In this episode we delve into the evolution of retirement and its roots in ageism, tracing back to the Industrial Age's transformation of work. We examine the impact of societal and economic shifts on retirement concepts, from private pensions to the Social Security Act, and address the challenges of longer lifespans and inadequate social security today. Drawing parallels with the impending AI revolution, the episode emphasizes the need for lifelong learning and adaptability, advocating for policies that support an age-diverse workforce. Through discussions on leveraging mature workers' experience in a tech-driven world, Rachael Van Pelt inspires listeners to rethink aging and retirement, advocating for a future where age is an asset and every generation can thrive in the workforce.
Chapters
00:11 Traditional Retirement is Rooted in Ageism
05:43 Learning from History to Improve our Future
07:33 Looking Ahead: The AI Revolution and the Workforce
10:53 Overcoming Ageist Stereotypes and Biases
Welcome back to Next Act Ninjas, the number one podcast for optimizing lifestyle longevity. I'm your host, Rachael Van Pelt, a retired healthspan scientist turned Realtor and coach. Do you dream of a luxurious retirement lifestyle? Many of us do, don't we? But did you know that traditional retirement, dating back over a century, is rooted in ageism?
Today I wanted to share this history with you so that we can avoid repeating the past and create a better future for ourselves. A future where our age is an asset, not a liability. A future where we aren't forced into early retirement, but have opportunities to keep contributing in our own unique way should we want to.
So let's go back in time a bit. At the dawn of the industrial age, people began migrating from the country to the city. This caused a massive lifestyle shift as people transitioned from being more self-sufficient, living off the land, to depending on industrial work and a steady paycheck to survive. This shift turned work from being more of a way of life for many into more of a means to an end. From being a farmer or craftsman to becoming a factory worker or cog in an assembly line. It fundamentally changed our relationship to work. I mean, just imagine being the son of a farmer, moving to the big city, taking on a new job. At first, it might've felt like a relief, right? No more worries about droughts or pestilence ruining your crop and your income for the year. Just show up to work every day, collect your paycheck. But how long do you think it would take before the day-to-day drudgery of, that industrial work eroded your well-being. How long before you'd long to be back on the farm enjoying fresh air, sunshine, the fruits of your labor? And even if you didn't want to go back to farming, you probably were dreaming about the day you wouldn't have to work anymore, especially as those years ticked by. But here's the thing, retirement, the idea of it, the concept of it wasn't even around yet. So you plugged away day in, day out, expecting to work right up until the day you dropped.
Now meanwhile, advances in safety and healthcare were beginning to help people live longer. This was happening around the same time as industrialists were trying to find ways to accelerate progress, to improve efficiency. They believed that an aging workforce was going to be an impediment, a threat to that progress. And mandatory retirement, it looked like a good solution to this problem, out with the old and with the new, so to speak. In an effort to support these new retirees, many companies established private pensions. These pensions flourished in the early 1900s, right up until the Great Depression, when many of them began to fail amidst the skyrocketing unemployment. And it's this economic turmoil that put pressure on FDR to create a public pension system. One that would encourage those older men to retire and open up jobs for the many unemployed younger men.
The good news is this culminated in the Older Workers Pension Act in 1935, which later became our Social Security Act. This might have seemed like a great New Deal, a win -win for both older and younger workers. You know, the young would now have jobs, the old would finally get to go home and relax, right? However, at that time, life expectancy in the US was only 63 years of age and they set the age at which you could draw social security at 65y. So yay, you were more likely going to drop dead before you could draw benefits. Your wife, should she outlive you, was going to wind up with family or in the poorhouse. Now eventually that age lowered to 62, but still, retirees weren't expected to need social security for very long, right? There was no extended life of leisure on the golf course for those early retirees.
If we fast forward to today, the typical 65-year-old has a much longer healthspan, don't they? We often live well beyond traditional retirement age, the traditional age set by social security, which is great. It means we can enjoy some years work free if we want. It's just that that social security, it's not enough to support us during those added years, is it? And that's exactly why we have to learn to extend our wealthspan. And if we want to keep working and contributing to society as long as possible, we may just find ourselves working against the weeds of ageism and forced retirement that took root way back in the 1930s.
Now, why am I dredging up this history? It's because I think we can learn something from it. As we stand on the brink of the AI revolution, what some would call the fourth industrial revolution, there are noticeable similarities to the first industrial revolution. Today, as AI begins to replace jobs across industries, we are simultaneously experiencing major advancements in longevity science.
