Nearly half of people intend to keep working after they retire, study finds

IF YOU believe those ads on TV, retirement could soon be a thing of the past. It seems that may be coming true after all.

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in a scene from film Men in Black III. 3.

IF YOU believe those ads on TV, retirement could soon be a thing of the past. It seems people are listening.

New research has found that close to half of people say they want to keep working in some capacity after they retire.

In a survey of more than 2500 public sector workers carried out by State Super Financial Services, 42 per cent said they wanted to continue working.

Nearly a quarter, or 24 per cent, said they wanted to continue working part time, while 18 per cent said they would keep on with casual work.

According to SSFS chief executive Michael Monaghan, many people find themselves at a loose end after they retire.

“With all the focus you see about the financial side of retirement, equally important is the emotional and psychological side,” he said.

“There’s not a lot of focus on the fact that people derive status from their work — it’s part of their being, especially for people who have been working in the same place for a long time.

“Filling that void is an important part of retirement planning.”

Mr Monaghan said it was particularly important for the likes of police officers, teachers or ambulance workers.

“People who have held those mission-critical roles in society, often they find they want to continue to serve the community after they retire,” he said.

Compounding the issue is the fact that people today are living much longer after they move away from full-time employment.

“A lot of people have indicated they want a bit more freedom of choice, and they do look forward to not having to work full-time, but they equally having something that fills that need for participation and belonging in the community is also important.”

Mark Burnicle, director of People Net, told news.com.au: “You would expect Boomers to want to retire early when they get a large payout from a redundancy, yet what we see each week are people who choose to continue to work because they need that sense of belonging.

“Their work ethic is engrained from a young age and most people’s life goals are about their jobs or careers, family, friends and neighbours all associate individuals to their jobs ‘that’s John, he is an accountant’. In our experience over the past 15 years working in the career transition industry when someone’s role is made redundant no amount of money makes up for the loss of their role because it is about a loss of identity, loss of belonging and a loss of the ability to add value.

We’re unlikely to see Warren Buffet hang his boots up soon.

“It isn’t all about the salary, I provided the career transition advice for a 75-year-old proof reader who had been made redundant, he did not want to retire. He loved working, was energised by the collegiate interaction of working in a team, loved the feeling of being valued and relevant and the self worth that provided. He got a great payout after 35 years, but was in a new job a month later, working at a law firm proof reading contracts. Just because he felt that working made him who he was.”

Of the 2500 respondents, 35 per cent said they were unsure of their retirement plans while only 22 per cent said they intend to stop working entirely.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, virtually everyone — 98 per cent — either agreed or strongly agreed that remaining physically and mentally active as long as possible is a key aspiration.

Presumably, the remaining two per cent didn’t understand the question.

Other retirement goals included having a sense of freedom of choice (a whopping 97 per cent), looking forward to being able to relax (88 per cent) and spending their money while they still can (63 per cent).

The top ten activities planned for retirement were travelling (87.6 per cent), walking (71.5 per cent), socialising (62.4 per cent), volunteering (54 per cent), taking care of family (48.7 per cent), sporting pursuits (45.8 per cent), fitness training (28.8 per cent), studying (27.8 per cent) and games (25.2 per cent).

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Originally published as Nearly half of people intend to keep working after they retire, study finds