
Second Careers of the Healthy Elderly - prostoalex
http://nautil.us/issue/36/aging/retiring-retirement
======
jakobegger
I think if we really want to get more seniors into the workforce, we have to
get rid of the notion that wages should be monotonically increasing with age.

In Austria, for most professions, there are contracts that explicitely require
wages to increase with experience (number of years worked). This means that
older employees are automatically more expensive. It's especially bad for many
"public" positions; for example, a teacher's salary automatically increases
every two years or so. A 65 year old teacher earns twice the salary of a 25
year old teacher. Sure, the older teacher has more experience, but it's hard
to argue that experience is worth more than TWO young teachers.

Also, often retirement is just a convenient way to get rid of people. If
everyone's goal is to keep climbing the ladder, we have to get rid of the
people at the top at some point. There's only so much space up there. And
since the people at the top probably don't want to switch to roles with less
responsibility, the only place left is retirement.

And last but not least, willingness to change is also necessary. Now, I don't
think that a 60 year old is per se more reluctant to change than a 30 year
old. I think that senior people can adapt to changes just as well as young
people; given the right motivation. However, a 30 year old has a lot more
extrinsic motivation to change than a 60 year old: when you are young, you
have to adapt, or you will end up poor. When you are old, you have the option
to refuse to adapt and just retire...

~~~
jpindar
I've seen it here on HN many times as an excuse for ageism - we can't hire
older people, they want more money and more time off.

~~~
andyjdavis
Kind of surprised it is more money AND more time off. I am an Australian in my
mid 30s and most of my social circle is mid 30s through mid 40s. There is a
bit of a trend to specifically request less money but more time off ie for a
new job "that is a generous offer. I propose we reduce the salary by X dollars
and increase my annual leave by Y days/weeks" or for an existing job "keep
your raise, give me an extra week of annual leave instead."

Perhaps it is something related to this specific stage of life but lots of
people have young children. Also, the appeal of their career has really worn
thin after 10-15 years of full-time work.

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WalterBright
I am 57 and have no interest whatsoever in retiring. Fortunately, since I work
on open source projects, nobody can fire me :-)

After about 10 days of "vacation", I'm always itching to get back to work.

~~~
danieltillett
Walter not that anyone would do this to you, but you can get kicked off an
open source project which is equivalent to being fired. I guess you could
always fork if you wanted to keep working on the code.

~~~
WalterBright
I'm not doing anything that any motivated programmer couldn't do.

~~~
huherto
It is awesome that you are still going on.

Do you make a living on open source or it is something to keep you engaged.

~~~
WalterBright
Many companies are happy to pay for support and training, which is how to make
money with open source. Sort of like a musician giving away the CDs and making
money from the live concerts.

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emilyfm
Odd that this article doesn't mention a key reason that US workers are staying
working into their "retirement" years: access to health insurance.

(also, B&Q is a British company, not based in New York like the article
states).

~~~
pkaye
I thought once one reaches a retirement age in the US, the only option is
medicare?

~~~
Kluny
"Medicare doesn't cover most dental care, dental procedures, or supplies, like
cleanings, fillings, tooth extractions, dentures, dental plates, or other
dental devices. Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) will pay for certain
dental services that you get when you're in a hospital"

Source: [https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/dental-
services.html](https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/dental-services.html)

Also, they won't cover glasses.

[https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/eyeglasses-contact-
lenses....](https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/eyeglasses-contact-lenses.html)

Brutal. A good reason to keep working though. Those two items are pretty
glaring omissions from Medicare, and relevant for most people, but especially
so for otherwise healthy seniors. Having glasses that work and functional
teeth is the difference between an active, healthy life and being a shut-in.

~~~
lumberjack
That's often the case in other countries as well, I believe. Why not pay out
of pocket? Those don't seem like the kind of things you'd need insurance for.
Even the most expensive operations won't exceed $10.000 which should be more
than affordable for any retiree.

~~~
pavel_lishin
> _Even the most expensive operations won 't exceed $10.000 which should be
> more than affordable for any retiree._

Should, but not necessarily is. $10k is a large amount of money!

