A recent edition of U.S. News & World Report dedicated its entire issue to How to Retire Smart, and its undoubtedly got people thinking it’s time to rethink this concept of retirement, as we know it.

Certainly much of the coming changes revolve around the effect of the first of the Baby Boomer generation turning 65 next year – the first step of 76 million people marching toward retirement. Yet this is a very different generation of future retirees – and as a result, their retirement is likely to be anything but traditional. While Baby Boomers have always beat to a different drum, combined with the changes in life span, work, and just the overall nature of American life, it’s inevitable the concept of retirement will also be forever redefined.

Let’s start with the age factor. Pre-determining a time to retire based strictly on age alone – just a number – is no longer a reality for most people. Sure, it’s a target of sorts, but retirement age and actual retirement itself, are two different issues today. The current retirement age of 65 was actually established in the late 1800s, Bismarck formula, when life expectancy was 47. But with life expectancy pushing 80 today, is it still realistic to retire at 65? If we were to use that same Bismarck formula now, we’d be retiring people at 120!  Puts things in a different perspective, doesn’t it? Add in the recent economic effect of the last couple of years and its unlikely the shrunken portfolios of most will enable any of us to retire at our proposed target age – even if we wanted to. In fact, many of us probably feel like we’ll have to live to 120 just to retire at all!

So on that note, let’s talk about the work factor. There are many different schools of thought on the whole concept of work, particularly later in life or in ‘retirement’. I know it sounds like a strange concept to put the words work and retirement in the same sentence, but it’s very likely where we’re headed. And believe it or not, it might be a good thing – especially if we can redefine work to be something that is meaningful and balanced within our lives and this new retirement lifestyle. I absolutely believe it’s beneficial for people to work longer, if they want to. But I’m not as sure about continuing to bump up the retirement age for Social Security benefits in the process. That may not be a good thing for everyone across the board, so we’ll have to continue discussing that issue as a country.

What I think is more important for us all to recognize is just how much this longevity revolution is effecting the changes we are experiencing and will continue to experience in the way we look at life in retirement. Tom Terry, chairman of the American Academy of Actuaries Public Interest committee states that the average retiree today lives about 45 percent longer than a retiree did in 1940. How can we not live a different retirement?

It’s impossible to discuss this issue of redefining retirement without addressing the role of the improvement in health and vitality living longer now encompasses. People are spending more time in retirement – upwards of one-third of their life, in some cases, which may equate to 20-30 years. This fact alone, obviously changes the concept of retirement from the continuous vacation mindset to a new phase of life that now can involve meaningful work, flexible schedules, leisure, family, volunteering – all in a state of healthy balance. In this sense, the question now changes from not only what we’re retiring from (which is also being redefined) to what we’re retiring to.

All of this is a major change in mindset for most people – and one that definitely requires some education and enlightenment about this new retirement/longevity revolution we’re experiencing for the first time ever in our society. There is no road map here for us to follow, yet while we’ve seen some indicators of this new retirement lifestyle among the current retirees, the Baby Boomers will be taking it a step further – not only reinventing themselves, but likely the entire retirement landscape as well.

It’s definitely time to rethink retirement.

Kelly Ferrin, gerontologist, longevity expert and author of “What’s Age Got To Do With It? Secrets to Aging in Extraordinary Ways” has been studying aging and retirement issues for over 25 years. She was one of the first to ever receive a degree in this field from the prestigious Andrus School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, the top school in the nation for the study of age-related issues.

website: kellyferrin.com ••• email: ageangel@earthlink.net