The last topic of post-retirement economic planning is whether retirees want to continue working.
I personally advocate that if conditions allow, then the pros and cons of retirees continuing to work outweigh the disadvantages.
1. Reduce the burden on the next generation
The burden on the next generation will become heavier and heavier. The fundamental reason for this is that Chinese society has entered an aging population. Illustration: China is rapidly aging.
As China's society ages, more and more people of working age are supporting the non-working age population. This can be reflected in the old-age dependency ratio.
The dependency ratio of the elderly population refers to the ratio of the elderly part of the non-working-age population to the working-age population, which is used to indicate how many elderly people are supported per 100 working-age population. It is also known as the dependency coefficient of the elderly population, referred to as the old age coefficient, which is one of the indicators that reflects the social consequences of population aging from an economic perspective.
According to the 2022 China Statistical Yearbook, China's old-age dependency ratio reached 20 in 202182.This means that every five young people in our country have to support at least one 65-year-old man. In 2000, the number was 99%, which means that 11 young people support an elderly person over 65 years old. In just 10 years, the old-age dependency ratio has doubled.
The burden is heavier in some areas. In 2021, in Liaoning, Sichuan, and Chongqing, every four young people will support an old man. Experts**, by 2050, China's old-age dependency ratio will reach 43%. This means that almost every young person has to provide for an old man.
At that time, half of every young person's physical strength, energy, time, and money were spent on the elderly. Therefore, if the elderly can continue to use their surplus energy to create wealth, it will be a great support for the next generation.
2 Work improves the quality of life in retirement
I have covered this in other articles in "Snow First on Retirement". Among them, the article "Volunteers" talks about it the most. I would like to briefly review the content of this article.
Volunteer (unpaid) work is beneficial to retirees in three ways.
Useful American psychologist Maslow divided people's psychological needs into five levels. Among them, self-realization refers to the process of realizing the various talents and potentials of an individual, giving full play to them, and realizing their ideals and ambitions.
Work is an important path to self-realization.
Companions want to maintain friendships with people, want to be trusted and loved, and want to be part of a group. This is a social need of people, also known as emotional and belonging needs. Retirees continue to maintain social interactions through work, receive care from social interactions, and reduce loneliness.
Respect Self-esteem is liking oneself. Self-esteem is an emotional need of a person. Self-esteem is gained through two channels, one is one's own evaluation of oneself and the other is the evaluation of oneself by others. To a certain extent, the importance of others' evaluation of oneself is even higher than one's own evaluation.
As the saying goes, "a warm word is warm in three winters, and a bad word is cold in June". At work, a word of thanks from others and a smile from others will make the retiree feel like a spring breeze.
Studies of the elderly in Japan have found that the elderly who work as volunteers often feel that they are useful to others and society. At the same time, volunteer work can even have physical benefits, such as higher self-rated health, lower paralysis rates, and lower risk of death.
3 Planning big and small
In terms of economic planning for retirees, retirees should "make a big life and settle down in a small place". It is necessary to think big, but also to start from the side, not just to lie on the past wealth to spend time. (Yang Xuexian).