Re-Thinking Retirement

The concept of retirement seems appealing.  After working hard for 30 to 40 years you can finally call your own shots and enjoy a life of leisure.  Sleep in as long as you want, play as many rounds of golf as you wish, and stroll the beach until the sun goes down each and every evening.  But were we designed for such a long pause from meaningful and purposeful work?  The data presented by the Financial News might suggest we are not. 

The Retirement Invention

Retirement is a relatively recent social invention designed by governments to incentivize older workers to leave, allowing the younger and more productive generation to take over.  But its creation was also designed to influence the constituents they govern.   Aside from military incentives, the first real social program aimed at providing workers with “retirement” was introduced in Germany by Otto von Bismark in the 1880s.  

“Once Bismarck realized that his campaign to suppress the socialists had, like his attack on the Catholic Church, done little more than solidify the determination of his opponents and improve their representation in the Reichstag, he embarked on a more practical method of wooing the working class - through social reform.  Health, accident, and old-age (retirement) insurance were to do for the loyalty of common laborers what high tariffs and protectionism had done for their betters” 

Hannah Pakula, Uncommon Woman, page 395

In simple terms, retirement was invented to win over the older population using financial incentives.  And while not immediately adopted, this approach was certainly ahead of its time and formed the basis of what has become what many consider a moral obligation by the government to provide for its elderly population.

The Pivot from Agriculture

The United States followed a very similar path in the 1930s when "old-age" insurance was introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to our changing economy.  The American worker was adapting from a farm-based economy to a war-driven industrial revolution.

“For centuries, farming and agriculture provided families with the foundation of their economic security.  Farms provided food, shelter, and resources for families to survive.  As family members aged, they were cared for on the farms.  However, as economies changed as part of the industrial revolution, more and more people become employees working for someone else”

James F. Dalton, et al. Insurance Planning, 7th Edition, Page 502.

Governments and businesses could afford retirement benefits because the life expectancies of the worker were generally below the retirement age as defined by the benefit.  However, with modern medicine and health education, life expectancies have grown along with the expectations of the worker. Sarah Laskow explains,

“By 1960, life expectancy in America was almost 70 years. All of a sudden more people were living past the age where they had permission to stop working and the money to do it. Finally, they began to retire in large numbers—to stop working, to embrace leisure, to golf."

Sarah Laskow (The Atlantic) 

The concept of a leisure retirement was born and that has grown into a social expectation.

A Biblical Retirement

The history lesson helps put in context what the data tells us about the impact of such a life of leisure that no longer involves meaningful and purposeful work.  The concept of retirement was not designed based on data to improve the health and longevity of the elderly.  It was invented to spur industrial growth with younger workers and to win political favor.  The effects of a retirement of leisure on people’s health can now be seen as the cost.

For many, this may seem like a broken promise.  But should we be surprised?  According to Scripture, people were designed by God to work.  This is not the result of the fall in the Garden of Eden or the fall into sin, but rather by God’s original intent.  Genesis teaches us in Chapter 2, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15).  There was no mention of retirement.

How about the Apostle Paul?  John Piper explored this idea in his book, Desiring God.

“As Paul writes his letter to the Romans, he has been a missionary for about twenty years…We may guess, then, that he is perhaps around fifty as he writes this great letter…and Paul led an incredibly stressful life - five times whipped with thirty-nine lashes, three times beaten with rods, once stoned, three times shipwrecked, constantly on the move and constantly in danger” 

John Piper, Desiring God, Page 224

In fact, Paul was determined to finish well.  He wrote to the church in Colossae, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for me.” (Colossians, 3:23). 

To the church in Corinth Paul wrote, “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” (I Corinthians 3:13). 

Not only was Paul interested in finishing, but he was encouraging fellow believers to finish well.  The apostle was not the only one that affirmed work and rebuked idleness. 

We read in the Old Testament a similar message, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

A Greater Purpose

We were created for a purpose.  Our lives would be better spent performing meaningful and purposeful work until our death than spending those valuable years pursuing self.  

This does not mean that you have to have the same vocation throughout your entire life, but the Bible does direct us to live with purpose until the end.  For many, this may mean being involved with missions or working at your local church.  For others, this could mean volunteering at the local school or community center. 

We were all created for a purpose.  We were all created for work. 

Don’t miss the opportunity to make a lasting impact even in the remaining years of your life.