100-year life: how will you spend the extra time?
When you hear the word ‘retirement’, what comes to mind? You might imagine pottering around an allotment, spending afternoons on a golf course, or sitting in the conservatory on a rainy day trying to complete those last 20 pieces of a jigsaw.
For some, retirement is the dream. You spend your whole life grafting until you can finally sit back and relax. For others, it’s a bit of a nightmare. Endless freedom but a lack of purpose and meaning.
I recently read a brilliant book called ‘The 100 Year Life’. Its authors Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott explore how increased longevity will affect the way we study, work and live.
They explain that half of children born today in Western nations will live to be over 100. On average, each of us will live a decade longer than our parents. They say we’ll need to restructure and redesign our lives to cater for these extra years. Not just the extra years at the end, but throughout our lives.
We’ve become used to our lives being made up of three stages: education, work, and finally, retirement. As our lives expand, perhaps it’s time to rethink or even rebrand these three stages — especially retirement.
We’re living longer than ever before and retiring healthier and fitter than our grandparents were. So why do so many people insist on talking about retirement as if it’s something that comes after life, rather than being a fundamental and fulfilling part of it?
The way we learn
Andrew J Scott says that after leaving university he went to work for an investment bank. He says it was a waste of time and that he didn’t learn anything. He believes he would’ve been better off travelling. Travelling can teach us about ourselves, not just the world around us. Some people will learn more backpacking through Europe than they would in any degree or job. That’s quite something from a 58-year-old Professor of Economics at the London Business School who might have vested interests elsewhere.
The problem is whether we get a job straight out of school or stick around for university, there’s a lot of pressure to find your calling early on. Some young people decide they want to go to university before they even know which course they want to study. Some make that decision before they know which profession they want to go into and before they know who they are as a person.
It’s not unusual to take a gap year, but as longevity increases, it’d make sense to take a gap decade. Finish school, travel the world until you’re in your mid to late 20s, then decide what your calling is.
I know what you’re thinking: how many people can afford that? Well, travellers used to have fewer job opportunities than they do now. You might’ve worked in a bar in Amsterdam or as a club rep in Malia. You didn’t expect to earn a lot of money and you didn’t need to either. Now, with the rise of remote working, young people could dabble in multiple industries before they’re old enough to buy a cocktail in the US.
The way we work
Jobs for life are a thing of the past. You used to choose a trade and stick with it.
Now, you could work in a supermarket for a little while, train as a paramedic, go to university to study law, become a solicitor for a while, find more fulfillment in a side hustle, return to university to get an MBA, start your own business, sell your business, live off your savings for a while, volunteer at a charity shop, and finally, open a cake shop. The world is your oyster.
When I worked for Prudential, the role required high resilience. I had friends who left the profession in search of apparently stress-free vocations. My envy remains with the chap who found his place in the elephant enclosure at Whipsnade Zoo.
If you have one career for life and it’s very demanding, is this the best use of your 100 years?
Very few of my clients have physically demanding jobs. They’re not working down the mines or on a farm. They’re doing knowledge work, which means they could probably continue working into their 70s.
If you dislike your job, that might sound terrible. But if you love what you do (or at least enjoy it somewhat) this needn’t be a bad thing. There’s no shortage of celebrities who refuse to call it a day, much to the relief of their fans. Lionel Ritchie, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen are in their 70s and still putting on a show. Tom Jones is 83! They have the freedom to retire, but they choose not to.
You don’t need to have the wealth of a rock star to keep working into old age, though. And as one of my friends says, with all those years of experience she’s now taking the easy money she deserves from what she’s learned, and why not? Not quite the Saudi Premier League, but not bad. Additionally in fact, working longer can be an antidote to an insufficient pension or importantly allow more fun spending along the way.
It can be hard to save a million pound pension by 60. Saving a million pound pension by 70 is significantly easier. And if you’ve lived your life to the full at every stage, you’re even less likely to crave a traditional retirement, or even need the big pot.
The way we retire
Gary Neville was on The Diary of a CEO podcast last month, talking about the importance of mini-retirements. Unfortunately for Gary, an unforgiving clip of the interview went viral.
“This weekend I’m going to Spain, Friday until Monday morning,” he said. “I call that a mini-retirement.” Podcast host Steven Bartlett laughed and interjected: “That’s a weekend.”
While Gary’s idea of a mini-retirement does sound quite like a weekend away, I understand and applaud the sentiment. If anything, I’d encourage him to take longer mini-retirements. By taking regular sabbaticals throughout our working lives, we can avoid putting relaxation on hold until later life.
Rather than seeing life in these three distinct stages, let’s see it as a continuous journey with education, work and rest intertwined. By merging the three together, not only do we make it easier to get to 100 without running out of money, we also reduce the amount of pressure placed on ourselves.
You don’t have to commit to a degree at 18. You don’t need to have a career by 25. You don’t need to have a mortgage by 30. And you don’t need to sacrifice decades of rest, travel, and time with your family to save a million pound pension by 60.