Pi-Consulting

Ah, retirement. Our sunset years are supposed to be like going to heaven a couple of decades before we actually get around to dying.

You’ve seen the ads, of course. We all swan around in blue blazers with gold buttons, white duck trousers and deckshoes, only pausing between cruises and bridge weeks for long enough to survey the financial pages with quiet satisfaction. Our wives can be identified by their candy-pink suits and gold shoes, and their tendency to fret about not having enough fingers to put all of their rings on. And of course we’re all so busy living a perfect, carefree existence that we don’t really have time to actually do anything.

Sounds like just another fantasy from adland, right? The peculiar thing is that this silly picture, or something rather like it, actually seems to be coming true for a significant number of older people. The difference is that the Zsa Zsa Gabor fashion-sense from the ads has given way to snappier modern styles. The significant thing is that the “after work experience” from now on has less and less to do with cats and carpet slippers. A whole generation of prospective ‘retirees’, far from slowing down, is set to take on a new lease of life. (more…)