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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Stop making a living and start making a life with The New Retirementality(TM) In 2000, when top financial philosopher and bestselling author Mitch Anthony first presented a new way of thinking about retirement, it was novel, and many critics didn't buy into it. Originally written to get the attention of baby boomers, Mitch ended up starting a revolution by showing us that everything we had read about retirement was wrong--we needed a "new retirementality." Fast-forward to today, when most of us are facing a very different retirement: fewer pensions, escalating healthcare costs, and inadequate savings. For many of us, retirement may never happen, or it will take place much later than we expected. Far from being full of doom and gloom, The New Retirementality, Fifth Edition, offers a message of hope, along with a roadmap for navigating the choppy waters of retirement planning. While most books focus on Return on Investment, Mitch shows us that Return on Life(TM)--living the best life possible with the resources we have--is a more fulfilling and achievable approach. New to this edition: * The latest research and studies, as well as a discussion of Life-Centered Planning(TM)--a unique approach to financial and retirement planning, focused on individual goals and needs instead of the outmoded one-size-fits-all approach. * Explores the role of purpose in retirement planning, including the expanding role of work in retirement, and why it can take three or four tries to get retirement right. * Features the New Retirementality Profile, the ROL Index for helping you analyze and reflect on how you are using your money toward improving your life, and worksheets to help you get organized. Filled with engaging anecdotes, practical advice, and inspirational suggestions, this book will motivate you to rethink what retirement means--and put you in a better position to enjoy the new retirementality you deserve.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019
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Table of Contents
Cover
Preface
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1: A Short History of Retirement
Crossing the Bridge
Notes
CHAPTER 2: Removing Artificial Finish Lines
Dates of Extraction
What Made Jack Dull?
Motivated by Autonomy
Illusions, Delusions, and Hype
Notes
CHAPTER 3: No Longer One and Done
Stages of Grief?
The Four Stages of LEAN
The Balance Sheet
Forced or Phased?
Advocates Needed
Notes
CHAPTER 4: The New IRA: Individual Retirement Attitude
Assume You Will Work Longer
Assume You Will Live Longer
Assume That There Will Be Improvisational Challenges
Notes
CHAPTER 5: Boredom Isn't on Anyone's Bucket List
Monotone Living
How You're Wired
When Frustration Replaces Fascination
Realistic Expectations
For Better or Worse but Not for Lunch
Losing Your Identity
The Rearview Mirror
Notes
CHAPTER 6: A New Mind-Set: Retire on Purpose
“I'm Done”
“I Have To”
“I'm Inspired”
Meaningful Pursuits: A Midlife Crisis Gone Horribly Right
Enduring Attitudes
Notes
CHAPTER 7: Money Is Only Part of the Equation: Investing Yourself, Then Your Money
A Very Long Trip
Where from Here?
Note
CHAPTER 8: The Retirement That Works
Redefining Work
Longevity Works
Ready, Set, Engage
Retirement Planning That Works
Notes
CHAPTER 9: Extending Your Stay by Staying on the Edge
Staying in Your Zone
Yes Sir, Kiddo
Ageism on the Radar
The Teaching Bridge
Advantages of Underemployment
EntreMature
Notes
CHAPTER 10: Super-Septs: How 70 Became the New 50
Feeling as Fact
Your View of You
Turning the Corner
A New Season
Notes
CHAPTER 11: Redefining
You
: What's Your Retirementality?
New Spin on Re-tiring
Notes
CHAPTER 12: Redefining Rich: Bridging the Gap between Means and Meaning
The Seven Meaningful Intangibles
The Stewardship of Money
Notes
CHAPTER 13: Maslow Meets Retirement
More Than Just Money
Our Hierarchy of Financial Needs
Paying the Bills
Notes
CHAPTER 14: Advice from Retirementors
The Realities of Retirement
Retiremyths
Vacation: Balancing Work and Play
The Best (and Worst) Experiences
Allocation
CHAPTER 15: From Aging to S-Aging
A Sense of Mastery
The Vitamin Cs of Successful Aging
Challenge Your Body, Mind, and Spirit
Notes
CHAPTER 16: Don't Go It Alone
We Don't Always Know What We Don't Know
We Are Tempted to Follow the Crowd
Individual Investors Historically Underperform the Indexes because They React Emotionally to Market Events
It Is Time-Consuming and Stressful to Manage Money on a Day-to-Day or Week-to-Week Basis
Holding Your Ground
Finding a Wealth-Building Partner
A Personal Safety Net
Notes
About the Author
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Illustrations
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 My Retirementality™ Profile
Figure 11.2 My Ideal Week in Retirement
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Maslow Meets Retirement
Figure 13.2 Income/Outcome Worksheet
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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The New Retirementality
PLANNING YOUR LIFE AND LIVING YOUR DREAMS . . . AT ANY AGE YOU WANT
FIFTH EDITION
Mitch Anthony
Copyright © 2020 by Mitch Anthony, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission ofthe Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Names: Anthony, Mitch, author.
