Younger Workers Are Baffled by Older Coworkers Who Don't Want to Retire. 'It Blows My Mind They Want to Work Now at an Advanced Age'

For many younger workers, retirement is the finish line, the moment when alarms, meetings and managers finally disappear. That is why one Reddit user could not understand meeting a financially stable 68-year-old who retired, lasted four months and then returned to work.

"It blows my mind they want to work now at an advanced age," the poster wrote in the r/Aging community recently. "Never had dreams in your 30s to quit work?"

Work Can Provide More Than a Paycheck

The answers revealed that employment can become more appealing once it's optional. One commenter suggested that financially secure older workers enjoy an advantage younger employees rarely have: "You have the choice to just leave whenever you want."

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Another shared the story of a godfather who retired at 65 and lived to 85. "He told me had he known, he would never have sold his business," they wrote. "It gave him purpose."

Others stressed that owning a business is very different from working for someone else. "HUGE difference between needing to work to be able to survive and wanting to work in order to give your life structure and purpose," one person wrote.

Several said work provided routine, mental stimulation and regular contact with other people. Retirement can become isolating as friends die, move away or struggle with health problems.

"Love coming to work," one 81-year-old still working full time put it simply. "If I stayed home I would be bored and annoy my spouse who works from home."

A commenter with a 77-year-old mother said she once complained about how exhausting her job was. After turning 60, however, she began enjoying it. "She says she doesn't know what else to do with herself and she likes the social aspect and all the gossip," they said.

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For some, retirement also means losing an identity built over decades. One commenter described older people as feeling "lost with unstructured time" after spending more than 20 years following a routine.

Plenty of Retirees Never Want to Return

The discussion also pushed back against the idea that older people generally prefer working. "I retired at 62 and never looked back," one 74-year-old wrote. "I'm never bored. Never."

That retiree spends time gardening, reading, going online and taking occasional trips. "The calm and peace is wonderful," they added.

"Now that I'm actually doing it, I can say that it sure beats the hell out of working," another person who retired at 58 after spending years dreaming about hobbies and events wrote.

A 64-year-old who retired in their late 50s rejected the assumption that employment is necessary for healthy aging. "Keeping busy and engaged certainly has more outlets than a job," the commenter wrote. "That's such a narrow way to think that 'busy' only equals a job."

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Financial pressure complicates the picture. Older employees who appear comfortable may still fear outliving their savings, paying for assisted living or supporting relatives. "I don't want to work until I die, but I have to," one person wrote after saying their retirement savings had not kept pace with inflation.

There is a world of difference between working at 70 because you love your job and working at 70 because you cannot afford to stop. Building more flexibility into your retirement savings can help make continued employment a choice. Advanta IRA holds more than $4 billion in assets under custody and has more than 25 years of experience helping clients use self-directed IRAs to diversify into assets such as real estate and cryptocurrency.

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Ultimately, some older people love their careers, while others miss the routine, companionship or feeling of being useful. Some simply need the money. Meanwhile, plenty of retirees happily fill their days without ever wanting another job.

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