This week, approximately 75,000 Americans will celebrate their 65th birthdays.  Another 75,000 will do so next week. And the week after that. And the week after that…

What does this mean?  More than 10,000 people turn 65 each day, over 300,000 each month, and roughly four million each year. The last members of the Baby Boomer generation will turn 65 in 2029. Then Generation X will begin crossing the same threshold in 2030.

The names of the generations will change, but the flow of people entering this new season of life will continue at about the same rate for years to come.

The Meaning of 65

For many years, age 65 was viewed as the normal retirement age. It remains the age when most Americans become eligible for Medicare, but it no longer necessarily signals the end of a career. Some people retire at 65. Some continue working because they need to. Others continue because they want to. Others continue because they don’t know what else to do.  Still others leave one kind of work only to begin another.

There is no bell that rings on our 65th birthdays telling us what to do next. We do receive quite a bit of Medicare mail, however.

Less a finish line than a marker, our 65^th birthdays tell us that we have entered a different season, whether we are quite ready for it or not.

From Building Value to Living It

For most of our adult lives, the emphasis is on building.

We build careers and businesses. We build families, friendships, reputations, and financial security. We buy homes, educate children, save for retirement, and try to prepare for a future that always seems comfortably distant – until it isn’t.

By 65, most of us have accumulated more than financial assets. We have experience, judgment, relationships, memories, abilities, and stories. We have learned some things the easy way and quite a few more the hard way.

The key question we ask ourselves begins to change.

Instead of asking only, “What am I still trying to build?” we begin asking, “How should I live with what I have built?”  That may be the right question, but it is not always an easy one to answer. ☺

This key question is not really a financial question. A well-constructed retirement portfolio can help finance the years ahead. But it cannot tell us what to do during those years.

The transition from building value to living it requires a broader understanding of stewardship – and recognition that our identities are changing.

We must become better stewards of our physical health if we want to remain active and independent. Strength, balance, mobility, and endurance take on increasing importance.  Abilities that once seemed ordinary, like walking up a flight of stairs, or getting out of a chair, or carrying groceries, begin to look like assets worth preserving.

We must also care for our mental and spiritual lives. Aging gratefully requires curiosity, reflection, faith, and a willingness to keep learning. Growing older does not automatically make us wiser. It merely gives us more time to work on it.

Our financial stewardship changes as well. Accumulation remains important, but so do thoughtful spending, generosity, preparation, and the question of how much is enough.  We might also need to consider managing our wants.

Relationships deserve more attention, not less. Spouses, partners, families, friends, former colleagues, and younger people who might benefit from our encouragement all represent forms of value that cannot be shown on a personal balance sheet.

Purpose and work may also need to be redefined. Retirement does not have to mean the absence of productive activity. It may mean doing less of what we were previously required to do and more of what we are uniquely able or even want to do. Teaching, mentoring, serving, creating, helping, and simply being available can all become meaningful forms of work.

And then there is legacy. Financial assets matter, but they are only part of what we leave behind. Character, example, faith, gratitude, stories, and the way we treat others may prove to be our most valuable inheritances.

Aging Gratefully

None of this means that aging is easy.

Health changes. Abilities narrow. We can also do what we reasonably can to reduce the risks that might diminish our independence or shorten our active lives.

People we love are lost. Plans are sometimes interrupted by realities we neither expected nor invited.

Aging gratefully does not require us to deny those losses or pretend that every day is wonderful. Gratitude keeps the losses from becoming the whole story. It helps us recognize what remains and reminds us to use it while we can.

Next week, another 75,000 Americans will turn 65. They will not all retire, and they will certainly not follow the same path. But each will have entered a new season in which living the value already built becomes increasingly important.

I am already well into that new season and still learning what it asks of me.

The central question is no longer simply how much value we have built. It is how intentionally we will live it, share it, and ultimately pass it along.

Until next time, be well, and age gratefully,

Chris

P.S. The table below puts the demographic transition into perspective. A few observations and questions follow.

Several observations stand out:

• The Baby Boomer and Generation X cohorts each contain approximately 65 million Americans.
• The oldest Boomers turn 80 in 2026 and will turn 88 in 2034.
• The oldest Gen Xers turn 61 in 2026 and will turn 69 in 2034
• Approximately 20 million Gen Xers will reach age 65 between 2030 and 2034.
• Altogether, more than 36 million Americans will reach age 65 between 2026 and 2034.

Questions for Reflection

• Where do you fit in this continuing demographic transition?
• As you look toward the next five to ten years, what changes should you be preparing for now?
• What have you spent your life building – and how do you want to live, share, and preserve it?
• What would aging gratefully look like in your particular season of life?