Title: The new retirementality : planning your life and living your dreams…at any age you want / Mitch Anthony.
Description: Fifth edition. | Hoboken, New Jersy : Wiley, [2020] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019033357 (print) | LCCN 2019033358 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119611486 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119611578 (ePDF) | ISBN 9781119611530 (ePub)
Subjects: LCSH: Retirement—United States. | Older people—United States—Finance, Personal.
Classification: LCC HQ1064.U5 A69 2020 (print) | LCC HQ1064.U5 (ebook) | DDC 306.3/80973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033357
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019033358
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Brostock/iStock.com
This book is dedicated to my mother,
Bettie Anthony Huntley,
who has never been afraid to
blaze her own trails and follow her instincts.
A generous portion of her spirit
guides my life as well.
Preface
The world continues to awaken to the realities of this strange institution we have created called retirement. Ideas that sounded novel when I first wrote them down 18 years ago now appear to be fairly common sentiment. My inspiration for this fifth edition has come from both the 60-plus rebels who have decided to live life on their own terms, as well as insights from those much younger.
For example, when Ryan was six years old, he visited with me in my library, where we discussed life, writing, and other macro themes that prevail upon the minds of precocious kindergartners. Ryan is quite possibly a writer-in-waiting. He is also the son of my wife's horse trainer. Shortly after our visit, his mother sent this note to me:
One day I was explaining what “retirement” meant to my son Ryan. He looked at me in a very puzzled way after digesting the meaning of this strange concept and then said to me, “Mommy, when I get older I will never retire because I am going to love my job.” After pondering the concept for a minute longer he continued, “And you will never retire either, will you, Mommy? Because you love your job, too, right?” I just laughed and reassured him that “No, I will probably never retire either because I truly do love my job.” I smiled and thought how lucky he was at the young age of six to already have so much figured out. If only we could have more people entering our workforce with the focus not on that magical date of retirement, but rather on enjoying their journey through life and making the most of each day. Bless our sweet children for reminding us what is important in life …
Ryan instinctively understood, in viewing the idea through the innocent lens of the soul, that retirement—as it has been fashioned and formed over the past 100 years—comes woefully short of helping human beings optimize their time on this planet. Our world was sold the idea that this stage of life was best lived in consumption behind the walls of gated villages instead of contribution in the world at large. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Money is part and parcel of the retirement discussion but is not the primary component, despite the modern cultural inferences of the term “retirement planning.” What needs to be planned for is much bigger than the accumulation and distribution of your means. Having the means to retire is important. But what we also must plan for—but often don't—is meaning. Age is irrelevant when we discuss meaning at the individual level. Read and explore this book with an open mind and an even wider heart and I am confident that you, too, will cross the bridge toward the most meaningful stage of life yet.
Acknowledgments
This book has an audience primarily because of the belief and encouragement provided by literary agent and publishing consultant Cynthia Zigmund, who has had her hand in all five editions of this book. Amazing, really.
Whatever degree of refinement the reader finds in this text is due to the ever watchful and always caring eye of my wife and first-line editor, Debbie.
I wish to acknowledge the many people who have written and told their stories to me of finding and maintaining purpose in their “second life.” Many of these stories can be found within this text and they have all provided inspiration within me to keep the flame of this message burning.
M.A.
CHAPTER 1A Short History of Retirement
When I want to understand what is happening today, I try to decide what will happen tomorrow; I look back; a page of history is worth a volume of logic.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes
The U.S. standard-gauge railroad track is four feet, eight and one-half inches wide. Why such an odd measure? Because that was the width in England and the United States when railroads were built by British expatriates.
Where did the English get that measure? The first rail lines were built by the same people who built the tramways that preceded railroads, and they built the trams with the same jigs and tools used for building wagons. The wagons were built to the width of what is now the standard-gauge railroad track so that their wheels would fit the ruts of England's ancient roads.
The ruts had been made by the chariots brought to England by the imperial Roman army. And the chariots were four feet, eight and one-half inches wide to accommodate the rear ends of two horses. You're not alone if you struggle with change.
