Starting Over Life Begins At 65

To get the most out of life after 65, there’s one thing you should do when moving into your retirement: move!

Just listening to 78-year-old Judith Davey rattle off exactly how she fills her days is exhausting.

The semi-retired university senior researcher is packing so much into her week since stopping full-time work to pursue hobbies, volunteering and spending time with family and friends.

For the woman who has devoted much of her academic life to researching and teaching about retirement in Aotearoa, Judith says she is consciously engaged in active ageing rather than retiring, adding that we need to change how we view life after paid work ends.

“The word retirement implies a withdrawal from the world and waiting to die, whereas active ageing gives you the opposite really,” she explains.

“You continue to participate, you continue to give back from your own experience and you have more choice about how you use your time.

“I get very annoyed when people talk about the retirement age,” she adds. “There is no retirement age in New Zealand and to keep saying retirement age is 65 just encourages people to leave their job then. It sounds like it’s such a final thing to do when 65 is quite young these days. You’re probably going to live another 30 years!”

And while the grandmother of-two stopped working fulltime soon after turning 65, she says the most important thing about entering senior years is to keep active.