Morrison bemoaned the waste of talents of many elderly Americans who accept the traditional approach of just relaxing and do nothing in retirement.
One way to ensure that clients don’t succumb to retirement ennui and, at the same time to make one’s retirement more secure, is for the advisor to help the retiree do what millions of other gray hairs are doing—working part time. However, he emphasizes that staying in the working force should then be on the retiree’s own terms.
He says how one approaches this issue of what to do with rest of one’s life, before and during retirement, can be critical for many clients. Morrison, in general, comes down on the side of work.
“You will continue to work but you will have the luxury of choosing to do only work that gives what you want. Money and security are no longer the main motivators, because achieving financial independence has finally allowed you to make a change in your priorities,” according to the book.
The authors of “Victory Lap Retirement” also argue that the key to clients’ successful retirement is to be “engaged.” This can include part-time employment---very important for those who seemingly just barely have enough at the outset of a retirement---hobbies or volunteer work.
The authors warn that an early retirement to a life of no work and becoming disengaged can be hazardous to your health.
They cite a 2005 study of Shell Oil employees. It showed that “people who retired at 55 were 89 percent more likely to die in the ten years after retirement than those who retired at sixty-five.”
The same study found that workers who continued working “at the age of 65 were 89 percent more likely to live ten more years after retirement even though they were ten years older than they early retirement counterparts.”
Lifestyle choices are the key to a healthy and active old age, writes Dan Buettner in “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who Have Lived the Longest.”
Advisors, Morrison says, have a big part to play. They should, he says, do more than figuring out the numbers; they should discuss the lifestyles of the elderly and happy.