Retirement as we know it today is a relic from a time and a world that have long since passed. In the context of our modern age, conventional ideas about retirement are not just inappropriate—they are counterproductive. The concept of retirement was a shortsighted political machination and social manipulation that is hopelessly out of touch with our times. Retirement is an unnatural phase in the modern life course. It is inserted between work and death and is irrelevant for those seeking to live a purposeful life. It is instructive for all of us to learn about the genesis of this life phase, which was invented by a past society for purposes that no longer apply to most of us.
Retirement, as we understand it today, did not exist in preindustrial America. In those days, older members of society weren't sent to the sidelines. They actually held a prominent position in their families and their society, respected for their insight, knowledge of skills and crafts, and lessons gained from experience. It was the Industrial Age that ushered in a profound redefinition of work and gave us the traditional notion of retirement. Mass production became the common mode of work, and workers began to be viewed as parts in the system, subject to wear and replaceable.
With the advent of industrialization came a population shift from the country to the cities. This brought about a significant lifestyle adjustment as people went from self-sufficiency to dependency. Work became a means to an end—an income to live on—as opposed to a way of life. In his book The Sociology of Retirement (John Wiley & Sons, 1976), Robert C. Atchley made an insightful comparison between a craftsman and a worker. A craftsman controls the process and the product, which makes his work both satisfying and integral to his or her identity. An industrial worker is responsible for one small part of the process. Consequently, the work offers little reward. Atchley also noted that the words “job” and “occupation” soon began to replace the terms craft and vocation in the American laborer's lexicon. Terms like apprenticeship, avocation, and calling also became passé as workers acclimated to punching the time clock and crossing days off the calendar in anticipation of the day they could retire.
We can trace a cycle of degradation of the American work ethic to this point in history, which comes as no surprise: one would naturally expect people to become lethargic about work that offers no emotional reward.
As other nations were embracing industrialization, the world became a competitive commercial environment. America was intent on proving itself to be a world leader, and progress was the mantra of the industrialists. As a result, these industrialists began looking for ways to sweep away anything that stood in the path of that progress. For some of them a major obstacle to progress was anyone considered “mature” in age. Because of advances in safety and health care, people were living longer, and the workforce was getting older. Mature workers were beginning to be viewed as a threat to progress. It was assumed that older people would not acclimate easily to changing procedures, and changes were needed for industry to become an efficient, well-oiled machine. The seeds of ageism were beginning to be sown. Those seeds of prejudice were watered well over a century ago by a widely reported speech by Dr. William Osler, one of the nation's most prominent physicians, given in 1905 at Johns Hopkins University. Osler's thesis was that any man over 40 years old was virtually useless to society.
“Take the sum of human achievement in action, in science, in art, in literature,” Osler said. “Subtract the work of men above 40, and while we would miss great treasures, even priceless treasures, we would practically be where we are today.” In short, Osler was postulating that any person over 40 was dispensable to the cause of progress. Osler went on to say that people over 60 were “entirely useless” and a drain on society because of their inelastic minds. Osler's articulation helped to embolden a growing intellectual trend and opportunistically served to answer the growing societal problem of unemployment. It seemed obvious, these intellectuals asserted, to replace the old with the new. All that was left was to come up with a way to get rid of the old. Mandatory retirement was one answer.1
Another emerging force in this drama was the labor union that was struggling to survive and fighting for the right to strike. Labor unions quickly embraced the idea of retirement because forcing out the older workers gave them the opportunity to deliver the jobs and job security they were promising their membership. Business leaders, labor leaders, and social engineers were all singing the retirement chorus. Older workers didn't have a chance—and soon wouldn't have a choice.
There was, however, one massive obstacle standing in the way of this strategy. What would these new retirees live on? In the late nineteenth century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had come up with a disability insurance program in the German Empire for all disabled workers aged 70 years and older. This was instituted by von Bismarck in part to undermine demands for democracy and to reaffirm workers' commitment to the government. Around that same time, American Express created the first private pension in America in 1875.2 In 1900 the Pattern Makers League of North America became the first union to offer pensions to its members. Up until that time, pensions were typically available only to veterans and civil servants such as policemen and firefighters, and, in some states, teachers.
