There’s a murmuring doing the rounds mocking those of my generation (mid 60’s) who cannot stop working but who know their children wish they would. They result in announcement of a career end.
But these retirement announcements always promise another act. Not because the people writing them are vainglorious, but because they’ve spent 30 years + in a profession that never really teaches you how to stop.
The article’s from Craig Coben, a writer who’s himself a former global head of equity capital markets at Bank of America. He now takes it easy writing articles for the FT – perhaps he’s evidence of his point, his linked in profile makes him pretty busy!
I know how this feels!
Here is his cute observation on what one of his (former) colleagues is announcing;
A senior investment banker I know recently announced his retirement on LinkedIn. He wrote a thoughtful, graceful post, thanking clients, colleagues and family. He said he had great memories, no regrets and an enduring feeling of purpose and impact from his three decades in the job.
The post didn’t stop there. He went on to list everything he was looking forward to pursuing: private investments, non-executive directorships, charitable endeavours, film projects, wine projects and collaborations in the sectors he was interested in. He promised further updates after the summer. Retirement, it seemed, was going to be pretty hectic.
He likens this kind of post to the Christmas mailer we get announcing the achievement of the family. Each individual achievement of grandparents to new-born are individually noteworthy , but put together the mailer becomes noxious.
Some of us just can’t let go of progression, can’t recognise that slowing down is in itself a target.
This is particularly the problem for America which has found in Biden and Trump a gerontocracy that mocks the Obamas and Kennedys as something in the past rather than role models for the future. There are a lot of very elderly business leaders who unlike Warren Buffets are yet to retire
I write this, being in charge of a mutual company full of people who are refusing to slow down but who are throwing themselves into a project which we hope will lead to a better kind of way of converting pay into pension.
I do not think we are being driven by the prospect of reward so much as by a fear of slowing down! We laugh between ourselves that age is not yet catching up with us. We are redefining our retirement age.
When is the new retirement age? We have a review of our state pension age going on right now. It should be having our children work till they are “threescore years and ten”.
For those not brought up on the bible (almost all of us) the description of threescore years and ten is from the King James translation of the Psalms (Psalm 90:10)
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
This made sense to us 400 years ago; it made us recognise the limits of our longevity and prepare to meet our maker.
Nowadays, we should be using 7o to normalise not the age to die but to retire. A radical rethink of what we consider our “end game” is needed.