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I suspect it will have more to do with what you DO when you retire, then when. Sit and watch tv with a bag of Doritos? Probably will die younger. Continue with learning new things, physically active and social? Will probably live longer.
But that is just my guess.
Bingo. I am 74 and have always worked at least 40 per week. A month ago I had surgery and have been off work since. I have turned into a vegetable, both mentally and physically, and I see it affecting my health. I can not wait to return to work where I get exercise and use my brain all day long,
I would definitely die sooner if I was not working. Over the years, I have known a lot of people who could not wait to retire, and when they did, a short time later we were attending their funeral.
I have no idea how people stand being retired for years and years !
IMHO, "the earlier one dies" is predicated upon their health issues, how active they are, their will to keep hanging in there, when things take a turn for the worse, and how prepared they are mentally & financially to deal with those darker times.
1. DH survived a major heart attack BEFORE he retired. Six years later he survived prostate cancer surgery AFTER he retired. He is STILL chugging along, working a full time job, plus doing all the mechanical maintenance of our equipment to take care of our 25 acre farm.
2. I can barely walk thanks to debilitating disc deterioration but I still manage to care for my horses daily, clean stalls & dump the manure, and I contend that I bush hog the pastures a lot prettier than DH does (folks that don't farm or mow big yards won't understand "pretty"
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The study is seriously flawed as others have alluded to. --- it's not only life style, post retirement, but how one chooses to hang in there when things don't go as planned --- which they will --- not go as planned
I think it depends on the person. My FIL retired at 55 after 30 years in the school system and 4 years active plus 30+ in Air Force Reserve. He passed at 89 with his mind still as sharp as a tack. Spent more years retired than working, and loved every minute of time under his own control until physical disabilities got to him - which would have happened regardless of when he retired. Having seen how it can be done, I'd choose to do it his way.
I have seen it over and over again that the AVERAGE age that active retirement stops is about 75 IF someone lives that long and is fairly healthy until then. That is what we are planning on. If we live longer than that, great, but I am certainly not counting on it, at least as far as my husband is concerned. His dad died in his 50's of heart disease and his mother died of the same thing in her 60's, and three out of his four brothers all had bypass surgery before they were 60. (He still seems to be fine at 63, although he does need to exercise more and lose about 30 pounds.)
Many people retire earlier BECAUSE of health issues. At least one study indicated that this has an impact on poverty in old age:
Quote:
It was found that individuals who had retired early due to other reasons were significantly less likely to be in income poverty than those retired due to ill health (OR 0.43 95% CI 0.33 to 0.51), and there was no significant difference in the likelihood of being in income poverty between these individuals and those unemployed. Being in the same family as someone who is retired due to illness also significantly increases an individual's chance of being in income poverty.
The combination of poverty and bad health most certainly will have an impact on life expectancy. And, retirement due to health is not uncommon:
Quote:
46%: You might end up retiring earlier than you planned to. According to the 2016 Retirement Confidence Survey, 46% of retirees left the workforce earlier than planned, with 55% citing health problems or a disability as the reason and 24% citing changes at work such as a downsizing or workplace closure.
But, if you are in good health, early retirement may be a benefit per several studies:
Quote:
You may not need another reason to retire early, but I’ll give you one anyway: It could lengthen your life.
That’s the thrust from various research in recent years, and also from a 2017 study in the journal Health Economics.
In that study, Hans Bloemen, Stefan Hochguertel and Jochem Zweerink — all economists from the Netherlands — looked at what happened when, in 2005, some Dutch civil servants could temporarily qualify for early retirement.
Only those at least 55 years old and with at least 10 years of continuous service with contributions to the public sector pension fund were eligible. Men responding to the early retirement offer were 2.6 percentage points less likely to die over the next five years than those who did not retire early. (Too few women met the early retirement eligibility criteria to be included in the study.)
The Dutch study echoes those from other countries. An analysis in the United States found about seven years of retirement can be as good for health as reducing the chance of getting a serious disease (like diabetes or heart conditions) by 20 percent. Positive health effects of retirement have also been found by studies using data from Israel, England, Germany and other European countries.
