A few months ago, the Conference Board revealed that the number of workers aged 55 or older who love their jobs is incredibly high compared to younger generations.
Warren Buffett, 95, knows that sweet feeling of job satisfaction that many older workers feel and how hard it is to shake off.
Buffett will step down as chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) at the end of the year. In a letter to shareholders released Monday, he announced that he would no longer write an annual letter or speak at the company’s annual meeting. His successor, Greg Abel, 63, is expected to take the reins of the company as CEO on January 1.
Buffett still plans to go to the office for now.
“I am happy to say that I feel better about the second half of my life than the first,” he wrote. “To my surprise, I generally feel great. Even though I’m moving slowly and reading is getting harder and harder, I’m in the office five days a week working with great people. Sometimes I have a useful idea or am approached with an offer we might not have received otherwise.”
To put into perspective how long Buffett has been in office: he was running Berkshire Hathaway long before Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were born.
What allows someone to work well into their ninth decade is worth thinking about. I reached out to a handful of longevity, retirement, and workplace experts to get their take on why Buffett stayed at his job for so long.
Learn more: Average retirement savings by age: how do you stack up?
“I thought Buffett’s letter was a historic display of wisdom, maturity and conscience,” said Ken Dychtwald, psychologist and gerontologist, CEO of Age Wave and best-selling author.
“He’s an extraordinary example of a human being who has been a leader and continues to demonstrate what a leader could become at the age of 95. Why did he work so long? I think he enjoyed it.”
According to Dychtwald, there are three main reasons to work. The first is to earn a salary. The second is that it creates purpose. The third is that it creates socialization between generations.
Buffett no longer needed the salary, but the other factors apply.
“Here is a man who worked in his job for 64 years and was the most powerful and influential person in the world in financial services, but who continued to work because there was important work to be done,” Dychtwald said.
“I think he was very proud of what he did. He loved being a role model not only for capitalism, but for humanism and his contributions to so many things, and his designation of the importance of people who have wealth not to show it off, but rather to bring it to the less fortunate. Who would imagine that the leading capitalist of the last century would have such a gentle and open philosophy of life?”
FILE – Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett smiles as he plays bridge after Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Neb., May 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Clearly, Buffett is in the twilight of life, but his longevity offers lessons for the rest of us,” Chris Farrell, author of “Unretirement” and “Purpose and a Paycheck,” told Yahoo Finance.
“First of all, don’t listen to the academics, commentators and colleagues who say everything goes wrong in the second half of life. No, you now have the experience to draw on and the knowledge to connect the dots creatively.”
To stay in work, your work must matter. “Work is important if it is a way to satisfy curiosity, learn new things, and if it provides bonds of collegiality – and even friendship – between colleagues and peers,” Farrell said. “If you’re not getting these rewards, then maybe it’s time to move on, maybe retire, maybe a new career.”
For many people, work defines who they are and what they value, and that’s certainly the case for Buffett, he added.
“The same goes for many artists, professionals, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers like machinists and electricians. They’ve spent decades building expertise – why stop when they’re still good at it? Well, at least until age finally takes its toll (and that’s clearly the case with Buffett now).
What’s intriguing about Buffett’s letter is how much time he spends on his friends, his colleagues, the people he’s met over the years who have shaped him for the better (many of whom come from his hometown of Omaha). Work can play an important role in social life, especially as people age and friends die or move away. Work becomes a source of belonging and conversation.”
The lesson here is not to work until you can’t do it anymore, Farrell said. “The lesson is to find and stick to what gives you meaning and connections to wider society.”
“It’s surprising that Buffett chose to work until age 90, but it’s also an increasingly common story,” Ken Stern, an expert on longevity and aging and founder of the Longevity Project, told me. “As Americans live longer, more people want to find purpose in the second half of their lives and also ensure they have strong social connections. [There are] There are many ways to do this, but work, for a growing number of people, provides both meaning and connection.
“Think about Jane Goodall, who worked until she was 90, or Mel Brooks, who at 99 just signed on to produce and star in ‘Spaceballs 2,'” Stern said.
He added: People ages 75 and older make up the fastest-growing component of the U.S. workforce, with the number of working seniors expected to double by 2030.
“Part of it has to do with economics, of course, but for many people, like Buffett, it has more to do with meaning, connection and living a more fulfilling, healthier life,” Stern said.
A question about retirement? Personal finance? Is there anything career related? Click here to send a note to Kerry Hannon.
Now for my own opinion. Work is an identity for many people. It describes us, absorbs us intellectually, motivates us. For many of us, as we pass the traditional retirement age of 65, we know we still have the ability to contribute. Our instinct tells us that our best work is not in the rearview mirror, but perhaps ahead of us.
Additionally, having a sense of purpose and understanding how meaningful our work is – not only to our lives but to the world beyond – keeps us working.
The ideal scenario is to leave work or retire when you want and how you want. Almost none of us can do it without financial pressures like Buffett. But we can all draw on this gem of advice from his letter:
“It’s never too late to improve…Decide what you’d like your obituary to say and live life to deserve it.”
Kerry Hannon is a senior columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and author of 14 books, including “Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,” “In control at 50 and over: how to succeed in the new world of work,” and “Never too old to get rich.” Follow her on Blue sky.
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