1.    Charlie Munger is 98 years old (1924-2022)

2.    Warren Buffett is 92 years old (1930-220)

3.    George Soros is 92 years old (1930-2020)

4.    Prince Phillip was 99 years old when he died (1921-2021)

5.    Queen Elizabeth II was 96 years old (1926-2022)

No one had ever dared to ask them about retirement, and they are being lauded for inspiration. Yet retirement age is stuck in the mid-60s.

King Charles gets a job at age 73, the oldest person to ascend the British throne. Yes, he is now gainfully employed as CEO of the British Empire.

Compared to all those, I am still a youth at 82 years old (1940- ) so please stop asking me about retirement. As the advertisement for Boost goes, “age is a number and mine is unlisted”.

Age has its twists and turns as we all grow and enter different stages in our lives – from a baby to a teen, to young adult, adulthood, plus education, work life, family life. The continuum of life is in the three phases – we are born, we live, and we die. In the final analysis, we are responsible for our lives.

Who shall I turn to, (or ‘who can I turn to’) when nobody needs me? My heart wants to know, and so I must go, where destiny leads me.

Sung by Tony Bennett, written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.

This was my theme song when, at age 50 years, I had to do something to help myself when I was having difficulty dealing with my return to Jamaica and had to deal with the situation of finding employment to support myself and two fatherless children.

“Turn to” loomed large in my head and presented choices such as ask for help – but who? do something different – but what? Change my career – but to what, so after a short period of time I decided to change to something else – from a high-level health professional to a janitor at the ripe old age of 50 years.

Fast forward – slowly – after 32 years my song can now be “who did I turn to”. The answer is “self”.  So, my age is a number. Reasonably healthy on the success journey, having turned my thoughts towards something else, my life is an open book for age, dignity, and duty.

There are many others out there who turned to something else, for example, retired to go home and “read a good book”. 

They never gave thought to the vagaries of retirement where a one off or severe event can knock them off their retirement block such as serious health issues or living accommodation or unplanned events such as the pandemic – COVID-19 or equivalent. Retirement funds have a way of shrinking or disappearing, but employment endures – whether by self or in an industry which favours seniors alongside millennials.

I made a conscious decision to be gainfully employed with no reference to retirement. I made a commitment to age, dignity, and duty like Queen Elizabeth II up to age 96 years and beyond as my mental faculty allows having read where her death certificate states she “died of old age”. On the other hand, Charlie Munger (98) and Warren Buffett (92) keep going on like the Energizer Bunny.

Retirement has never been a concern of mine. All the indicators through generations, government policies and the financial and insurance industries give compelling reasons for retirement that are valid; and yes, there must be great personal readiness for retirement.  I have made a choice not to be consumed by a lifelong prospect for retirement planning.

I am not born to retire, taken from the article Born to Retire: The Foreshortened Life Course (by David J. Ekerdt, Ph.D. Published 01 February 2004.

I have no anxiety about retirement, so please, stop asking me when I am going to retire.  I repeat, I am not born to retire.  I am committed to ADD – Age, Dignity and Duty.

– Audrey Hinchcliffe is CEO and founder, Manpower and Maintenance Services Ltd Group.