How to Die Young: Retire Early
We’ve all heard stories of guys who, after busting their hump for 40 years, kick the bucket at their retirement party or shortly thereafter. These stories scare the crap out of me and make me wonder about the idea of retirement, or on the flip side, working so hard to accomplish retirement. After all, what happens when we retire? For many, a whole lot of nothing. Maybe some games of bridge, golf, and laying on the beach, but doesn’t that get boring? Yes, and in fact, it might even bore you to death!
Photo by Ernst Moeksis via Flickr
Don’t believe me? Consider this:
In a study done by Shell Corporation a shocking discovery was made about the age of retirement when correlated with age of death. According to the article:
People who retire at 55 are 89% more likely to die in the 10 years after retirement than those who retire at 65.
Doesn’t that seem a bit backwards? So they found that the workers living to the age of 65 were 89% more likely to live 10 more years after retirement even though they were 10 years older than their early retirement counterparts. I find that to be completely shocking, I hope you would as well.
So what does this mean?
The only difference between the two groups was retirement from work. From this we could infer that work could be the reason we continue to live as long as we do because it gives us purpose. Many people who leave work aren’t really sure what to do with their days. I can relate as one of the worst months of my life was when I was unemployed, not because I didn’t know where money was coming from, but because I didn’t have anything to work towards. Even if you’re financially free at retirement, it doesn’t mean you’ll be living a fulfilling life.
Is work your purpose?
Without a purpose people tend to live shorter lives. This is simply because without purpose they will not have motivation to live. Sounds a bit morbid, but it’s true. When Dan Buettner discussed his research on centurions (those living to over the age of 100) as a TED presentation, he found that they were all able to tell him exactly what their purpose was. Ironic? I doubt it.
Is this purpose found through our work, or is it something that can be gained outside of employment? For many, work is their purpose, so through retiring from work they’re often retiring from their purpose.
From both the Shell survey and the TED video it would seem that if you want to live a full life, early retirement would not be the best option. However, working towards something related to your purpose your whole life may be your best bet at hitting the 100 year mark.
What do you think? Do you plan on retiring at or before 55?
What are your thoughts about early retirement?
Do you think the survey has any flaws?
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I do not know if the survey was flawed, but of the hundreds that I know who retired before 9-11 or shortly after almost all are still with us. I am surprised that more have not passed since we all worked in chemicals and under stress. So far so good.
I think a great many do find structure and sense of purpose as an employee. Of course this correlation does not mean that work causes a long life. For some work also causes a great deal of stress, elevated blood pressure, bad diets, early heart attacks, etc. Also, what if you start believing your work is pointless? Thus I think it is more complicated than that. I expect to live to 94 or so.
I’m glad you brought that point up ERE. There is a correlation, which I see too as people finding purpose in work. How did you come up with the number 94?
You omitted an important point in the Shell study:
“This difference could not be attributed to the effects of sex, socioeconomic status, or calendar year of the study, although the poorer health status of some early retirees may play some part,” note Shan P. Tsai and colleagues at Shell Health Services.”
Of course if people are retiring early at age 55 because they are in poor health that will affect the results. Without controlling for this factor, this study is useless and cannot be used to support any argument about the effect of “purpose” on longevity.
It is crazy stuff when it comes to retirement and death. It seems that when someone retires, all that they lived for suddenly changes and for some that is the end of needing to take care of one’s self.
The idea should be to focus on another goal that takes the place of work and the strict rules that follow that. I have a site myself that tries to help people in the financial areas of their lives. (www.slickbudget.com)
It is amazing that some though flourish in the carefree envirnoment of retirement. If you are unsure of what to do, then stop over.
This is an awesome find!
Fascinating! I want to retire early. Hmmm. Maybe the idea is to retire into something. Into a second career. Into writing. Something like that. I have a good friend who retired early and is now looking for work in the non-profit world. Now that he is set for retirement- he can look for much more meaningful work. I think that is the trick. Find meaningful work, even if it is not paid or is lower paid.
I’m curious if the study mentions anything about people retiring in their 30s and how that could affect their health?
Regarding the findings, I still tend to have the impression that the sooner one retires, the less stress he/she will have and the person can perhaps focus more on quality of life, exercise, and good rest. My inclination is to think that the study has some flaws in it and I think it would be difficult to determine the accuracy of the numbers.
Nice post though! It really makes you think.
I found another study that shows the opposite, namely, that retiring early increases total lifespan.
http://earlyretirementextreme......espan.html
Thanks for sharing ERE, I’ll go check it out after this comment. I’m not convinced one way or another, but think mostly it revolves around having a purpose and taking care of yourself. A job may or may not fulfill both of those. As you discuss in your blog a lot of people wouldn’t know what to do outside their jobs so people with that mentality leaving work may not be the best.
this is weird because i have been thinking about retirement a lot this past week. i thought that early retirement was the best way to go seeing that you have all the time in the world to do whatever your heart desires like skydiving and paragliding and all the extreme sports that come to mind. but something that i realised is that this would get boring and wondered what i would like to be doing when i am 50. what came to mind was not snowboarding in the Himalayas but working, preferably on my own business. so with this in mind i decided that the best way to go was to nurture my business in a way that i will have enough time to do those crazy things(extreme sports) when i am free but still want to do it when i am graying. hopefully, if things go well i will never have to retire because working will still be fun and exciting(this is what aging billionaires say about their work) and i will have good menories about jumping off planes and whatnot
@kenyantykoon – The way I see it is that early retirement allows you to do different things rather than being locked into a career track from which it is hard to change direction (hence the word track). These things do not necessarily have to include earning money. For instance, my first “era” was being a scientist. It looks like my second “era” is as a writer. I think my third “era” will either be as a sailor (I’d like to go for some long distance sailing) or a martial arts teacher. If you are really into extreme sports, you could always get into organizing them, eventually.
I think people definitely need to feel that they have a sense of purpose in order to live a satisfying life. I certainly don’t think it’s early retirement that is causing these people to die younger. A lot of people retire before they are 65 and fill their lives with volunteer activities and hobbies that keep them busy. Besides, many jobs are hardly fulfilling or satisfying. Most people find their meaning and sense of purpose outside of their day jobs.
somebody i knew died 2 months after retirement at age 66. we’ll never know whether he would have dropped dead at the co. if he had been working that very month or if retirement shortened his life, the way it seems to afflict many retirees.
While I agree to an extent, I think it depends on how engrained the job has become to the person’s very existence and identity. If all throughout their working lives people had this passion that they just didn’t have the time for at work, then retiring early to do that would probably actually make them healthier and feel more alive. I think it really comes down to having a purpose. If you don’t have a purpose outside of work, then yes this makes a lot of sense!