THE THIRD METRIC
can life expectancy increases — it is
now 78.7 years old, up from 62.9 in
1940, when regular, monthly Social
Security benefits began to be paid
out. As the website of the Social
Security Administration puts it:
“When you are considering when
to collect retirement benefits, one
important factor to take into account is how long you might live.”
That factor — “how long you
might live” — implies a multitude of questions for any working
American who chooses to fastforward through the decades and
imagine himself arriving at work
at, say, age 67: How will I feel?
How will I be motivated? How long
can I really sustain this career?
Americans work an average of
1,790 hours per year — more than
most countries, including France,
Germany, the U.K., Canada and
Japan — and the U.S. is the only
developed nation without a national vacation policy. The recession forced many people out of
the workforce and required others
to delay their retirement plans to
overcome large financial losses associated with the 2008 stock market crash, said Lauren Nicholas, a
health economist with the University of Michigan. “From a long-term
perspective, we are working longer.”
HUFFINGTON
08.11.13
“In times when the economy is uncertain
and the future of retirement is uncertain,
being active is my way to invest.”
In addition to financial realities, workers also have to contend
with mental hurdles, since the notion of retiring at or around 65 has
long held as conventional wisdom.
“There’s just something about that
number — 65 — that still feels like
an unofficial finish line,” as Business Insider put it. And for young
people, decreased earning potential because of unemployment or
delayed starts to their careers can
be another factor, with the result
that the precedent of parents and
grandparents retiring relatively
young may seem less like a blueprint for their own futures than a
relic of an earlier time.
RECALIBRATING THE DREAM
That’s the case for Arika Lycan,
whose grandfather worked for
General Electric for more than
two decades. He had a pension
and retired in his mid-60s. Lycan,
who is 28, works for a small nonprofit in Michigan that promotes
gardening and access to healthy
food, and loves her work as an
outreach and volunteer manager.
With a salary under $50,000,