From Retiree to Nevertiree

LFP Article

 

New research from Barclay’s Wealth has provided an unexpected phenomenon among wealthy individuals across the world. Traditionally, retirement and financial independence has been celebrated for decades as the ultimate reward for a life spent in hard work. Advertisements mesmerize us with the beautiful couple strolling down the beach with no cares, thanks to investment advice from their financial institution or advisor. This conventional form of working to “retirement age”, then spending your life on the beach and golf course, is making a dramatic shift in the lives of the wealthiest. Research is indicating that now people aspire to keep on working in some form, to become a “Nevertiree” rather than a Retiree. In particular, many business owners can't really conceive of the notion of doing nothing. Retirement is not showing up on their radars.

 

For many people, the most important part of retirement is to have an engaging hobby or to continue working. What is particularly interesting in this phenomenon is that it is not limited to those who have become wealthy through becoming entrepreneurs.  In fact, in the research of gerontology, it's been discovered that people want to contribute and want to be doing something.  By continuing to work, it gives people status and an opportunity to network and make a contribution.

 

The desire to become a Nevertiree instead of a Retiree is expected to grow over the coming decades as we adapt to our increasing life expectancy and enjoy better health in later life.  Research shows while 50% of respondents age 65 and over say that they always want to be involved in work, this figure leaps to over 70% among respondents under age 45. Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology and Director of Oxford Institute of Aging at the University of Oxford, says "We do a lot of work around the age 50-70 group, an age when you're incredibly experienced, you've got so much to offer, but maybe you want a second career. Maybe you want to do something different or maybe you want to stay in the same work but in a different role".

 

This trend over the last decade seems to indicate that we are not going to retire as our parents or grandparents did, and then have 30 years of fully-paid leisure with a high standard of living. This shift is creating an opportunity for "social entrepreneurship".
It could provide a generation of supported and nurturing social entrepreneurs that could act through a network of socially confident individuals that raises a form of investing in self-sustainable social projects.

 

People want to stop counting the years and they want to make their years count. Some of the factors that may have driven this distrust of retirement come out of longer life expectancy, anemic returns from stock markets and historically record-low interest rates which lead to the inability of a portfolio to be trusted to provide what it used to.

 

In addition, work provides a sense of purpose and meaning, and the prospect of an empty day after retirement can be rather unsettling. So people need to really spend time evaluating their strengths and their gifts, think about how they can make a contribution in areas of coming on boards as advisory counsel, non-profits and develop a more philanthropic mindset as to how to make the community stronger.

 

Research shows that retiring in your 50's will be seen as outdated and there will routinely be people on boards and advisory counsels into their 60's and 70's. The positive side is that companies and non-profits will be able to draw on the abilities of people who have had experience leading through deep recessions and deep obstacles. The challenge is making space for younger people to step up to the board level if the older people don't move over.

 

Attitudes will continue to change, community boards and non-profits will gain from the experience of this generation that wants to make a contribution and pursue a life of success to significance.