It was not until 1910 that the pension movement gained steam. That year, William Howard Taft's administration started promoting pensions as a major piece of its platform on industrial efficiency. From 1910 to 1920, more than 200 new pension plans were formed. A change in the corporate tax law that made pension plans more tax advantageous resulted in the doubling of new plans in 1920. Overall, the penetration rate for pensions was quite slow, with only 15% of American workers covered by a plan by 1932. The watershed moment came in 1933, in the deepest, darkest depths of the Great Depression. Social conditions had reached an explosive point because of the 25% unemployment rate. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Dealers were in a precarious and potentially disastrous situation, with masses of angry young men demonstrating in the streets. Roosevelt had already seen where these situations could lead by the examples set in Germany and Italy. It was exactly these conditions that gave rise to both Hitler and Mussolini. The New Dealers' plan to get young people working again was to offer a public pension so the older men would retire.
Combine this reality with the fact that a movement was afoot with the elderly to demand pensions for those over 60. People wanted the federal government to get involved. At that time, 28 states had pension programs—which made little difference in the lives of the recipients because the programs were sparsely funded as a result of the Great Depression. Many corporate pensions were defaulting as well. As a result, 50% of the elderly were living in poverty.
The New Dealers needed to test their plan before implementing it on a national scale. Would the older workers like the idea? Senator Robert F. Wagner introduced a bill in 1934 establishing a pension for retiring railroad workers. Wagner compelled 50,000 workers to consider retiring immediately. The bill passed. Wagner played a major role in 1935 in persuading FDR to introduce the Older Workers Pension Act, later called the Social Security Act––the statute that would forever change our views of work and retirement. However, Roosevelt had to settle two major issues that would echo through the generations. How would Social Security be paid for, and at what age would workers become eligible? This Social Security program would not work if it failed to provide instant benefits for those who were currently at the retirement age. Rather than taxing these people for their own retirement, elected officials came up with the idea of taxing those who were still working on behalf of retirees. Tax the younger generation to pay for the retiring generation. When the Social Security Act was implemented, the number of beneficiaries was small enough that no one would have to pay much for the plan.
Now the biggest question had to be answered: At what age can one receive Social Security? Precedents existed at the time in Germany, Great Britain, and France, with ages pegged to 60, 65, and 70. Citing a biblical reference to “threescore and ten years,” Bismarck's original retirement marker was set at 70, allowing the workers enough time to pick out a gravestone should they be lucky enough to live much longer. Eighteen years later, Germany lowered the age to 65 because very few people lived to 70 to collect the benefits; the average life expectancy at that time was only 46 years!
The retirement plans designed by Bismarck and others had obviously not been intended to give a worker any time for enjoyment—not with a life expectancy of 46 and a retirement age of 65. It helps to move to our modern age to understand Bismarck's original intent. The age of retirement was 19 years beyond the average life expectancy. In those days a person who was 65 was indeed old—much older than today's 65-year-old.
When FDR and the New Dealers settled on the age of 65 in 1935, the average life expectancy in America was 63 years. Bear in mind, however, that life expectancy statistics can be misleading because factors such as infant mortality are calculated into them. According to the Social Security Administration, the average number of years lived in retirement today hasn't changed much since 1935, increasing only about five years during that period.3
But it is important to remember that the population of those over 65 has increased dramatically in our time. According to the Population Reference Bureau, Americans 65 and older are projected to more than double from 46 million (as of 2015) to over 98 million by 2060.4
The obvious conclusion one could make is that retirement was never intended to remove people with strong productivity potential out of the workplace. Our view is skewed on this issue, however, as a result of the difference in the constitution of a 65-year-old today and that of a 65-year-old in 1935. Because the retirement markers were set later than the average life expectancy, many people didn't live long enough to collect Social Security benefits. FDR eventually moved to have the age of retirement set to age 62.
The benefits that a retiree did receive were just enough to support a meager lifestyle, providing bare sustenance. It was this generation of retirees that evoked the images of widows wearing long winter coats while sitting in cold, decrepit one-room apartments and eating cat food to survive. It would take another 20 years before the social net and workplace invention known as retirement would become a part of the American way of life.
The retirement lifestyle got a major boost during World War II when workers' wages were frozen. Because wages were nonnegotiable, union leaders began bargaining for pensions where they didn't exist and for bigger employer contributions where they did exist. These contributions were tax deductible, and future pension obligations weren't reflected in a company's balance sheet. World War II conditions caused pension coverage to flourish across most industries. The timing could not have been better for the Social Security system, which was being roundly criticized for allowing retirees to live in poverty. Opportunistic politicians in the following decades began to push for broadened coverage to include husbands of working women, farmers, the self-employed, members of the armed forces, and so on. Coverage itself was expanded to include health and disability insurance, welfare for the disabled, and, as an answer to the senior poverty issue, annual cost-of-living adjustments to keep up with inflation.
