Retiring early doesn't mean a longer life

It is widely held that early retirement is associated with longer life expectancy and later retirement is associated with early death, but a new study shows this isn't so. The long-term survival of people who retire early at age 55 or 60 is no better than that of those who retire at 65. On the contrary, survival rates appear to improve with increasing age at retirement. This seems to be the case for both high - and low - income groups. The possible health benefits of retirement, such as a less stressful, more relaxed lifestyle, have been postulated to improve longevity among people who retire early. Researchers form the health services division of the Shell Oil Company in Houston, USA, analysed data on more than 3,500 past employees of Shell Oil who retired at age 55, 60 or 65 and who were followed for up to 26 years. About 11 percent were women. After adjusting for factors such as gender and income level, they found that employees who retired early at age 55 had a significantly increased mortality compared with those who retired 10 years later at age 65. In fact, mortality was nearly twofold higher in the first 10 years after retirement at age 55 compared with those who continued working. In contrast, employees who retired at age 60 had similar survival rates as those who retired at age 65. The researchers acknowledge that while some workers retire at 55 due to health problems, the results of this study clearly show that early retirement is not associated with increased survival. On the contrary, longevity improved with increasing age at retirement for people, regardless of income.