It's nice to have the choice to continue working and I certainly hope to have that. But not everybody does. And the reality is that a lot of people are kind of

It's nice to have the choice to continue working and I certainly hope to have that. But not everybody does. And the reality is that a lot of people are kind of worn out and past their prime when they hit retirement age. And if they aren't, a lot of people start having all sorts of health issues that make work a lot less fun and interesting. Strokes, heart issues, Alzheimer's, etc. These are the things that used to cause people to die relatively quickly but that's no longer the case. My father had a stroke and he might live another 20 years. He's definitely still active but there's no way he'd be doing his former job at this point or at least not at nowhere near the same level. That's not to say retired people are useless but it does mean you have to be realistic about their ability to earn incomes for very long after they retire. Or more prudently, your own ability. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. Pensions are a form of insurance that is worth having. With chronic over employment, there is a solid argument for making retirement age more flexible though. Continue working and have more disposable income when you reduce how much you work or eventually retire. The current system is not very flexible and actively disincentivizes people to work beyond a certain age. My father actually retired early because his employer was downsizing and it was cheaper for them to settle for early retirement than it was to outright fire him. That same arrangement made it completely unattractive for him to find other work. He was being paid to retire, not to take another job. Another job would have eroded his pension. That's a weird incentive. Good for my parents but not necessarily for anything else. But 60 is definitely young to retire like he did. He's 77 now.