The Wall Street Journal has an excellent piece about retirement and how it isn't necessarily a panacea for many people … also making the point that this a shift for which many companies have to prepare.
The main point: "People spend a lot of time wondering if they’ll have the means to retire, often ignoring the equally important calculation: Do they have the will to retire? A job, historically seen as simply a way to make money, is increasingly the source of the types of friendship and stimulation that are hard to find in bingo halls, on beaches or riding a golf cart."
Since there may well be people entering the workforce now who could live well past 100, people's career and life expectations and aspirations are changing.
The Journal writes that "a 2018 Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies survey found half of 6,372 workers polled don’t expect to retire at 65, and 13% plan never to retire. The number of people who plan to retire after 65 has increased threefold since 1995, according to Gallup. America’s average retirement age has increased in the past 25 years to 66 or older."
The story notes that technology in a variety of iterations will make it easier for people to work until they are much older, and there are companies - Patagonia is cited - taking notice. It is, the Journal writes, "among an army of companies analyzing how it will deal with a rising tide of older employees. Dean Carter, the California company’s human-resources chief, says the company is intent on providing a 'glide path' for people nearing retirement who don’t want to simply fall off a 'cliff'."
You can read the entire story here.
The main point: "People spend a lot of time wondering if they’ll have the means to retire, often ignoring the equally important calculation: Do they have the will to retire? A job, historically seen as simply a way to make money, is increasingly the source of the types of friendship and stimulation that are hard to find in bingo halls, on beaches or riding a golf cart."
Since there may well be people entering the workforce now who could live well past 100, people's career and life expectations and aspirations are changing.
The Journal writes that "a 2018 Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies survey found half of 6,372 workers polled don’t expect to retire at 65, and 13% plan never to retire. The number of people who plan to retire after 65 has increased threefold since 1995, according to Gallup. America’s average retirement age has increased in the past 25 years to 66 or older."
The story notes that technology in a variety of iterations will make it easier for people to work until they are much older, and there are companies - Patagonia is cited - taking notice. It is, the Journal writes, "among an army of companies analyzing how it will deal with a rising tide of older employees. Dean Carter, the California company’s human-resources chief, says the company is intent on providing a 'glide path' for people nearing retirement who don’t want to simply fall off a 'cliff'."
You can read the entire story here.
- KC's View:
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I must admit that I found this story particularly intriguing because I'm one of those people who finds it hard to imagine a life in retirement. Somebody recently asked me what my exist strategy from MNB was, and I said that it probably involved keeling over at my laptop some morning, hopefully in the distant future.
I'm glad there are companies out there that understand the importance of "providing a glide path," and appreciating the fact that there are going to be a lot of older Americans who are not going to stop working. Some of them won't want to, and some of them can't because of economic realities. But I think this offers an enormous opportunity - and challenge - to business leaders that want to take advantage of an extraordinary natural resource.