With all these changes, retirement began to shed its destitute and forsaken image. Combining Social Security payments with pension checks allowed people to live a respectable, if modest, retirement—but it still typically lasted only a year or two at best. It was during this period of retirement's image transition that financial services companies stepped up their efforts. They began to market retirement as an individual's rightful reward for his or her years of labor and loyal service. People began buying more retirement investment products and looked forward to an era of reward that would be timed on their new gold watch.
William Graebner, in his History of Retirement (Yale University Press, 1980), shares an interesting anecdote regarding a shift in the financial services industry's marketing of retirement. The story is told that in 1952, H. G. Kenagy of Mutual Life Insurance advised business leaders on the National Industrial Conference Board about the best way to sell retirement to their employees. The approach he suggested was distributing stories by these business leaders via company newsletters and the like about happily retired people fishing or playing golf and sipping martinis. Sell the blissful retirement life and don't forget to mention how to get to nirvana by investing in both the company plan and other financial vehicles. This was not a difficult story to sell to a workforce that now had jobs instead of vocations. As one 82-year-old nonretiree put it, “They that lack a vocation are always longing for a vacation.” Retirement had now become the permanent vacation—without the kids!
Almost 70 years later, this retirement pitch from 1952 has hardly changed. Although some firms in the retirement products industry are catching on to the philosophical shift regarding what people really want out of their longer lives, many companies in the industry lag woefully behind, with antiquated images of fishing ponds, beaches, and golf courses.
People began to retire in unprecedented numbers because (1) they felt they had to or were forced by retirement age policy to do so; and (2) the unexpected appreciation in home prices made comfortable retirement a real possibility. The implied message to workers: “You don't have a choice. Once you hit 62 (or 65) you're out the door.” No employers were begging them to stay around for a while or willing to just cut back their hours. It was universally accepted that you were no longer welcome in the working world at retirement age.
Crossing the Bridge
We have, in years past, had our brains pummeled with warnings that we should save more if we hope to leap off the economic cliff known as “retirement” at age 62. Many of us had been convinced that we wanted to jump off that cliff earlier—if possible, much earlier. But, today, we understand that the new retirement resembles a bell curve rather than a cliff. Rather than jumping off a vocational cliff, we will gradually slow down.
The metaphor that I believe is more fitting for our age is that of a bridge between full-time work and full-time retirement. The length of the bridge varies from person to person, and the bridge can appear for any length of time and can be entered and exited multiple times in the post-60 years. And there are some of us who want to do the work we do as long as we possibly can—meaning as long as we are healthy and competent, we will be on that bridge.
Back in 2009 a new realization around retirement dawned as the result of the confluence of an asset-eroding economy and a cultural epiphany around retirement. The great recession convinced millions that a longer work life would be necessary, and many of those who had retired were returning to at least part-time work because they found something missing in the traditional vision of retirement.
The reality we are left with is that most of us will work longer than previously expected but not necessarily for reasons we assumed. Yes, economic incentives will play a role as many of us seek to replenish retirement funds or extend benefits, but the incentives don't begin and end with your checkbook—they are much more holistic than previously understood. Many of us are choosing to work longer for our own well-being, for the well-being of a relationship, and for the well-being of society.
Notes
1
. Laura Davidow Hirschbein, “William Osler and
The Fixed Period
: Conflicting Medical and Popular Ideas about Old Age,”
Archives of Internal Medicine
161 (September 24, 2001),
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/83267/LDH%20Osler.pdf;sequence=1
.
2
. Dora L. Costa, “The Evolution of Retirement: An American Economic History, 1880–1990,” National Bureau of Economic Research Series on Long-Term Factors in Economic Development (University of Chicago Press, 1998).
3
. Social Security Administration, “Life Expectancy for Social Security,”
https://www.ssa.gov/history/lifeexpect.html
.
4
. Mark Mather, Linda A. Jacobsen, Kelvin M. Pollard, “Aging in the United States,” The Population Reference Bureau Report (Population Reference Bureau, 2015),
https://www.prb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/aging-us-population-bulletin-1.pdf
.
CHAPTER 2Removing Artificial Finish Lines
While one finds company in himself and his pursuits, he cannot feel old, no matter what his years may be.
