Over the past few months I have had many conversations with friends and acquaintances about retirement, and specifically about how much they have or haven’t saved for it.
The reality is that many people, especially women (thanks gender pension gap!) won’t have enough saved to retire completely – at least not as early as they may have hoped.
But while working into traditional retirement age can be seen as a negative, it does bring with it opportunities… and could even extend your life. Here’s why.
‘Retirement’ can be an opportunity to change career
Don’t think of working into retirement as needing to continue your career, especially if it’s not a job you enjoy. Instead, consider it an opportunity to explore new options, and maybe finally do something you’ve always had an interest in.
Last week I went to drinks with a friend and we had just this conversation. She acknowledged that realistically she’d still need to earn some money when she stopped working. So she’s begun retraining in an area she’s always loved, in her free time.
Her plan is to gradually go down to part time on her work, and build clients with her new healthcare skills. So when she wants to finish her current career, she can seamlessly move into working for herself.
Rather than dreading needing to keep working, she’s excited at the prospect of learning new skills and doing something she really enjoys and is good at.
Work on your terms in retirement
If you have paid off your mortgage by the time you retire, this can give you a considerable amount of professional freedom you may not have had in earlier decades. It’s easy to feel trapped in the work you do when you have built up experience and connections on your industry.
Changing career at a time when you have more financial responsibilities – for example a mortgage or dependent children – can feel risky, especially if you would be starting from scratch in a new career.
But when you are older, even if you don’t have a hefty pension to support you, you usually have fewer financial responsibilities. This gives you the opportunity to begin from the bottom in a new job, or take time out to retrain.
You can also work more on your terms, perhaps choosing to work part time rather than 9-5, five days a week. So work becomes a lifestyle choice as much as it does a financial necessity. This can also help you think of work differently; more like a paid hobby than something you HAVE to do.
Working into your retirement can help you live longer
There’s also an important benefit (other than earning money) you could look forward to by working into your retirement: a longer life.
We know, from research like The Blue Zones, that certain daily habits can promote health and resilience, and help us to live better for longer. And working can contribute significantly to our mental and physical health by providing:
- Mental stimulation
- Social engagement
- A sense of purpose
- Personal fulfilment
Working can give us a reason to get out of bed in the morning, and keep us active when we might have been tempted to sit on the sofa and watch daytime TV. So it’s not surprising to me that an 18-year study of around 3,000 people found that working even just one more year past retirement age was associated with a 9% to 11% lower risk of dying, regardless of health.
Turn the need to work later in life into an opportunity
If you have crunched the numbers and realised – maybe with a sinking feeling – that you can’t afford to retire as early as you had hoped, or know you’ll need to keep working past retirement age, I hope you find this article encouraging.
I also hope it helps you reframe the potential necessity of working into a wonderful opportunity to do something you love, and potentially lead to a longer and more fulfilling life.
My recommendation would be not to wait until you reach the stage where you can’t bear to keep working at your current job any longer (if that happens – maybe you have a job you love and are happy to keep working at it few many years yet). Instead, start thinking now about what you might like to do, given the chance.
Maybe you can experiment with different hobbies, interests and volunteering now to find something you enjoy, and get experience. Perhaps you might also consider taking courses now to get qualifications, and even to start building a client base while you are still working, like my friend.
Whatever you decide to do once you ‘retire’, make sure you love it, and look forward to however many more years of working you have ahead of you.
