Retirement has long been lauded as the promise of freedom after working your entire life— punching that final time card before triumphantly running through the finish line into an idyllic land of leisure where you can relax and do whatever you want. So, why are retired workers, who finally get a taste of freedom from clocking in, flocking back to work? There’s a term for this phenomenon: unretirement, which means “to return to the workforce after retirement, either by choice or necessity.”
Many factors contribute to unretirement on both a personal level and a more universal scale.
However, the Innovation Foundation’s survey, “Unretirement: A Phenomenon That’s Here to Stay,” cites “financial needs and personal fulfilment” as the top reasons why work beckons retirees back. Additionally, some retirees want to resume working to keep boredom at bay or to have access to regular socialization to minimize isolation.
Colleen Paulson, founder of Ageless Careers, says when it comes to unretirement, “I’ve seen it all. Some people lean into their professional experience and start consulting companies where they can share their subject matter expertise in a full-time or fractional role. Others choose to work on passion projects ([e.g.], folks who gardened on the weekends work for a nursery because they love it, not for the money). Everyone has their own unique financial and personal situation, so that definitely paints how people think about their next steps.”
The number of baby boomers in the workforce is booming
According to the Pew Research Center, “workers ages 75 and older are the fastest-growing age group in the workforce.” Additionally, the Population Reference Bureau reports that “the current growth of the population ages 65 and older… is unprecedented in U.S. history,” and by 2032, 25% of men and 17% of women aged 65 and older will be in the labor force.
Older people can work longer due in part to better health and longer lifespans, so some don’t want to retire at 65 if they foresee living for another 20 years. In light of this, a report from the World Economic Forum suggests supporting older people by creating “a more holistic approach to retirement… including phased retirement programmes, cross-generational mentorship and more flexible working options.”
Turning the tide on retirement
Sixty-one-year-old Dondra Ritzenthaler retired from her 20-year role as senior vice president of sales for Celebrity Cruises in 2023. Ritzenthaler says retirement enabled her to “slow down, reset and invest in parts of my life I hadn’t prioritized during such a demanding career… I spent time with family, traveled for pleasure and really reconnected with myself.”
But just a year later, she returned to work and is loving her new and current role as CEO of Azamara Cruises. She says, “What I realized pretty quickly is that my passion for the cruise/travel industry and for building strong, people-first organizations didn’t go away.”
Ritzenthaler isn’t alone. There is a trending desire among retirees to head back to work. The trend is so popular that Fortune 100 executive educator and social entrepreneur Mark S. Walton wrote a book about it titled Unretired: How Highly Effective People Live Happily Ever After. Walton says he wanted to detail his “personal and professional interactions with people in their 60s and beyond, including businesspeople, doctors, lawyers, educators, psychologists, journalists and others who told me they had no interest in a traditional leisurely retirement and intended to extend their current careers or reinvent their work lives for the long haul.”
What Walton ultimately discovered is that “individuals who are most likely to ‘flunk retirement’ share certain character traits: they’re generally intelligent, highly effective in their work, creative, competitive, curious… easily bored, goal-oriented and generative, which means they’re interested in making a difference in the lives of others.”
Unretirement means getting back on the playing field and finding purpose
One of the most famous cases of unretirement illustrates why many people “fail” at retirement: because they feel they have more to contribute. Less than two months after his first retirement announcement, NFL quarterback Tom Brady posted his unretirement announcement on X (then Twitter), stating that he had “unfinished business.” He added, “I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands.”
Brady’s athletic aspirations aside, many retirees share a similar pull back to something larger than themselves and the feeling that they still have plenty left to give, regardless of the playing field or industry.
In Ritzenthaler’s case, she shares, “When the opportunity with Azamara came along, it felt different. I wasn’t looking for a job, I was looking for purpose…. The chance to shape something special, to work with people I admire and to re-engage in an industry that still excites me every day…. So while I had stepped away thinking it was time to close the chapter, Azamara showed me that maybe the best part of the story was still ahead.”
The components behind a successful unretirement or a fulfilling retirement
The building blocks of a successful unretirement
Walton says three factors: fascination, flow and generativity “are the building blocks of a successful unretirement, whether it’s planned in advance or discovered in the process of life itself.”
Walton states in his book, “If doing work that fascinates us produces the highest level of happiness along with extra income, why not pursue it?” According to Walton, fascination leads to “flow,” which he describes as “total immersion, lack of worry, sense of joyful mastery and the production of better-than-anticipated results in a state of being in which we don’t notice the passage of time.” And lastly, generativity is the desire to “‘pay it forward’ to future generations.”
Firsthand insight on how to retire successfully
For those who want to retire and stay retired, Ritzenthaler says, “My biggest advice is to plan not just financially, but emotionally. So many of us pour ourselves into our careers for decades, and when that structure and purpose go away, it can leave a gap we didn’t expect. If I could’ve done it differently, I would’ve spent more time thinking about what would bring me joy and fulfillment in retirement, not just what I’d be stepping away from, but what I’d be stepping into…. Whether it’s travel, volunteering, learning or just more family time, having a clear sense of purpose is key.”
While some retirees unretire to return to a role in their lifelong field of work, others shift into entirely new opportunities. Paulson says to maintain a broad view, since this phase of life is “an iterative process, so what works for you now might not work for you in a year from now. So keep an open mind and know that there isn’t one right path.”
Although she chose to unretire, Ritzenthaler shares, “Retirement doesn’t have to be the end of meaningful work; it can be the beginning of something new.” Whichever path you decide to take, Ritzenthaler offers the following wisdom: “Stay open to evolving.”
Photo from Ground Picture/Shutterstock.com