Longer lifespans plus fewer jobs to go around could exert the same kind of pressure that was felt during the Great Depression. We could see more people forced out of the workforce prematurely and early retirement, so to speak, than ever before. While culturally, there appears to be a strong desire to retire early, I mean, just look at the fire movement, right? The truth is, few people in their 60s want to stop working entirely. Instead, they seek new challenges, new opportunities to contribute, new ways to engage. Many wish to continue working not out of necessity, but for fulfillment and the desire to contribute meaningfully to society. This mindset shift represents a fundamental change in how we perceive aging, work, retirement.
And the good news is the AI revolution has the potential to democratize work across the age spectrum in ways the industrial revolution couldn't. But only if we recognize the opportunity that's before us. Look, over the next few years, AI and automation are going to massively transform every industry and every job level from manufacturing to the service industry, from entry-level intern to C-suite exec. This technological leap is not just about replacing manual labor with robots. It's about augmenting or replacing cognitive tasks with artificial intelligence. This massive shift is going to force us to reevaluate the types of work that we value in society and the skills we need. Now at first glance, this might seem like bad news for older adults, particularly if we don't uproot the weeds of ageism that were planted 100 years ago. However, I think technological advances could easily increase the number of years that we stay productive. That's of course assuming that we're adaptable to change.
As AI takes over more routine cognitive and physically demanding tasks, many jobs could evolve to focus on more human-centric skills like creativity, empathy, problem solving. Mature workers often have these in abundance. We've accumulated this through years of experience, right? This could mean that instead of retiring, people transition from roles that are labor-intensive or routine to roles that leverage broader perspective, that have more nuanced interpersonal skills.
For example, teaching might become less about delivering lessons and grading papers and more about helping students personalize their education and learning pathways, utilizing those AI tools. An older, more experienced teacher who's worked with hundreds of students over the years would have an advantage in this scenario. Likewise, being a Realtor may be less about driving people around to look at homes and more about crafting a personalized real estate strategy that enhances finances and lifestyle. Again, a lifetime of experience and long -term perspective is advantageous here. But these are just a couple of examples. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how new technologies might impact your career trajectory.
Regardless, if we want to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change, we have to be lifelong learners. This will be absolutely critical for anyone wanting to stay relevant in the workforce. This shift was already happening over the past few decades with the information age explosion, but it's become even more urgent now. Multiple career shifts throughout a lifetime, they're becoming the norm, aren't they? And many of us are interspersing these career shifts with periods of education and retraining. This is only going to become more and more common in the future as many more of us embark on encore careers or take on new roles. These new roles, they may be driven by your dreams, they may evolve out of necessity, or some combination of the two.
As we live longer, healthier lives, the traditional age for retirement will undoubtedly increase. That's going to impact our social security system, our retirement planning. Our economy, and our shifting demographic will force us to adapt to a relatively older workforce and find a way to balance the needs of both older and younger workers. We'll need to develop new policies and benefits that are structured to support that more fluid, age-diverse workforce.
We'll also need to make sure adults can access and use these new technologies. This means not only making new tech user friendly, but also providing the training and support to utilize it more effectively, regardless of what age you are. I think there's a cultural bias and narrative that says older adults can't adapt to new technology. We're going to have to overcome these barriers and ageist stereotypes if we want to evolve the workplace. The AI revolution will undoubtedly have a profound psychological and social implication. I mean, work, it provides structure, doesn't it? It provides us with a sense of community, purpose. And as we age, continuing to engage in meaningful work is important for a healthier, more fulfilling life, not to mention preserved mental sharpness.
But we'll need a cultural shift in how we perceive aging, expectations around retirement, and the value of older adults in the workforce. Bottom line, the fourth industrial revolution will massively redefine the landscape of work and retirement, offering opportunities for you Next Act Ninjas to remain active, engaged, valued. But the rapidly changing landscape also reveals an urgent need for becoming masters of our healthspan and wealthspan, doesn't it?
I'd love to hear what staying engaged in the coming decades might look like for you. Does it excite you or feel a bit much? Do you think we can uproot the weeds of ageism or are they too firmly planted to overcome? Please share your stories in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe and share the podcast. It really helps us grow the tribe.
Thanks for joining me today on Next Act Ninjas. Until next time, Live Well, Love More, Age Less, my friends.