It’s still largely seen as a single, broad phase of life, characterised effectively by the idea that you’re no longer working.

It’s difficult to see how this can be sustained in the current environment. Speaking at a recent retirement seminar, Alexander Forbes Research Unit head Anne Cabot-Alletzhauser said the idea may fall away altogether.

“Retirement is a fabrication,” she said. “…It’s not like suddenly the bell rings and you can no longer function. In the next 20 years I suspect retirement will evaporate.” She believes people should rather prepare for a ‘multi-stage life’, where the end of one’s formal working life leads to the start of something else. Besides having to support themselves and mitigate against living longer, this is because at 65 most are still able to work, and want to. Increasingly people are becoming entrepreneurs later in life.

Technology’s also opening many new ways to market one’s skills. You can register as a freelancer and receive ad hoc work on a number of online platforms.

For others, there’s an opportunity to become more involved in social causes. Many become mentors to young people. At age 65 many people are still as mentally fit as they were at 20, and need a sense of purpose to keep going.