The Retirement Myth

When I tell you that I’ve been on Medicare for nearly nine years, you will recognize that I’m no spring chicken.

But thanks to folks like David Letterman and Larry Fink, I’m no longer seen as an oddity—some old guy who doesn’t know when to quit.

After spending 22 years on CBS’s The Late Show, Letterman’s is likely the more familiar name. Until I saw this recent GC story on the late-night talk show host, I didn’t realize it had been a decade since he stepped aside from network television.

However, at 77 he is still going strong. In December, he launched his Letterman TV FAST Channel, available on Samsung streaming devices.

That’s not all. He also hosts a regular talk show on Netflix, called My Next Guest  Needs No Introduction.

Getting a Kick

Since I bowed out of late night TV years ago, I rarely watched Letterman on CBS. I remembered him more from his earlier guest host appearances on the Tonight show, subbing for Johnny Carson.

Still, I regularly saw snippets of his appearances or heard an amusing comment he made on his show or in a media clip. And I especially appreciated his remarks in the recent magazine interview.

“I’m surprised that I’m still doing it at my age,” he told writer Zach Baron. “On the other hand, I still get a kick out of what I’m doing.” (I know the feeling.)

The other comment that caught my eye was his observation that retirement was a “myth” and “nonsense.”

“You won’t retire,” Letterman said. “The human mechanism will not allow you to retire.”

Truer words were never spoken.

For years, my paternal grandfather worked at Ford’s Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Unfortunately, in the 1960s there was an idiotic policy called mandatory retirement. When he hit 65, Grandpa persuaded some folks to look the other way so he could continue working.

Two and a half years later the foreman said, “We can’t pull any more strings. You’re going to have to retire.” Consigned to home, Grandpa mostly sat in a rocking chair and wasted away his final nine years.

Retirement at 65 a Crazy Idea

The average person may not recognize Larry Fink’s name. Yet, as CEO of BlackRock and sitting on a fortune of $1.2 billion, his comments in the company’s latest shareholder letter attracted national attention as well.

He called it “a bit crazy” that the idea for the retirement age of 65 originated in the time of the Ottoman Empire, which fizzled out just over a century ago.

Fink also noted that many 65-year-olds in the early 1950s didn’t get to retire; many had already passed away. That meant that more than half the workers who paid into Social Security died before they could claim any benefits.

“Today, these demographics have completely unraveled, and this unraveling is obviously a wonderful thing,” Fink wrote. “We should want more people to live more years. But we can’t overlook the massive impact on the country’s retirement system.”

Right. One reason Social Security worked in the beginning was the average life span in 1935: just under 60 for men and 64 for women. Today it’s just under 82 for men and 84 for women. Can you say, “Pending disaster”?

So, despite the clamor over suggestions of raising the retirement age yet again, common sense says that is an idea whose time has arrived.

Not only can David Letterman tell you retirement is a myth, he and Fink (and yours truly) are demonstrating the wisdom of remaining active throughout life.