Interestingly, older workers (65+) earn around $3,000 more than those in the 25 to 34 bracket, reflecting a group of late-career professionals who continue to command strong wages. Charted: Median U.S. Salaries by Age Grouphttps://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-median-u-s-salaries-by-age-group/
Late-career professional. There seem to be a lot more of us now.
Three in four workers (75 percent) plan to work for pay in retirement, compared with just 29 percent of retirees who report they have actually worked for pay in retirement. In fact, the RCS has consistently found that workers are far more likely to plan to work for pay in retirement than retirees are to have actually done so. 2025 Retirement Confidence Survey – https://www.ebri.org/retirement/retirement-confidence-survey
But if you’re working for pay in retirement how can this be considered retirement?
If you only eat “superfoods” will you have a long life?
“There is no single secret to living a long, healthy life.” Salvatore Di Somma, MD. Sanford Burnham Prebys. “A long and ongoing look at the secrets of human longevity and healthy aging.” ScienceDaily – https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/05/250505171023.htm
Coffee
All coffee types decrease the risk of adverse clinical outcomes in chronic liver disease: a UK Biobank study
Being consistently physically active in adulthood is linked to a 30–40% lower risk of death from any cause in later life, while upping levels from below those recommended for health is still associated with a 20–25% lower risk, finds a pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.It’s never too late: Just moving more could add years to your life — https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250711224321.htm
Whiskey
University of California neurologist Claudia Kawas and her team have been studying the lifestyle habits of people who live until their 90s. The group has been researching people of this age group for some 15 years – and they have found that those who drank two units of alcohol every day were less likely to die prematurely.“I have no explanation for it, but I do firmly believe that modest drinking improves longevity,” Kawas said. – Whiskey makes you live a longer, healthier life — https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/food-drink/whiskey-live-longer-healthier
Loneliness
Now, however, new research is calling into question this long-held belief and, surprisingly, found that loneliness may not be quite the threat that we all once thought it was. In fact, the problem may be one of confusing cause and effect. The Surprising Truth About Loneliness and Longevity — https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/the-surprising-truth-about-loneliness-and-longevity
Loneliness is pervasive in home care settings across the 3 countries; however, its association with mortality differs from reports for the general population. Loneliness was not associated with an increased risk of death after adjusting for health-related covariates. The causal order between changes in health, loneliness, and mortality is unclear. For example, loneliness may be a consequence of those health changes rather than their cause. Cross-National Evidence on Risk of Death Associated with Loneliness: A Survival Analysis of 1-Year All-Cause Mortality among Older Adult Home Care Recipients in Canada, Finland, and Aotearoa | New Zealand — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S152586102500204X
In 2001, only about 1 out of every 7 U.S. workers was 55 or older. By 2021, the number jumped to almost 1 out of every 4 workers (a 93% increase). That’s almost twice the proportion of older workers as before.3 Older workers are staying on the job longer for various reasons, ranging from financial needs to the joy of work. More people are working past the age when they might have retired. They might be responding to the increase in the Social Security full retirement age, needing money or health insurance, or simply enjoying their jobs and being around their friends at work.⁴ Clearing Up Myths About Older Workers While Understanding and Supporting an Aging Workforce — https://blogs.cdc.gov/niosh-science-blog/2023/09/25/older-workers/
I am impressed with the ability of some people to injure themselves in creative ways.
Analyzing data from the 2016-2021 National Inpatient Sample, UCLA researchers found that 25% of 7350 patients hospitalized for scooter-related injuries were using substances such as alcohol, opioids, marijuana and cocaine when injured. Published in The American Surgeon, the study also notes that overall scooter-related hospitalizations during the 5-year period jumped more than eight-fold, from 330 to 2705. In addition, the risk of traumatic brain injuries among the substance use group was almost double that of the non-impaired patients. University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. “Nearly one-quarter of e-Scooter injuries involved substance impaired riders.” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250429195329.htm (accessed May 3, 2025).
AND don’t forget about these things can randomly explode.
