Retire Like An Okinawan. Don't.

By Karen and Erica

We know there are plenty of people out there who are enjoying retirement. We are among them! But we have yet to find anyone who thinks that the word retirement conjures up an accurate picture of what it is all about. Why is that? Where did that negative view of retirement come from? And what can we do about it?

To start with, the whole concept was quite radical when it began, in a far off place and a different time, as laid out in this article in the Harvard Business Review, and amplified in the Atlantic. In the late 19th century, for the first time workers began survive the end of their jobs. Otto von Bismarck, prime minister of Prussia, was pressured to provide government support for those who could no longer work because of age or infirmity, but remained alive and in need of food and shelter. And so he created a payment system to do so for the short period of life between the end of work and death.

At about the same time, the U.S. military, certain other government entities, and the American Express Company began providing pensions. These pensions, funded by workers during their years of employment, were intended to provide for their welfare after the end of their jobs, and were also intended to give them an incentive to make way for younger people. Then, in 1935, Congress enacted social security legislation. The original idea was really just to feed and clothe people for the few years after they could no longer work. The retirement part of the legislation launched much bigger ideas once business started to see opportunity.

Retirement in America, as many now perceive it, was invented in the 1950s, when retirees were mostly men, men who had lived through wars, had retired from physical jobs they held during rough times, and now were expected to live to about 70. These men surely looked forward to a few years of fun in the sun with their wives and other couples like them. The economy had taken off, public heath had improved, and grand new age-restricted communities like Sun City, Arizona were built in warm climates where retirees could spend their golden years. They probably were not concerned about being retired. Indeed, they were likely thrilled to have achieved that status.

But everything is different now.

• The first large wave of women to enter the career workforce is retiring. We had entirely different employment experiences—not just because the world of business has changed, but also because we are women. We fought for jobs that were increasingly global and information oriented. We became avid users of technology and social media. And we did it all while raising children and maintaining households.

• We also have entirely different expectations of retirement. We are not looking at a few years of playtime. We will live for decades, and will likely remain healthy in mind and body throughout those decades. We have no intention of decoupling from the rest of the universe. We want to stay in the mix, we want purpose in our lives, and we want to find meaningful uses for the experience that only decades of life and work can bring.

Fascinatingly, the HBR article observes that Okinawans, who live longer than Americans, have no word for retirement. Why not? Because workers do not stop dead in their tracks once they reach a certain age. They do not go from full employment to a hard stop. After full-time jobs cease, Okinawans still want ikigai—purpose and a reason to get up in the morning. They accomplish ikigai in different ways, but they do not retire from society.

Now, life in Okinawa seems quite different from life in the U.S., in at least some ways, but in critical ways we are similar to those Okinawans. Like them, we do not want to work 24/7 any more, and like them we want to have fun. And, like them, we want purpose. So let’s use the Okinawans’ example to help us style a new retirement, with fun and purpose, for this century in this country. We’ll enjoy what we invent, and future retirees (a/k/a our children) will thank us for rethinking this whole thing.