Does Early Retirement Hurt Your Health?

Early retirement has lots of appeal, especially when you’re feeling overworked and underappreciated. It’s easy to fantasise about long days with no one to tell you what to do and no definite deadlines to meet.

But there is some evidence out there that early retirement can hurt your health if you’re not careful about planning and being prepared.

 

Decreased Longevity

Researchers at the University of Zurich found a link between early retirement and mortality in people with blue collar jobs. In this 2010 study, the authors of the study found a surprising 13% increase in the probability of dying before the age of 67 for workers who withdrew from the workforce early. It was found that there was a significantly higher incidence of cardiovascular problems among those who retired early. 

Cardiovascular Problems

The University of Zurich study isn’t the only one that has linked early retirement with cardiovascular problems. A study at the University of Athens found that a five-year increase in retirement age was connected with a 10 per cent decrease in mortality. In other words, the longer people worked, the longer they lived. Cardiovascular health seemed to be the biggest culprit, even more so than cancer.

 

Dementia

France’s governmental health agency conducted a study of nearly 500,000 people to evaluate how retirement impacted their health. They found that each additional year of work reduced people’s risk of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, by 3.2 per cent. Researchers hypothesise that the intellectual stimulation prompted by work helps to keep the brain active and healthy.

 

Depression

An interesting report from the Institute of Economic Affairs found that early retirees enjoy an initial boost in health, but then their risk of clinical depression increases by 40 per cent. Additionally, the likelihood that retirees will need to take medication for depression increases by 60 per cent with early retirement.

 

Are Early Retirees Doomed to Poor Health?

Does all of this evidence mean that you should abandon your hopes of early retirement? That’s a question only you can answer. The big picture offered by statistics may not give you all the information you need in order to make a personal decision.

You’ll need to discuss your situation with your spouse, your family, your Altus Adviser, and maybe even your physician.

There are many things you can do to increase your chances of a happy, healthy retirement:

Obtain good health care - If you have any long-term health problems, you’ll want to address them sooner than later. Get the best advice you can, and improve your health now before you retire. Health care planning can help you to prepare for worst and put your mind at ease. 

Find a purpose - Just because you’re not employed anymore doesn’t mean you need to abandon a purpose-driven life. Keep yourself mentally and physically fit by working for a cause, volunteering in your community, mentoring others, or working on ambitious projects. By all means, enjoy your leisure time; but also make sure you still have a purpose.

Make sure your finances are in order - Retiring early means that you don’t have as long for your assets to grow before you need them. If you don’t have a solid nest egg or a way to supplement your super income, you might find yourself in a difficult situation later, especially if you need to come up with funds for aged care. Work out the numbers with your Altus Adviser, and push off retirement until you have met your retirement planning goals.

For more information about retirement planning, contact us at Altus Financial.