The End of Retirement as We Know It

As the largest cohort of Baby Boomers start turning 65 this year, a point when most people traditionally stop working for a living, they will experience “a retirement” unlike any other generation.

For starters, they will be happier than previous generations of retirees, and rather than sit on a porch gazing at sunsets and looking backward, they want to do more, according to researchers. They will also live longer and have more energy thanks to advances in medicine, technology and living healthier. Significantly more people say they will work into their 70s than any prior generation. While many will struggle financially to live comfortably throughout their retirement, no generation has retired with as much money saved as the Boomers.

They will also experience changes they had not anticipated.

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As an executive life coach who has traveled more than 2 million miles around the world, meeting and talking with people confronting the end of their normal work life, I am a professional listener. And what I have heard loud and clear from people is this refrain over and over: “This isn’t what I was expecting!”

For some, it’s a divorce or the beginning of a new relationship. Many thought they would still be working, only to unexpectedly lose their job, while others surprised themselves by starting a new business. Rather than preparing for a traditional retirement, many are facing periods of multiple changes and transitions, unprecedented in previous generations.

It’s what I call the “new life phase” — a time for facing new opportunities and challenges that seem to come out of nowhere, and for stretching out the productive, creative and purpose-driven peak of life.

A new life chart for a new life phase

For earlier generations, this time of challenge and opportunity and the need for having to keep figuring things out well beyond the normal retirement age, was not an option or necessary. Instead, society considered people at this stage to be “over the hill.” A popularly used life chart was shaped like an arc, rising through childhood, adolescence and part of adulthood, which was the so-called learning and earning phase of life. Then having reached a peak, the life chart went into steady decline through retirement and old age.

That chart was based on assumptions that are no longer true, such as people grew old in their 40s and 50s and died in their mid-60s, which was the case in the middle of the last century. Even now, as life expectancy has risen, people often are mistaken about where they are on the life chart. A recent economic study about retirement-aged Boomers by economist Robert Shapiro on behalf of the Retirement Income Institute noted that people in their 50s and early 60s underestimate their likelihood of living until just 75 by an average of 25%.

The best way to illustrate the change in aging is a new chart showing a steady rise into early adulthood and then a leveling through middle age until we reach another rise past middle age that stretches into a new peak, which represents the new life stage. Psychologists worldwide have found that well-being follows a U curve, and that happiness is at its lowest level when people are in their 30s and 40s and then increases steadily starting at age 50. This happiness trajectory aligns with research that finds our lives continue to evolve positively in our later years.

Start the new phase by talking it over with someone you admire and trust

This new phase of life can feel a little bit like a second adolescence. We find the structures we fit into comfortably a decade ago — socially, professionally, relationally — start to feel like a poor fit. We need a new purpose, a new vision, encouragement and a personal plan to make this newly available phase of life our best life.

The plan should be shared with others. When I tell people about my studies and interviews with older people about “aging with purpose,” they often give me examples of more people I should interview. Their instinct to keep talking about this change is right, because turning to those you admire is a great starting point for any new adventure.

The new phase of life involves having a purpose in life, whether it is a job, being a mentor, having connection to others or a spiritual connection. The new life phase can take on a whole new dimension when you discuss it with partners, friends, family and colleagues. In a variety of ways, we feed off one another’s ideas, stories and insights. The results benefit everyone.

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