Health & Happiness in Retirement

[Bikerdude]

Imagine that!

"We find that retirement improves both happiness and health. We find that life satisfaction improves immediately upon retirement and these effects are long-lasting. While we don’t find immediate effects on measurable health outcomes, we do find positive health impacts four or more years beyond retirement. This finding is consistent with the idea that health changes slowly over time so that retirement can have long run health benefits. We find no effect of retirement on health care utilization."

The secret to a happier, healthier life: Just retire - MarketWatch

[Markola]

Genius! These authors really seem to be onto something.


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[tmm99]

Wow, something like this would soooo p*ss me off...
...On second thought, I am cheap, so my cost may actually be better...

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 Wow, something like this would soooo p*ss me off... ...On second thought, I am cheap, so my cost may actually be better...

[tmm99]

LOL, Thanks, REWahoo, I stood up to get a breakfast plate and posted in the wrong thread!

[Big_Hitter]

thanks for posting this!

[DEC-1982]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikerdude Imagine that! "We find that retirement improves both happiness and health. We find that life satisfaction improves immediately upon retirement and these effects are long-lasting. While we don’t find immediate effects on measurable health outcomes, we do find positive health impacts four or more years beyond retirement. This finding is consistent with the idea that health changes slowly over time so that retirement can have long run health benefits. We find no effect of retirement on health care utilization." The secret to a happier, healthier life: Just retire - MarketWatch

Obviously. But I better not show this to DW; I need her to work for a few more years.

[Bestwifeever]

And tomorrow Marketwatch will tell us why working longer is better for our health and happiness.

[Which Roger]

I'm not at all surprised that this is true for people who retire voluntarily and who are mentally and financially prepared to retire. But a lot of people retire involuntarily (forced out, health issues, etc), and I would think the opposite would be true for most of them, due to the financial hit and sudden loss of purpose.

[ImThinkin2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DEC-1982 Obviously. But I better not show this to DW; I need her to work for a few more years.

I have the exact same issue. Whenever I show her anything we might do in our future lives she gets very impatient to get started. But I do need her to keep socking away more $$ so we are in a better place when we retire.

However, since I'm a guy, I will do the thing that is not necessarily the safest option - I will show her the article. Then accept the consequences.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImThinkin2019 However, since I'm a guy, I will do the thing that is not necessarily the safest option - I will show her the article. Then accept the consequences.

I'm not sure what you are implying here. That a feature of being a man is being imprudent?

Maybe this is more a personal trait than a gender depedent one?

Ha

[ImThinkin2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha I'm not sure what you are implying here. That a feature of being a man is being imprudent? Maybe this is more a personal trait than a gender depedent one? Ha

Some humor here. Many of the guys I work with do the imprudent thing - for example, say what comes into their mind, without thinking about the consequences. It does seem to me to be gender related. But I'm a guy so I can only speak from my and my friends' experience.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImThinkin2019 Some humor here. Many of the guys I work with do the imprudent thing - for example, say what comes into their mind, without thinking about the consequences. It does seem to me to be gender related. But I'm a guy so I can only speak from my and my friends' experience.

I also have had that direct drive between thought and mouth, but it can be costly so I have tried to tame it. Note to people on the board-this only applies to real life. I have killed more posts than you might imagine here, but the real effort to put some kind of clutch in that drive takes -place in real life.

Good observation though. Men can learn a lot form women if we make a bit of an effort.

Ha.

[unno2002]

I left as soon as I could. Stress down. Exercise more. Read more. Looking forward to the wife retiring so we can both "move on"....

[ulrichw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Which Roger I'm not at all surprised that this is true for people who retire voluntarily and who are mentally and financially prepared to retire. But a lot of people retire involuntarily (forced out, health issues, etc), and I would think the opposite would be true for most of them, due to the financial hit and sudden loss of purpose.

In fact, you've excellently restated the thesis of the actual working paper that the article was based on.

The point was to try to figure out what the impact of retiring was vs. any other factors. By using more advanced statistical analysis (technical: using instrumental variables), they were able to find evidence to support the beneficial effects of retirement.

Without using this advanced analysis, the evidence would seem to point to retirement having a neutral to slightly negative effect on health and well-being (because many people are forced to retire due to negative circumstances vs. choosing to retire). The study helps support what we want to intuitively believe - that retirement in and of itself is a good thing - even if sometimes the circumstances for retirement aren't great.

BTW: There was more of a point to the paper than to show this thesis - it was intended to help give policy guidance as to what effects changing retirement age might have on health care expenditures. Ironically, the paper didn't uncover much on that topic - retirement didn't affect health care expenditures to a statistically significant degree.

[Bamaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Which Roger I'm not at all surprised that this is true for people who retire voluntarily and who are mentally and financially prepared to retire. But a lot of people retire involuntarily (forced out, health issues, etc), and I would think the opposite would be true for most of them, due to the financial hit and sudden loss of purpose.

I was looking on my Facebook last night, and I realized that there are very few of my friends are working to a normal age 65 retirement. Corporate downsizing has reared its ugly head, and being forced into retirement is the norm.

My company overreacted in 2008 and retired everyone over 55--and they paid dearly in benefits, healthcare, severance pay, etc. And everyone I know has just about been happy as larks in retirement.

I never intended to work so long, but we had a child (my first) later in life. But after seeing my father retire at 59 and lead a long and happy life, I have been preparing all my life for the retired life. I beat him @ 58 1/2 years old.

Now my purpose is taking care of our daughter and two young grandchildren. I was over the corporate mentality the second they came after my company car--and I never looked back.

[ImThinkin2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha I also have had that direct drive between thought and mouth, but it can be costly so I have tried to tame it. Note to people on the board-this only applies to real life. I have killed more posts than you might imagine here, but the real effort to put some kind of clutch in that drive takes -place in real life. Good observation though. Men can learn a lot form women if we make a bit of an effort. Ha.

Thank you for correctly diagnosing the cause - now I know it's called "direct drive thought and mouth syndrome". I do agree that listening to DW is beneficial and has made me more sensitive to how my comments might be interpreted. Even with this knowledge and the syndrome damped down somewhat I still have my days.

Still, a precaution. The best story I have heard is from my friend who used to take his wife's comments literally. One day she told him she did not like a wall that divided the kitchen from another room. When she came back home from the store she found him standing there with a reciprocating saw in hand and no wall. She told him then that what she actually meant was that she did not like the color. Now she is careful to say "I'm thinking about this but don't do anything yet."

[Markola]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImThinkin2019 she came back home from the store she found him standing there with a reciprocating saw in hand and no wall.

Funny story! I'm not sure if the guy in the story was retired but, if he was, the Puritans would say, "See? What more proof do we need that Idle hands are the Devil's workshop"?


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