Baby Boomers revolutionising retirement with a new model that combines work and play

Ron and Rhonda Howell are just two of the many Baby Boomers who shunned full retirement at 65 and have found the perfect balance.

Ron Howell, 71 and wife Rhonda, 69 at their Mini workshop. Picture: Tim Hunter

Up-beat Baby Boomers are working well past retirement, snapping up investment properties to pay for their lifestyle.

Savvy seniors are redefining retirement, with more focus on personal and financial independence, a new survey by in-home care aged care provider RSL LifeCare shows.

Forty per cent of Boomers – the post-war babies now aged between 56 and 74 – are still working.

Motor mechanic Ron Howell, 71 spends a day each week fixing cars in his workshop in Cromer, on Sydney’s northern beaches while his wife Rhonda, 69, devotes a day a month to paperwork.

“We’ve had the business for 31 years and I still enjoy what I’m doing,’’ Mr Howell said.

“I just like to get out and do things.

“I go down (to the workshop) for the social side of things too – it’s in an industrial estate with a few other tradies I’ve known for 30 years.’’

Ron Howell, 71 and wife Rhonda, 69 at their Mini workshop. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Mrs Howell laughs that her husband “needs to get away from the missus occasionally!”

“I’m a homebody so I’ve got my cross-stitch, crocheting and travelling,’’ she said.

“We can just close the door and take the caravan and go.’’

The hippy generation of free love and rebellion is now fiercely independent, with 61 per cent expecting to fund their own retirement without relying on the aged pension.

The survey shows that 94 per cent of women would be happy to live independently in retirement, compared to 72 per cent of Boomer blokes

Baby Boomers feel happier and healthier than their children – 91 per cent rate their overall wellbeing as good, although one in four of their Millennial children and grandchildren live with a mental health disorder.

Fit and young-at-heart, Boomers are four times more likely to cycle than to play lawn bowls.

The survey of more than 1000 Boomers shows that 99 per cent want to stay living in their own homes until they can’t care for themselves, or it is too difficult for family to help them.

Three quarters would rather stay in their own houses, with nursing and domestic assistance, than move into a traditional nursing home.

Greg Williams is 62 and a Baby Boomer. He is still working as a teacher at cooking school William Anglis, specialising in pastry/baking after working as a baker all his life. He has four children and two grandchildren and doesn't plan on slowing down just yet. Picture Rebecca Michael

But they are keen to cash in their real estate chips, selling the family home to downsize to modern and low maintenance townhomes, villas and apartments where they can “lock up and leave’’ for road trips or holidays.

Property investments and rental income will fund retirement for one in seven Baby Boomers, while 61 per cent will rely on superannuation and just 47 per cent on the aged pension, the survey reveals.

RSL LifeCare chief executive Graham Millett said many seniors find working or volunteering beyond retirement age a “life force’’.

“There are people who just can’t afford to stop working but for others work gives them a sense of optimism and purpose, and they want to continue to contribute,’’ he said.

“A lot of them who own homes are looking to realise the equity by downsizing to smaller accommodation of high quality – they’re very discerning.

“Many of them do have an investment property, and we know some are providing for their children to help them into the property market.’’

The over-60s are less likely than workers in their 20s to have lost their job during the pandemic, the latest payroll data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows.

One in every 15 jobs vanished for workers aged 20 to 24 – but 7.4 per cent more jobs were created for those aged 64 to 69 between March 2020 and September 2021.