Entrepreneurs: You Don’t Have to Be Retired to Enjoy a Retirement Community!
“What job would you do if you didn’t need the money?” This question is often used to help young people find a career they enjoy. However, it works even better in helping retired people who get a sense of purpose and accomplishment out of work figure out their next steps.
That’s one of the reasons working after 70 is becoming more common. After decades of building up their investment portfolio, older adults who are working in retirement can focus on doing what they love with less worry about what it pays. However, making extra money is always a bonus.
If you’re considering moving into senior living but are wondering, “Can you still work and live in a retirement community?” the answer is a loud and boisterous, “YES!” It’s your life, so if you enjoy working, then by all means do it.
Reasons to Keep Working
Research shows more people are working after turning 65, both out of financial necessity and to stay busy. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the share of seniors working or actively looking for jobs to rise from 19.6% in 2018 to 23.3% in 2028. Besides having extra money during their retirement years, some reasons people 50 and better give for continuing to work in their retirement years include:
- Being bored without working
- Feeling productive, useful, helpful
- Having a job that is fun and enjoyable
- Interacting with people
- Staying physically/mentally active
- Pursuing their dream
- Learning new things
Benefits of Working in Retirement
Whether you find a 9-to-5 job working for someone else, start your own business or share your knowledge and experience by teaching, there are a lot of benefits of choosing to work, including:
- Brain benefits: Research shows continuing to work can benefit your cognition. Plus, switching to a different type of job or role/learning new things may help slow cognitive decline.
- Better overall health: A University of Maryland study of more than 12,000 retirees found that having a post-career job was associated with fewer major diseases and functional limitations.
- More social opportunities: The Harvard Study of Adult Development has found much of your retirement well-being depends on having good-quality relationships. Study participants who were happiest in retirement replaced their old work relationships with new relationships. Doing any regular work or volunteering creates an opportunity for new interactions that can develop into new relationships.
- Feelings of purpose: Research shows that people with a sense of purpose feel younger in retirement. Continuing to work in some capacity is a great way to achieve that.
- Higher life satisfaction: A 2021 study of retirees in England found that volunteer work in retirement was associated with less depression and higher satisfaction and quality of life. Improvements in volunteers’ well-being disappeared once they stopped volunteering.
- More enjoyment: Retirement provides an opportunity to find a job or freelance work that you always thought would be interesting, but never tried because it paid less or had fewer employee benefits than your previous job.
There’s Nothing Retiring About Our Lifestyle
Retiring doesn’t mean slowing down or doing less of what you love. If you’re someone who wants to continue to grow and learn, The Village at Glennloch Farms is one of the best places to retire. Not only do we offer an engaging and active independent living lifestyle, but we’re close to a variety of universities and other businesses where you can share what you to.
To learn about what we have to offer, use our Community Assistant chat feature or contact us here.
