The average life expectancy was about 62 years in 1935 and
it's now nearly 79 years. The baby boomers are at the center of another
revolution: unretirement. Many boomers have the ability and the desire to work
well into the traditional retirement years. For example, 72 percent of
pre-retirees age 50 and over in a survey published in June by Merrill Lynch and
the Age Wave consulting firm said they wanted to work in their retirement.
Yet the specter of an aging population haunts America. The
leading edge of the boomer generation is filing for Social Security and
Medicare, with some 10,000 boomers turning 65 every day. The dire demographics
of aging seem to inform our discussions, from Senate hearings on retirement to
Wall Street research on the economy. Our public discourse about an aging
society is along the lines of fear and loathing, paraphrasing the late gonzo
writer and baby boom legend Hunter S. Thompson.
The demographics of despair start with the observation that
many aging boomers haven't saved enough to enjoy a comfortable retirement. The
emphasis quickly shifts to the fear that the swelling ranks of aging boomers
will drain the economy of its dynamism, dragged down by too few workers
supporting too many elders. The forecast grows bleaker with the expectation
that a less than robust economy will make it that much harder to pay the tab
for Social Security and other old-age programs.
The household economics of unretirement are compelling.
Earning even a slim part-time income allows older workers to keep saving or to
push off the day they have to tap into their retirement savings. A paycheck
makes it practical to delay filing for Social Security benefits too, a savvy
financial move.
A series of broad, mutually reinforcing changes in the U.S.
economy and society are turning an aging population into more of an economic
asset than ever before. Boomers are well-educated and they're healthier than
previous generations. An information-and-services-dominated economy is easing
the transition to longer work lives. Toiling away on a computer in a medical
clinic in the 2000s is far less demanding than the typical factory job in the
1950s.
For some, their encore job may be full-time, but for the
majority their next act is likely to embrace the flexibility that comes from
part-time jobs, contract work and temp employment. Older workers are carrying
their existing skills into new settings. A registered nurse might move from a
large hospital complex to a community clinic. A certified financial planner
might shift into teaching financial literacy to immigrants.
There is reassurance in tapping into the knowledge developed
over the years and the creative spark that comes from moving into a different
sector of the economy, confronting new challenges and meeting new colleagues.
Starting a business is another option.
Unretirement is a rapidly growing grass-roots movement. An
industry is emerging to help boomers figure out what to do next, from nonprofit
organizations to career consultants. An aging Me Generation is becoming the
connected Us Generation.
That said, not all senior citizens will be physically and
mentally healthy in the unretirement years. Age discrimination is real, and,
sadly, far too many older workers joined the ranks of the long-term unemployed
in the weak job market of recent years. Nevertheless, if society taps into the
abilities and knowledge of those boomers eager to embrace their unretirement,
employers will benefit, society will be richer and the funding shortfalls of
old-age entitlements much easier to solve.
How will this play out? The rise of unretirement calls for a
whole cluster of changes, including overhauling corporate benefit policies, the
design of the social safety net and debunking stereotypes that wrongly assume
older workers aren't creative. Taken altogether, aging boomers are constructing
a new vision of the good life.
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