KEY POINTS:
The baby boomer generation has always been one to bring about social change to the world. Think of the 1960s youth revolution - and think of now when the first of them are reaching retirement age.
"Retirement age" may be a misnomer - because large numbers of people
in this generation are not planning on retiring at all.
Recent research in Australia shows that 19 per cent of the baby boomers - which is one in five - surveyed are not intending to leave paid work now, and are looking into staying in the workforce permanently, says David Micallef of Fenton Communications.
According to Wikipedia, baby boomers refers to those people born between 1946 and 1964.
In the study, a survey run by The Australian Psychological Society (APS), when asked about leaving the paid workforce, baby boomer respondents said accessing good healthcare (56 per cent), maintaining independence (55 per cent) and upholding current living standards (49 per cent) were their main concerns. The survey involved more than 1500 people.
Income rated as a lower motivation for remaining in paid work (46 per cent). Other factors included feeling valued (46 per cent) and social interactions in the workplace (43 per cent).
"Baby boomers seem to be less driven by financial rewards and more by the stimulation and satisfaction they can gain from their jobs," said APS president, Amanda Gordon.
"Interestingly, although income was not an important motivator for remaining at work, 47 per cent of respondents expressed concerns about not having enough finances to retire with," she said.
Auckland counsellor John McEwan, who goes by the title Dr Stress, is a baby boomer himself, having been born in 1951. And like many of his cohorts he does not intend to retire.
"I don't feel I can trust the government provisions for retired people. Superannuation in New Zealand was destroyed by Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. And the last real chance of a secure retirement is gone."
In New Zealand there is no set age to retire from work, but Statistics New Zealand has predicted that by 2051 a quarter of those living in New Zealand will be over 65. It's easy to see that it will not be possible for the younger workers to provide for the old.
McEwan says the concept of retirement is an aberration of history.
"It's something that happened between about the 1950s and 1990s. Before that, people's roles changed as they got older - but they still contributed to society."
McEwan says the concept of retirement gives a false message: "People are told this is the time to put their feet up and wait for the grim reaper. This is the time people begin to believe that their lives are over."
However, if you consider our longer life expectancy, if we do retire at 65 we'll be retired for a very long time - stretching financial resources to the limit.
McEwan says his generation has lived through more change than any other previously. "And we relish that - we've been challenged to keep ahead of the wave of change."
He says he may slow down his counselling work, but he probably will go on to teach, and get more involved in the not-for-profit area of things.
McEwan is also involved in work with the developing world - helping to develop leadership training programmes for Africa, Asia and Russia. "I am helping create materials that can be downloaded by local people. I want to continue to help community leaders."
The challenge for the baby boomer generation now is to stay as fit and healthy as possible, says McEwan.
He makes the point that his generation is the first one to face their children joining the workforce at the same time as dealing with their parents' dementia.
"The longevity of our parents is causing a lot of pressure. We have to look after them. Also, we see them and we don't want to become like them. We want to stay active and healthy.
"I exercise and watch what I eat. I am motoring into old age, rather than decelerating. If you decelerate into retirement, you die soon after - or you live the half-life of dementia and/or ill health.
"In the old days when men were forced to retire at 65, it was very common for them to die within six months - they lived to work. There is no retirement age now. So we must keep with the concept of doing what we can while we can - we should keep active."
Another reason why so many baby boomers aren't planning to retire, McEwan says, is his generation has lived in an era of prosperity. "Baby boomers have a spending mentality - even as we get older, we still go to the shops and buy things. We haven't really learnt to save in the way our grandparents, who lived during the Depression, learned to do.
"This generation will have to face the reality of having to think like their grandparents did through the Great Depression - but I don't know how many can do that. It would be about growing their own veges, being careful with the clothing they buy and saving."
Basically, baby boomers are recognising that their present lifestyle can't be had in retirement, so they're not planning on retiring.
McEwan says: "I'll keep on doing things until I can't. I'd rather be among the restless mob than part of the fading one.
"Our big challenges are in facing the intervention of modern medicine - and the threat of living a half life.
"Why is this generation keeping on working? Well, they're fearful of stopping. We're fearful of ending up in a vegetative state and we're concerned about the financial and other burdens involved with that.
"Baby boomers are scared, so they remain focused and keep moving.
"The community needs our skills too," he says. And if we consider the statistics concerning our ageing population - he's right.
