At one minute into the video,a commentator says” We are now shifting from lifetime pensions, to lifetime work”..,should say shifting back, to lifetime work.

The concept of living comfortably for 20 to 30 years after stopping working is a relatively new concept and when you step back and examine the idea of having almost an entire second career lifetime paid for by savings or a third party is pretty incredible...for most of any population; economically speaking. Few careers in modern history had mandatory age retirement (ours among them), at a relatively young age. Thus the traditional pensions.

My maternal grandfather lived about three years after he stopped working as a butcher.
My paternal great-grandfather lived about the same. I still have a copy of his first social security benefits letter in the ‘40’s. It was around $19 dollars a month. He was a shoe factory worker, who emigrated around turn of century. Dad said he died content with what he accomplished in his new life.

We are in a period where the world economy has not figured out nor caught up with medical science and clean living of the late 20th century, economically or ethically.

I remember in the early’60’s visiting a great aunt in a “home”. She was in her ‘90s, still healthy physically. We all felt sorry for her. She had no purpose in life.. no job or responsibilities.Just existing relatively comfortably, waiting for death. My next door neighbor is 91. He is in the same situation. Can walk..barely. Can’t garden (his hobby), can’t drive. He told me last winter matter of factly “guess I’m just waiting to die”. Meanwhile the medical and pharmaceutical business, (yes they are businesses) keep him going for their own profit, paid for by his progeny, who rarely see him. They are busy with their own lives.

We are having trouble in our country accepting the concept of mortality, for some reason.