Even the Rich and Famous Can’t Retire

We may need to plan differently to enjoy our “Golden Years”

Eric Idle is finding out there’s nothing funny about running out of money during your retirement.

Idle isn’t alone in that realization, but what makes him stand slightly apart from the crowd is that he’s a founding member of the comedy group Monty Python, and is arguably one of the most famous and successful comedians of all time.

Idle recently revealed on social media that he’s having to keep working at age 80 for financial reasons, and that working is “not easy at this age.”

Idle’s situation is increasingly common. Nearly 19% of Americans over age 65 are currently in the workforce. In the 1980s, only 11% of working people were aged 65 or older.

Why are there so many older people working?

In part, headlines about older people staying in or going back to jobs are due to a positive development: people are living longer and feeling better as they age.

However, many older people are working because they feel they have no choice. Not, like Eric Idle, because they may be trying to maintain a high-profile lifestyle, but because they feel they don’t have enough money for basic survival.

Many Baby Boomers haven’t saved adequately for retirements that could last longer than ever due to lifespans that are trending longer than they did fifty years ago. Many Boomers and other older people are also dipping into those retirement funds to help their adult children.

People can also be caught off guard when their 401(k) loses value in sudden or unexpected stock market downturns, and companies or institutions that provide guaranteed retirement pensions are increasingly few and far between. Rising inflation rates and rising housing costs are also affecting older people in the same way they affect younger people.

Even when there’s no financial reason to keep working, many individuals above the once-typical retirement age of 65 seem interested in staying in or getting back into the workforce. From boredom in retirement to wanting to share their knowledge and skills, these are among the more positive reasons why more people are staying on in their jobs.

What if retirement weren’t the absolute end goal?

Some people might take these statistics about older people staying in the workforce as a cautionary tale and a situation to be avoided at all costs.

For others, however, the idea of continuing to work may not be completely unappealing.

Our professions and our professional contacts, after all, often comprise a large part of our daily lives. Even if we don’t love every aspect of our jobs, often there’s satisfaction to be found in fulfilling obligations and using the knowledge and skills acquired over our lifetimes in our work lives.

The question might be not how to secure the earliest possible retirement, but rather, how to find our way to working conditions that enable us to keep working in the capacities that we’re able.

That’s an entirely different question, and emphasis: What work and skills can I find to give myself a real chance to keep working in a situation I want to be in?

Of course the dream is always to find work you absolutely adore and that doesn’t even feel like work (and is lucrative to boot). But thinking we can all find situations like that might stretch the limits even of my positivity.

For many, the key to continuing to work well into your golden years might be flexibility. And this flexibility will not only have to be exhibited by workers, but also for the companies and institutions employing them.

One example of such flexibility is the idea of “phased retirement” — whereby older workers work fewer hours and receive less overall compensation as they near the end of their career.

This arrangement allows companies to leverage longtime workers’ expertise and connections, while also offering older workers more off hours in which to make appointments (medical appointments in particular tend to take up more of our time as we age) or simply to enjoy more downtime.

One issue that will also need to be addressed by both employers and employees is ageism. In the era of the dismissive comment “okay, Boomer,” older workers can often feel unfairly dismissed.

Once again, flexibility will be the key — not only on the part of younger employees, who may need to be open-minded about what older workers might bring to the workplace and more willing to help them adapt to changes in workplace tools and surroundings — but also on the part of the older workers, who will have to devote time to learning about and maximizing those changes.

There can be no doubt that the demographics of the workplace are changing. This doesn’t have to be a scary prospect (regardless of how Eric Idle views it).

If employers find ways to make younger workers feel valued and keep them properly compensated, there should be no reason why they can’t still offer a place to older workers to help keep them healthier and more financially solvent.

Such solutions might help all generations appreciate and understand one another better. That’s a situation that might work better for everyone!