Retirement

Retirement , to many , represents  the payoff of a long career and a time they can finally set aside work and enjoy life , doing the things they have always wanted to do but have missed out for whatever reasons or simply spending more time with  loved ones and friends . But what is the right retirement age ?  

 When I first entered the civil service way back in the 1970’s , the retirement age was set at 55 . This was then revised to 56 and then 58 a few years later . Last year , the  retirement age  was raised to 60 . 

To management guru Peter Drucker , retirement is an industrial age thinking. It makes sense for the blue-collar worker  who would have difficulty handling physically demanding tasks  as  age catches up.  But for the “ knowledge workers”, they can and should continue to stay productive till as late as it is possible.  They should be given an option of putting off  retirement for as long as they can .Their stay in the workforce  will be worthy as these workers  have accumalated vast experience and their contribution would be invaluable.

Times are really changing , and at alarming pace . People are living longer , expecially in developed countries . And in these same countries , the birth rates are falling rapidly and the work force is already  getting older .  Who knows – there might be the abolition of retirement .