While some people may hanker to retire as soon as they can, research shows that more than one million mature-age Australians are likely to continue working into older age, with around 650,000 of these planning never to retire.
As people live longer and birth rates continue to decline, the proportion of Australians over the age of 65 will double in just 40 years to comprise about a quarter of the population. An ageing population represents a valuable pool of wisdom, skills and experience, and with better health and higher levels of education, more Australians than ever are actively choosing to work longer.
In Extending Your Use-By Date, Dr Darryl Dymock examines why continuing to work later in life can be good for your health and your hip-pocket. Consider the following –
- Research has revealed that working beyond the age of 55 keeps you challenged and engaged, and stimulates brain cell growth
- Many older workers prefer to work part-time, and recent changes to tax and superannuation laws make a leisurely move to retirement a much better proposition
- Australia is becoming a 'knowledge-based' economy and a move away from physically demanding labour will only increase opportunities for experienced and knowledgeable mature workers.
Extending Your Use-By Date is a practical 'how to' guide that includes a handy list of ways to ensure you make the most of later-life opportunities. It contains advice on 'encore careers' (career changes), information about becoming a consultant in your existing industry, about buying a business, and about volunteering. It also features dozens of real-life experiences of older workers, tips for mature-age jobseekers from the professionals, and a rundown on the employment sectors predicted to boom in the near future, for those wishing to retrain.
The message is simple – you don't need to retire just because you have hit some magical age. Life is long, and continuing to use your valuable skills and abilities into your later years will not only earn you money, but might just help keep you young, too.
