Why people work after age 70
- Thread starter Uniquelyme
- Start date
It may not be all that obvious as to why they are there.
For example I have a neighbor who had a high powered job in NYC and was made an offer he couldn't refuse to retire as his company cutback. Stayed at home for a year or so doing all those things as he said "I never had time to do" and quickly became bored out of his mind. He took a part time low end job to fill part of his day and is much happier. He doesn't even (he said) remember what the hourly rate is as pay is direct deposit and he is there for the social contact and it amount doesn't affect anything.
In the past employers didn't hire older guys as plenty of younger ones were always available.
For example I have a neighbor who had a high powered job in NYC and was made an offer he couldn't refuse to retire as his company cutback. Stayed at home for a year or so doing all those things as he said "I never had time to do" and quickly became bored out of his mind. He took a part time low end job to fill part of his day and is much happier. He doesn't even (he said) remember what the hourly rate is as pay is direct deposit and he is there for the social contact and it amount doesn't affect anything.
In the past employers didn't hire older guys as plenty of younger ones were always available.
Also, a lot of people past retirement age continue to work for plenty of reasons, regardless of the need of income. At one of my previous jobs, because there were a good number of people reaching that age, many of them discussed the idea that people tend to die shortly after reaching retirement because the mind tells the body there's nothing left to do. I doubt there's an actual study on this but, anecdotally, about half of the people I've worked with that retired after retirement age passed away within a few months. relatively small sample size though. On the other hand, I still have people at my job in that age range with a memory better than mine.
IMHO you may be confusing causation with correlation.
For example:
Probability rate of mortality increases dramatically as one ages past 65 from all causes. (accidents, illnesses, cancer, heat disease, etc)
Probably of retirement increases dramatically as one ages past 65.
thus logically: Probability of dying increases dramatically after start of retirement.
This is a correlation and not a causation.
For example:
Probability rate of mortality increases dramatically as one ages past 65 from all causes. (accidents, illnesses, cancer, heat disease, etc)
Probably of retirement increases dramatically as one ages past 65.
thus logically: Probability of dying increases dramatically after start of retirement.
This is a correlation and not a causation.
This seems odd to me. He doesn't have friends his age he can hang out with? Grandkids? Senior center? At age 50 ima start putting aside more money along with my 401 k and equity and social security age 67 at max im retired might even retire earlier.
Greeting people at Target and other places seems a horrible idea to me.
Greeting people at Target and other places seems a horrible idea to me.
I think for many the idea of retirement is better then actual retirement.
When you are older your friend circle is usually getting much smaller and you have so much free time it is bad unless you have lots of hobbies/interests to keep you busy. Kids/grandkids can fill some of the time but even if they visit once a week it still leaves a 6 day a week void.
In my line of work I see a lot more people retiring from their career and moving on to part time consulting/easy mindless work because they say after a few months they are lonely/bored and need some sort of social structure.
When you are older your friend circle is usually getting much smaller and you have so much free time it is bad unless you have lots of hobbies/interests to keep you busy. Kids/grandkids can fill some of the time but even if they visit once a week it still leaves a 6 day a week void.
In my line of work I see a lot more people retiring from their career and moving on to part time consulting/easy mindless work because they say after a few months they are lonely/bored and need some sort of social structure.
My example of why someone works in their 70s (inflation) was just one reason. I think what everyone has said why is valid and correct so it's different reasons for different people.
I've heard of men in my job who would have to give half their state pension (civil service law) to their ex-wife and would rather die on the job than retire. Others couldn't or didn't save in 401s or have a pension for various reasons (living paycheck to paycheck on low paying jobs) or lived above their means.
It's hard to see things in your 30s and 40s until you hit your 60s. Then reality or life circumstances change or force a change in what you thought getting older would be.
I've heard of men in my job who would have to give half their state pension (civil service law) to their ex-wife and would rather die on the job than retire. Others couldn't or didn't save in 401s or have a pension for various reasons (living paycheck to paycheck on low paying jobs) or lived above their means.
It's hard to see things in your 30s and 40s until you hit your 60s. Then reality or life circumstances change or force a change in what you thought getting older would be.
