At What Ideal Age Should You Retire?

Though there is a legal age for retirement in most countries (67 in the USA and 66 in the UK, for the benefits of receiving a pension), the age of retiring is an individual decision, when that person would like to leave the workplace. While the average age for retirement can range from 61 to 66 in the USA, the average age in the UK is nearer the official age - 65.5. However, it is not plain sailing for all the genders, as women seem to be much worse off than men in the amount of money saved on their retirement, which is just $54,000, compared to the men's saving of $118,000 - more than twice as much. Apart from gender, retirement life is also likely to be impacted by racial factors.

For example, Hispanic Americans and Black Americans have an average of only 62% retirement savings, compared to 80% of White Americans; and Black seniors are almost three times as likely to live in poverty as White seniors (18% compared to 6.8%). It is thus not surprising that retirement is one of those times that some people either dread, or welcome, depending on their job satisfaction, the state of their emotional and physical health, their financial circumstances, and their desire for new challenges.

If we ignore the legal retirement age for the benefit of paying pensions, anyone can retire from their work whenever they wish. There is no ‘ideal age’ to retire at all. In fact, one of the people who has inspired me the most is the owner of a vineyard in France who was still managing her business successfully at 92 years of age! She was a classic example of her determination to live her life the way she wanted, and not according to other people’s fears and diktats. I can see myself being like that if I live long enough to be her age! In fact, right now there is a man in Brazil (Walter Orthmann) who is still working at 100 years old, at the same company since 1938! He loves what he does and has not bothered to retire.

As humans, who fear ageing, we love to put ourselves into little age boxes of perfection where different things occur at different ages, especially when it comes to retirement, because work dominates our lives so much. But life is for living every single day we are granted, and the moment you actually retire is entirely down to you! No one can tell you when is a suitable age for your retirement because that depends on five things, in particular, apart from just age:

• How you FEEL inside you; whether you still feel energetic, able to work, fired with enthusiasm and wish to continue; or you just feel tired, burnt out and ready to simply relax and enjoy yourself.
• Whether you still LOVE what you are doing and wish to continue it as long as possible.
• Whether you would like to do something else with your life, perhaps fulfil a long time DREAM, and wish to make a start on it.
• Whether you have enough MOONEY to see you through your retirement.
• Whether you are fit and HEALTHY, or have any chronic illnesses.

Only you can answer those personal questions, and the answers should clearly reveal whether you are ready for retirement or not! But, as you can see, age is a significant factor only if you are governed by an ageing mindset, as it is the least important of all the listed criteria!

In the end, there is no 'ideal' age for retirement, even when you have reached the official retirement age. It simply depends on how you wish to spend the rest of your life, and your readiness for whatever you wish to do.

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