It began in my mid-50s, when first confronted with the question, “When are you going to retire?” My initial reaction was to be insulted, wondering if I really look “that old”?!?!?

I’ve never lied about my age. I have no problem saying I’m 63. Actually, I’m rather proud to say I’ve been a financial advisor for 35 years – I wear it as a badge of honour; as proof that I’ve survived, and thrived, in a male-dominated culture.

But reflecting on my “did I look that old” reaction, I realized I was being ageist!! Just what does “that old” look like or even mean?

Ashton Applewhite, author and Ted Talk speaker, wrote in This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto against Ageism….

”Like racism and sexism, ageism is not about how we look. It’s about what people in power want our appearance to mean. Ageism occurs when the dominant group uses its power to oppress or exploit or silence or simply ignore people who are much younger or significantly older. We experience ageism any time someone assumes we’re “too old” for something – a task, a relationship, a haircut – instead of finding out who we are and what we’re capable of.”

The Thing About Longevity – It’s Going to Happen.

Many people are going to live longer. Yet, the trajectory of our lives – both professionally and personally – remains trapped in a mindset when lifespans were much shorter. When sixty-five was established as the retirement age the average lifespan was fifty-eight. Retirement was created for political reasons and for reasons related to repetitive work that tires people out.

Why is it when you tell people you have no intention of ever retiring, it’s met with the “what’s wrong with you” raised eyebrow? Yet, we don’t seem to question actors or writers doing their job well into their 80’s. Think:

• Judy Dench (aka M of James Bond films) who in 2021, at age 88, will be appearing in a new movie Off the Rails.
• Elmore Leonard, at age 87, after winning an honorary National Book Award in 2012, said the prize inspired him to write more novels.
• Tom Wolfe, journalist, and author of Bonfire of the Vanities, wrote well into his late 80’s. At 81, Wolfe was quoted, “Being an octogenarian is just a hobby of mine, something I do at night.”

Thankfully, there are those out there who are thinking differently.

Two professors from the London Business School, Lynda Gratton, and Andrew Scott, argue in their book The 100 Year Life, Living and Working in an Age of Longevity, that living to be 100 is something we should be looking forward to – and definitely should be planning for.

Recreate, Not Retire

“Our view is that if many people are living for longer, and are healthier for longer, then this will result in an inevitable redesign of work and life. When people live longer, the arc of their life stretches — they are not only older for longer, but also younger for longer. There is some truth in the cliché that 70 is the new 60 or 40 is the new 30. If you age more slowly over a longer time period, then you are in some sense younger for longer”.

They go on to write that the traditional three-stage life will morph into multiple stages containing two, three, or even more different careers. Each of these stages could potentially be different. In one, the focus could be on building financial success and personal achievement, in another on creating a better work/life balance, another still on exploring and understanding options more fully, or becoming an independent producer, another on making a social contribution. These stages will traverse sectors, take people to different cities, and provide a foundation for building a wide variety of skills.

With this variety will come the end of the close association of ‘age and stage’. In a three-stage life, people leave university at the same time and the same age, they tend to start their careers and family at the same age, they proceed through middle management all at roughly the same time and then move into retirement within a few years of each other. In a multi-stage life, you could be an undergraduate at 20, 40, or 60; a manager at 30, 50, or 70.

Longevity is not necessarily about being older for longer. It is about living longer, being older later, and being younger longer.

We retire factory equipment. We retire battleships. We retire resources. The term retirement means to be taken out of use – maybe it’s time to retire the word retirement.

Ignore the conventional notion that everybody slows down, wears out, and stops being useful. The idea is to die young – as late as possible.