Retireless

The concept of retirement is relatively recent and it appears to be a proxy for "escape," from the trials and tribulations of modern life style. Most societies are now organized to aid this – work hard till some point and then drop out of view (retire). Both from the individual and the societal perspective, this is a problematic concept for a variety of reasons. For starters, the stress of upcoming retirement is becoming too much for most of the population. Such stress leads to disease and eventually less happy retirement. Retirement should really be an option for the retiree and not something she has to do. Retirement planning is big business and a large part of the economy is organized around this, although there is little evidence that it adds much value and so many have a reason to perpetuate the idea.



More importantly, the idea of leading a stressful life till retirement in anticipation of a happier life simply does not make sense. If one is happier while working it is likely that she will continue without any consideration of retirement. The desire to retire, then, has to be a symptom of undesirable pre-retirement life and jobs. From a planning and policy perspective, it is important to understand why people want to retire and not just how to pay for the retirees. Many can add significant value to themselves and to society if they forget to retire. There is also empirical evidence that people with active working lives are less prone to disease.



One way to solve the impending "retirement problem," is to eliminate the idea of retirement. Increasing the retirement age has been suggested as a solution but this just prolongs the agony and makes the problem worse. Policy makers have to ask why people want to retire and understand the causes of retirement to aid the development of better designs.