In my experiences - Stay Active & Stay Engaged, live longer happier and healthier life -, I have seen within my own family, that those that retired lost a lot of the desire to live which quickly created lots of medical issues that they eventually succumbed to. I think a happy medium of semi-retired would improve many lives. Maintaining mental stimulation, social connections, a sense of purpose, and physical activity are all crucial for wellbeing as we age. An abrupt transition from full-time work to full retirement can be very jarring for some people.
For example my grandfather ran a large financial services division (entire northeast corridor) and was offered to retire a few months early to allow his planned/trained replacement to start sooner (they were fearing he might leave for another company if he had to wait those extra 9 months). So my grandfather took it and took the opportunity to golf more (instead of2-5 games a week he was going 2x's a day to fill up hours) and he finished all his honey do and home improvements work, and helped wiht a number of projects that my da and I were behind on. After 6 months he had nothing left to do to get him motivated to get up in the mornings, which suddenly had started finding he lots and lots of ailments begin to appear. So he went back to his old employer and took a job as a pool secretary (now we just call them admin assistants) and all those medical ailments disappeared over night as he worked part time, until the office computer revolution in the late 80's - were he just didn't want to keep up with the technology and retired for a second time. in his mid 70's. Retirement doesn't have to mean isolation or lack of purpose. But it takes intention and planning to maintain an active, engaged and fulfilling lifestyle.
I have observed this pattern in multiple family members that nearly all that had little in "career" activities, saw a decline in medical health rapidly. Worth noting however that those that had a large social networks (bridge clubs/book clubs, etc) interactions replaced much of the work social life aspects all had similarly low medical issues post-retirement.
With these observations, I plan on fully retiring, maybe slow down and enjoy more, longer vacations but totally going work free, appears to be a precursor to negative impact on lie longevity and enjoyment of. semi-retirement can keep people mentally sharp and avoid some of those adverse health effects I've observed.
For example my grandfather ran a large financial services division (entire northeast corridor) and was offered to retire a few months early to allow his planned/trained replacement to start sooner (they were fearing he might leave for another company if he had to wait those extra 9 months). So my grandfather took it and took the opportunity to golf more (instead of2-5 games a week he was going 2x's a day to fill up hours) and he finished all his honey do and home improvements work, and helped wiht a number of projects that my da and I were behind on. After 6 months he had nothing left to do to get him motivated to get up in the mornings, which suddenly had started finding he lots and lots of ailments begin to appear. So he went back to his old employer and took a job as a pool secretary (now we just call them admin assistants) and all those medical ailments disappeared over night as he worked part time, until the office computer revolution in the late 80's - were he just didn't want to keep up with the technology and retired for a second time. in his mid 70's. Retirement doesn't have to mean isolation or lack of purpose. But it takes intention and planning to maintain an active, engaged and fulfilling lifestyle.
I have observed this pattern in multiple family members that nearly all that had little in "career" activities, saw a decline in medical health rapidly. Worth noting however that those that had a large social networks (bridge clubs/book clubs, etc) interactions replaced much of the work social life aspects all had similarly low medical issues post-retirement.
With these observations, I plan on fully retiring, maybe slow down and enjoy more, longer vacations but totally going work free, appears to be a precursor to negative impact on lie longevity and enjoyment of. semi-retirement can keep people mentally sharp and avoid some of those adverse health effects I've observed.
I wasn't speaking about your friend . I'm writing about the initial post about people working at Target that you made. I would rather a senior center playing cards, pickle ball etc than working at Target myself if i had to choose.
Now if i had a job that i love, for example if i possesed a brilliant legal mind and i'm still helping out at the firm. However working less than when i'm 70 but still working and enjoying it. Or I'm mentoring younger people in Finance or another field, a career i enjoy a Professor, perhaps a business owner. That's different imo.
Now if i had a job that i love, for example if i possesed a brilliant legal mind and i'm still helping out at the firm. However working less than when i'm 70 but still working and enjoying it. Or I'm mentoring younger people in Finance or another field, a career i enjoy a Professor, perhaps a business owner. That's different imo.