“Our perceptions of working after age 65 have changed over time, and these data suggest that most older adults who are still able to work after the traditional retirement age derive health-related benefits from doing so,” said poll director Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., a primary care physician at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and associate professor of internal medicine at U-M. “As we learn more about how loneliness, lack of social connection and isolation intertwine with physical and mental health in older adults, the role of work is important to consider.”Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan. “As more Americans work later in life, poll shows positive health impacts, especially for those over 65.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/02/250211141049.htm (accessed February 12, 2025)
National Poll on Healthy Aging Team. The Intersection of Work, Health, and Well-Being. University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging. January/February 2025. Available at https://dx.doi.org/10.7302/25186
The four phases of retirement described by Dr. Riley Moynes are psychological, not financial. When I eventually retire I know I’ll need to find meaning and purpose for whatever years are left.
If you’ve been to my blog before I apologize for repeating myself. But for new readers I’m past the “traditional” retirement age of 65. I don’t want to retire nor do I intend to retire for several years. One word describes why I continue to work. FEAR. I’m afraid of living too long and outliving my savings. I am petrified of leaving the workforce and no longer having an earned income stream. Living on a fixed income when the cost of everything keeps going higher scares the shit out of me.
Amidst my fear and anxiety the Social Security Administration approved my application for retirement benefits. When I looked at my monthly benefit I was pleasantly surprised. I then added up our future income sources and calculated that our fixed income from social security plus a small defined benefit pension plan will cover 82.5% of our current monthly expenses. Add in future annual withdrawals from savings and investments The Boss and I are financially OK until our nineties.
My fears are overblown. Check this out:
Conventional financial planning also overstates the income seniors need. That owes partly to planners assuming that seniors require the same amount of money throughout retirement. Yet as economists Michael Hurd and Susanne Rohwedder of the Rand Corp. have shown, average household spending drops by roughly 40% from age 65 to 90. Seniors aren’t running out of money—spending on gifts and donations increases with age. Retirees simply spend less on themselves than financial planners assume.
Planners likewise forget that much of adults’ pre-retirement income is spent on their children. The U.S. estimates that a couple earning roughly $83,000 with two children spends more than $26,000 annually providing food, housing, healthcare and other needs for their children. That’s money parents can’t spend on themselves. Of the income they could devote to their own needs, Social Security will replace around 60%. The upshot is that parents need less savings on top of Social Security than one might think. You Don’t Need to Be a Millionaire to Retire By Andrew G. Biggshttps://www.aei.org/op-eds/you-dont-need-to-be-a-millionaire-to-retire/
“I faced a painful reality: I didn’t know anything about anything….”
Andy Clarke – financial writer and editor, a retired CFA dispensing advice to retirees on investing and savings.
A 2021 survey by Pew Research looked at the question another way: It asked people from around the world what made their lives meaningful. In countries such as Italy, Spain, and Sweden, work ranked highly as a source of meaning. In Italy, work was the No. 1 source of meaning, with 43% saying they drew meaning from work. Spaniards ranked work higher than family. But in the US, only 17% mentioned work as a source of meaning. That was a sharp decline from when Pew asked the same question four years prior — a full one-third of Americans mentioned their jobs as a source of meaning in 2017, double the 2021 rate. Increasingly, it seems that more people feel like their jobs don’t matter. Why so many Americans hate their jobs — https://www.businessinsider.com/american-employees-disengaged-work-meaningless-fake-email-jobs-2024-6
Here are some of the biggest reasons some people don’t have enough money saved for retirement:
You don’t make enough money. This is likely the biggest reason most households don’t have enough retirement savings. Some people simply don’t earn a high enough income to have any money left over.
There are personal finance people who would like you to believe it’s all bad habits that cause people to under-fund their retirement.
Many people don’t have any excess remaining after paying for necessities.
We saved as much as we could and if I work a few more years we can plump up our financial cushion. Our expenses will likely be less in the years to come (except someone’s clothing/shoe/Tiny Human budget and that someone is not me). So with a willing employer and continued good health I plan to work full time for a few more years and then ease into retirement by continuing to work part time.
The first five years of my 30 Year Plan is complete. Now I need to work on what to do for the 25 years afterwards.
lifeunderwriter.net 
You must be logged in to post a comment.