The article notes that peasants didn’t retire; true enough. But artisans, craftsmen and the like, would have a lifecycle of going from apprentice to journeyman to master, in the final stages becoming what today we’d call a small business owner. Their lives were more about administration and something akin to portfolio management, than daily toil. Then there were the gentry, who served in the military or the state bureaucracy, until some age when they indeed retired. And finally the clergy, who as it were, started their careers already retired.
A vast difference between now-and-then, is that the lower classes didn’t retire… they couldn’t; whereas the upper classes, did… and early (by modern standards!), too. Now, what we term the lower classes retire as soon as they’re eligible. But the upper classes – the folks with the plum and remunerative jobs – hold on, well into their 70s. Present company excepted, those who are most able to retire, are least interested in doing so.
Surfeit of choices is stressful! Today, we have more choices… and in that sense, more stress? Did I retire too soon? Not early enough? Should I relocate in retirement? Or is the grass on the other side, no greener? Am I too stingy? Too profligate? To focused on the future? Too insecure? Asking too many questions? Centuries ago, we didn’t have this problem. We had manifestly other problems, but… not this one!
