Retiring early is no longer a goal for a growing number of Americans. In fact, for some, reaching retirement age marks only a transition to new career opportunities.
More than half of workers age 60-plus who responded to a
CareerBuilder survey said they would look for a new job after retiring from their current company, up from 57 percent last year. When asked how soon they think they can retire from their current job, more than one in 10 (12 percent) respondents said they don't think they'll ever be able to retire. Other responses included:
- 1-2 years: 27 percent
- 3-4 years: 20 percent
- 5-6 years: 27 percent
- 7-8 years: 6 percent
- 9-10 years: 5 percent
- More than 10 years: 4 percent
"We're seeing more than three-quarters of mature workers putting off retirement, largely due to financial concerns, but also as a personal decision made by people who enjoy their work," said Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America.
Enjoy their work? Oh, the horror! Who are these people? Well, some of them just happen to be doctors. If you look closely, you'll see them all around you -- in hospitals, community health centers, even private practices --working past retirement age as locum tenens.
I've shared a couple of their stories on this blog. One was about
Dr. Ramos, an emergency physician turned modern-day cowboy, who fleets from one remote Western town to the next saving lives. The other was about
Dr. Plasse, who's as skilled with a pen as he is with a scalpel, and whose true talent is balancing his life to fit in all the things he's passionate about.
Both are well accomplished and financially secure individuals, who actually choose to stay in the workforce simply because they enjoy it. If this is a growing trend, c'est la vie. We should all be so lucky as to spend our golden years doing what we love.