—Amos Alcott
Mapmakers in medieval times faced a problem. They were given the job of charting the continent but were not exactly well-traveled themselves. So when they came to a border they had not crossed, they drew fire-breathing dragons facing their own country's boundaries. These maps, when viewed by the common masses, caused people to believe that if they crossed the border, they would be consumed by these infernal beasts. Needless to say, this limited travel and adventure. Many people, when challenged to try new things, to go to new places, or to try doing things in a different way, simply refuse. When asked, “Why?” they simply respond, “I'm too old”—it's as though they've been looking at aging maps with dragons.
Lydia Bronte wrote The Longevity Factor over 25 years ago (HarperCollins, 1993), but her conclusions sound prophetic and eerily familiar, considering what we are witnessing even more frequently today. In her observations of a long careers study, she wrote:
What emerges from their life stories is a view of the long life- time different from what we might expect: an affirmation of the increasing richness of experience over time, of a deeper sense of identity, of a greater self-confidence and creative potential that can grow rather than diminish with maturity. It is obvious that seen through the eyes of the study participants, chronological age markers (like 65), which have held so much power in the past, are really culturally created—a norm that was accurate only for a particular place and time.
Why is it that when we talk of the maturity of money, we think of it as a positive form of growth; but when we talk about the maturity of people, we think of it as a time of depreciation? Within a decade or so, we will see multitudinous examples of a great harvest of accomplishment and contribution coming after the ages of 65, 75, and even 85. There are thousands of examples out there right now—we just need to take notice. We can all try new ventures: we can all stretch our limitations, our abilities, our contributions, our reach, and our grasp. Each of us has the ability to test our endurance a bit further. Without taking risks, we settle into a quicksand called complacency.
The only thing that has ever made me feel old is those few times where I allow myself to be predictable. Routine is death.
—Carlos Santana
How old is old? What exactly do we mean when we say someone is old? Are we referring to the person's years on the planet or their state of being? Or both? By old, do we mean that a person is in a state of decline? Is there a predictable age when this decline commences for all people? Is “old” a manmade border? And do the dragons of decline exist mostly in our mind? Henry Ford said that when a person stops learning, he is old, whether that person is 29 or 65. As you will discover throughout this book, there isn't much we can do about aging, but there is an awful lot we can do about growing old. We hold “old” at bay by focusing on successful aging.
Satchel Paige was arguably the best pitcher to ever play professional baseball. It is estimated that he won over 800 games in his unparalleled career. Because of racial boundaries, he didn't get the opportunity to display his talents outside the Negro leagues until the color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. When Paige did get his chance to pitch in the major leagues, he was elected the American League Rookie of the Year at the age of 43! Think about that. There is a very short list of men who have possessed the endurance to pitch at age 43. Paige was the Rookie of the Year at that age! He pitched in the majors until he was in his early 50s and continued to pitch professionally until he was 63 years old. Paige understood a few things about longevity.
Because of preconceptions about age and ability, Paige always tried to keep his age a mystery. Whenever he was queried about his age, he would provide a memorable quip like, “How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?” or “I never look back on Father Time—he might be gaining on me.”
We have many high-profile examples of achievers in our culture who are not looking back on Father Time, including Warren Buffett, still a leader in investment acumen in his upper 80s.
You probably have some great examples of “ageless wonders” in your own community. Study their example, their lifestyle, and, most important, their attitude. When I question these ageless phenoms, they always mention attitude as a key to thriving, regardless of age. Just as the ages of 62 and 65 are artificial finish lines for retirement, so also are any other ages that people cite when saying “he (or she) is too old for that.” People are actively skiing in their 80s, racing in their 90s, walking and swimming in their 100s. Some people are working into their 11th decade. Examples of people crashing through age barriers and jumping over physical limitation hurdles are ubiquitous. A while back, I received a video from a family that had four generations perform a synchronized water-skiing exhibition in North Carolina: their ages were 5, 40, 62, and 92!
Dates of Extraction
Most people say when you get old you have to give things up, but I think we get old because we give things up.
—Theodore Green
(Senator Green was 98 when he retired in 1966.)
Only you have the right to announce a verdict on your date of extraction. The employment of your skills, competencies, and ideas should be for as long as you desire. None of us comes into this world with “use by” dates stamped on our backs. As long as we enjoy utilizing our competencies and truly love what we do, we should never quit the race. We may slow our pace or change the event we run in, but we should never stop participating.
Do you really want to quit working? Sadly, because so many people are working in jobs, industries, and offices they hate, they have convinced themselves that the answer is to stop working (a.k.a., retirement). But the fact remains that most of us wouldn't be obsessed with the idea of quitting if we were doing what we wanted to do in the first place.