As far as first-hand knowledge, I have 2 siblings and 1 in-law who retired early because of their bad health (1 only lived 4 years), and 1 retired early due to family health issues (5 years now and going strong). I recently retired early, but no significant health issues.
I dont think any study is proveable. People are sometimes forced to retire due to ill health. Lifestyle choices, alcohol consumption, smoking, obesity, are much more likely to cause a shorter lifespan that retiring early.
When the boss told dh to ventilate the organization of 7500 he and his group figured out what it would take for them to leave. Healthcare forever and their pension fund in cash. Most of them retired in their 50's. One recently died in his very late 70's.
Which is harder on one's health? Moving on or working for people you have no respect for? He's 81 now. With plenty to live for.
Bingo. I am 74 and have always worked at least 40 per week. A month ago I had surgery and have been off work since. I have turned into a vegetable, both mentally and physically, and I see it affecting my health. I can not wait to return to work where I get exercise and use my brain all day long,
I would definitely die sooner if I was not working. Over the years, I have known a lot of people who could not wait to retire, and when they did, a short time later we were attending their funeral.
I have no idea how people stand being retired for years and years !
I retired at 57 after 31 years working with a state agency. I loved my job raising fish, but at the end the politics drove me crazy. I don't sit on a couch and veg out. I have a half acre property with 6 raised beds I have to tend. I also live about 100 yards from a prime trout stream that I love to fish. I have a large workshop that I use to build furniture. My life is very busy and I plan on living as long as my dad who died at 93. My wife and I walk 5 to 6 miles every day in our small town. We carry a suction cup picker and several plastic bags and pick up garbage. I love living in a clean environment.
That's my life and I wouldn't change a thing.
According to this study albeit a bit dated the research shows a connection between longevity and later retirement. The data shows just one healthy adult retiring just one year later in life resulted in an 11% less likely chance of morality, and that's an all-cause death meaning the type of death didn't matter these individuals lived on average 11% longer. To me 11% is astounding to witness in just a single year. Just thinking about it logically this makes sense as we live in the world where many of our internal motivations become dependent on things that ultimately aren't needed to live i.e. a job, that these actually physically push us in old age. Seems like those who have something to live for specifically a job actually live longer. I think it's a remarkable example of the power of the human mind over the bodies in winch we inhibit, and their longevity depending on a mental drive. A drive that's more social than anything in a job we socially align ourselves to something bigger than ourselves to achieve goals that have little impact on our individual lives, but brings improvement to society as a whole for the most part at least. Just curious have retirees examined this phenomenon in real life or has it been the contrary of one's longer lofe being hindered by prolonged working years, and could you include the working conditions and whether they themselves were the cause and shouldn't be filled with seniors.
Seeing that people are living longer it looks like we have a ton of extra senior support labor just waiting to be harnessed. Winch has been hindered by our history of work conditions winch we've grown used to as a necessary sacrifice not something we'd willing do for the rest of our life. It's been well documented that this senior workforce is one of the key drivers, if not the biggest driver behind our long period of sustained economic growth. It seems that economists have overlooked it, as we always have rendering our future economic predictions as false as they've never included the potential of the folks that have pretty much created the jobs and systems we work with today returning to the workforce to pick up the slack. I think it's an awesome way that we can also change the narrative of folks not expecting to retire on well funded pensions as something that's totally bad and the standard for a fufilling life as a Senior. Besides I think of pentions as mostly being a useful catalyst for economic growth without them many industries definitely wouldn't be where they are today. This can be a super beneficial asset for a society with a disproportionate abundance of seniors to youth ratio.
Again most of our modern day systems can be mostly traced back to our seniors giving them an abundance of priceless knowledge that youth simply can't bring to the table. If one isn't broken I see no reason why one would think you absolutely have to retire fully a part time job sharing your expertise with younger individuals offers a better more fufilling retirement that invests in your country for years to come. It's almost inevitable with worldwide advancements that by 2100 the years of high growth Will be completely behind us as we start to shrink to less populous more balanced species that we we'll need to work, and think innovatively and creatively in a way that we're simply not used to. To make the best of the adjusting years until an equilibrium is achieved. https://psmag.com/news/retire-early-die-early
I don’t have an opinion yet. I retired at 57 and I am now 82. Stay tuned.
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