FLIPSIDE Traditional vs Modern: Growing Old Gracefully
Whether you make your own way in the choice of retirement or follow a traditional path is not entirely something you decide at 65, but it really settles itself way before the proverbial ‘golden handshake’ takes place. By Denese Palm
Gaby lives in a small Karoo town, when she retired from teaching she was able to set up an independent stream of income and now earns a living selling miniature paintings to an international market. Yvonne retired on a late husband’s inheritance, first moving to an over 50’s residential estate, then into a retirement village. Conrad retired from a lifetime in accountancy to live alone in a cottage in Brits and Nan to a church-run old age home.
The shape of your lifestyle in your 40s and 50s opens some doors and closes others – regardless of whether you have a pension policy or not. Like Gaby, you choose to become a person who will continue to create income for yourself using your talents and skills outside the traditional workplace.
This prior-retirement-age shaping can incubate in corporate or entrepreneurial settings – it ultimately shapes a mindset that goes beyond being busy, to purpose; goes beyond earning, to passion and becomes an unstoppable river of relational-relevance that does not dry up as you age.
We all know that a registered business plan must include an exit strategy for the leading player, but there are live examples of founders who continue decades after the 65-year exit mark.
Ages of retirement of some of the oldest serving state leaders of all time:
- Queen Elizabeth II who is Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth Realms to this day, aged 95 years.
- Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahalthir Mohamad, who resigned in 2020 aged 94 years.
- Hastings Banda the President of Malawi – was defeated in an election in 1994 at the age of 96 years.
Visionary leaders who could not be replaced include examples we are very familiar with.
- Nelson Mandela the first democratically elected President of South Africa retired aged 86.
- Henry Ford advancing age obliged Ford to retire from the active direction of his gigantic enterprises in 1945 aged 81 years.
- Golda Meir served as Israeli prime minister from 1969 to 1974. Born in Kyiv in Ukraine, she eventually retired “to be a grandmother” aged 68.
We may not all be Golda’s or Henry’s or Nelson’s – you may be a traditional mother who is, nonetheless, the power in the family. You may bow out gracefully at 65 and get a bunch of cards, with messages like “Congratulations on retiring mom. There isn’t another person who deserves a long and fulfilling break from work as much as you.”
Modern business owners think that retirement is for everyone, but themselves. Some powerful reasons why businesspeople never retire include being inspired by challenge: true entrepreneurs don’t see business as work; it’s like breathing for them. They’re in an ever-changing environment where their skills are taken to the next level, and there is always a new challenge. If they retire, they’re not just leaving a job they loved; they’re giving up the prized asset they created. So, when an advisor says to a business owner, “when are you going to retire?” it feels as if they’re saying, “when are you going to become insignificant?” The reality is that all business owners are in one way or another, going to leave their business and retire eventually. If you make exit planning a financial, versus emotional, consideration –it becomes easier for a business owner to accept.
As baby-boomers worldwide retire, they have options in so many directions. You can opt for an apartment in North Hollywood, California’s NoHo Senior Arts Colony, where hallways are a rotating gallery, studio space is available for residents to mix their own paints and a theater occupies the ground floor.
Holland has piloted a program pairing affordable-housing-seeking college students as roommates with companion-seeking seniors. The needs and likes of these age groups aren’t so varied. In fact, it’s where, as much as how, seniors live, that may take a page from the millennial and Generation Z handbook: both seniors and students migrate back to cities and centrally located suburbs for an active lifestyle and readily available services, to become part of a multi-aged community.
Regardless of the pathway you are on as you prepare to leave a legacy, embrace your position and don’t let society dictate your swan song nor cheapen or erode your unique talents with self-doubt – continue to use them to serve yourself and others!
