ABSTRACT
For a time it was believed that early retirement was chosen mainly by those who were ill or were laid off in late life and could not find replacement work, but the evidence has mounted that retirement begins before age sixty-five, at age sixty-two or earlier, and is voluntary. More and more people find that they can live comfortably without work using a combination of Social Security benefits, added retirement income from supplementary retirement or pension plans, and personal savings. Considering a lifespan for many individuals of approximately eight decades, of which roughly twenty years are spent in study and another twenty in retirement, then nearly half of one’s life is spent outside the full-time labor market. The chapter discusses the implications for the individuals who represent this new “class” of people experiencing the transition to a more healthy, able, and economically independent elderly population.
