I was on a plane with 93-year-old Academy Award-winning actor Ernest Borgnine (202 movies to his credit) as he headed to Toronto to shoot a movie with Bruce Willis. We got into a conversation about work and retirement and he said, “retirement will kill you, work gives you purpose.”
The American dream of retiring one day, never having to clock in, golfing and beaching all day may be overrated. Statistics really show that retiring could be the worst thing a person could do in life and continuing to work, the best! Work gives us purpose, motivation to be creative, the opportunity to solve problems, relationships we might not otherwise have, and challenges to overcome. Imagine life without problems, challenges, obstacles to overcome, co-workers to love and criticize, customers you can never figure out, and the likes. Just the thought of it depresses me.
Men and women need challenges and are stimulated and thrive on solving problems. Look at any 9-month-old baby and see her interest as she tries to consume, manage, control, and overcome all the challenges around her. Then look at your sixty-five year old grandmother who, with no purpose every day, no job, sits at home and watches television with no sense of purpose. She may spend the next thirty years living like this. You are observing the difference between living life and slowly dying from not living life. Consider all the millions of people tagged with depression when they may simply have a lack of purpose and motivation. I was labeled with depression in my twenties when the problem was not some immeasurable chemical imbalance but a lack of purpose and direction in my life. Once I clarified my purpose, the feeling of depression completely disappeared.
Recent research suggests that retirement isn’t really so good for you:
1. Health. According to findings published in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. “Engaging in some meaningful activity, whether it’s paid employment or unpaid volunteer activity, is likely to have beneficial health effects in retirement,” says Kenneth Shultz, a professor at California State University, San Bernardino.
2. Purpose: Work and the challenges and obstacles that come with it give life purpose. Challenges are critical to keeping life interesting. Overcoming challenges and solving problems gives a person a sense of accomplishment.
3. Marriage. When you promised to stay with your spouse for better or worse, that didn’t necessarily mean either of you would sign up 24 hours a day with that person. Without having challenges at work, you may actually create problems with your spouse to create challenges in your life.
4. Tax delay. Minimum withdrawals from most retirement accounts are not required until age 70½. Why not defer taxes for an additional decade if you can and take advantage of more time to compound tax deferred? Older Social Security checks. Eligibility for Social Security begins at age 62, but your checks are reduced by 25 to 35 percent if you enroll at this age. For every year you delay enrolling in Social Security between ages 62 and 70, your benefit will increase by 7 to 8 percent.
5.Live longer than your savings. Let’s be honest. You probably haven’t saved enough to withdraw. The average 401(k) plan managed by Fidelity was just $60,700. That’s not enough to pay for 20 to 30 years of retirement if you have no other sources of income. Only 26 percent of workers age 55 and older have $250,000 or more saved for retirement, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute. Based on these statistics, most of us will outlive our finances by having fear of retirement fill instead of golf days.
Due to the implosion of retirement accounts and the loss of home ownership equity, Americans are being forced to reassess the feasibility of retirement. Each of us should consider whether retiring is just a perpetuated fantasy that is actually not good for our well-being, sense of purpose, and mental and physical health. Work provides us with purpose, challenges, opportunities, and relationships that would not be available in retirement. We are all going to die, the question is, as long as we are alive we will live a life of purpose and direction, motivation and meaning.
Grant Cardone, author and CEO