What does it look like to “flunk” retirement? If a fulfilling retirement is a goal that we ascribe to during most of our working life, how is it that we can miss the mark and end up with a failing grade when it comes to retirement happiness and satisfaction?

You’ve heard Rajiv Nagaich say repeatedly that roughly 70 percent of retirees will fail to achieve their stated goals of avoiding institutional care, not dying broke, and not being a burden to their loved ones. Now comes this article from NextAvenue describing a similarly gloomy statistic: a comprehensive study has found that only 44 percent of the people who stop working ever consider themselves to be happy in retirement.

In other words, if having a “happy retirement” is the goal, most of us will flunk the course.

The NextAvenue article was written by educator and journalist Mark Walton. Let’s see if his argument makes sense.

Study Asked, “How Are Things Going in Retirement?”

“About 15 years ago,” says Walton, “two widely respected research psychologists conducted what is considered the most sophisticated and comprehensive study ever done on the topic of retiring from work.” The researchers were Dr. Rob Pascale and Dr. Lou Primavera.

Walton explains how these researchers interviewed nearly 1,500 retirees from all walks of life.  As Walton describes the study, investigators “posed a series of meticulously crafted inquiries designed to elicit candid, extended responses to a central underlying question: Now that you’re no longer working, how are things going for you?”

But they didn’t stop there. In order to get a clearer picture, the researchers interviewed 400 people of the same age and demographic characteristics who were still professionally active in their careers. “The goal here was to understand this second group’s expectations about retiring from work and compare them to the realities of retirement through a statistical method called regression analysis,” Walton explains.

The result was a book titled The Retirement Maze. It was described in this 2012 article from NextAvenue as “the one retirement book you need to read.” (The book is still available in various formats.)

Study Authors Had a Personal Interest in the Outcome

In his article, Walton writes that the authors of the study (and later, of the book) had what he calls “a personal agenda at stake” to go along with their professional interest. One research partner, Dr. Pascale, had just chosen early retirement. The other, Dr. Primavera (also a psychologist), was still actively working in his late 60s when the book appeared.

“Pascale, in his mid-50s at the time of the study, had recently stepped down as president of the powerhouse market research firm he had founded, Marketing Analysts Inc., and was in search of the secrets of a long, happy retirement,” says Walton. Primavera, who was then approaching age 70, in addition to his corporate consulting and teaching activities, was Associate Provost of Touro College in New York and was considering his future as well.”

The two men wondered – what would their retirement research reveal?

The Lingering Question: What Constitutes “a Good Retirement”?

There was one conclusion that forms the basis for Walton’s NextAvenue article.

“Once the in-depth interviews were completed, and the responses cross-checked and analyzed,” he writes, “Pascale and Primavera’s results scientifically reaffirmed the findings of numerous smaller anecdotal studies, namely: Full stop retirement is not right for everybody — in fact, for a solid majority of people, it can turn out to be a seriously bad idea.”

Walton recently spoke with Dr. Pascale, who confirmed that this is an aspect of retirement many are reluctant to talk about. They don’t want to seem naïve or somehow flawed in their planning. However, since the study guaranteed anonymity, retirees felt comfortable telling it like it is.

Many People Unaware of What Retirement is Truly Like

“We found that most people are not aware of the conditions you’re going to face when you stop working,” Dr. Pascale told Walton. “You’re not aware that you’re losing your friends, that what kind of job you had mattered. There are so many aspects to what happens in your life that there’s no way you could ever know without personally being retired.”

Walton, in the process of writing his own book on retirement, had reached out to Drs. Primavera and Pascale for an update.  “One thing I especially wanted to know,” Walton writes, “was: based on the data from their study, would it be feasible to reasonably estimate the odds that you, or I or any one of us, would personally flunk retirement?”

Fewer Than Half of Retirees Say They’re Happy

“Over time,” Pascale told Walton, “our research showed that only 44 percent of people ever consider themselves to be happy after they stop working. One of the things we have when we retire is expectations that life will be this or that, but our expectations are driven by what we did in our lives, in our careers and how interesting or fulfilling and satisfying our careers were.”

Pascale, who had chosen early retirement, continued: “Now that’s all gone and the idea that you can replace those things with personal interests, hobbies or making new friends, proves to be false. In fact, that’s the way it was for me.”

Early Retirement One of His “Biggest Mistakes”

Walton explains that Pascale, who had been in his mid-50s when the study was done, had a personal interest in continuing the study. “Part of his motivation was to learn how to deal with the personal hopelessness he started to feel soon after his retirement,” Walton writes.

“Instead,” Walton adds, “the study results served to confirm his greatest fear: that even though he could easily afford it, taking early retirement was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made.”

In his conversation with Walton, Dr. Pascale elaborated. “I definitely should have stayed at work at least a few more years,” he explained. “I could have found an alternate way to reduce the pressure, like working fewer hours or hiring more people. There were alternatives that I could have done that probably would have worked out better. I wish I’d known back then what I know now.”

Who’s Most Likely to Flunk Retirement?

Walton brings us to an important question: are there specific character traits common to people who would be happier if they continued working well past traditional retirement age? (The definition of “work” in Walton’s view includes full or part time, in their original career or a new one.) This includes those who, like Dr. Pascale, can afford to retire early.

“While interviewing dozens of happily unretired people for my book,” Walton writes, “I found that a combination of several, or all, of the following words best describes them: highly effective, accomplished, creative, competitive, curious, easily bored, goal oriented and altruistic.”

Walton adds that both Dr. Pascale who “miserably flunked retirement,” and Dr. Primavera, still working at age 80 and “vehemently” refusing to retire, had all these personality traits.

Teaching at Age 80 and Enjoying Every Minute

The contrast between early retiree Dr. Pascale and non-retiree Dr. Primavera is clear. “In addition to his college administrative position, Dr. Primavera had continued teaching in the classroom and relished every minute of his working days,” says Walton.

“I teach data analysis and research design,” Primavera told Walton. “I teach people how to do research studies, the kind of stuff you read about in the newspaper all the time. And I teach them how to do statistical analysis to understand the results.”

As Walton writes, the early-2000s study helped make Dr. Primavera want to keep teaching. “
“Primavera credited the retirement study that he and Pascale had completed a decade earlier, for hardening his resolve to continue working as long as possible,” says the article. “Reviewing the results of their research, he said, had generated a moment of absolute clarity.”

Initial Sense of Elation – Then a Letdown

“There’s always that initial elation, you know, when people retire,” Primavera explained to Walton. “You’re really happy at first, then, all of a sudden, and there’s a very predictable cycle, you start to go down, down, down. And either you find a way up again or, if not, you’re stuck at the bottom.”

Dr. Primavera’s conclusion was simple. “Do I need the money? No,” he told Walton, “but [the work is] challenging me, it’s having me learn new stuff. It makes me weary sometimes, upset sometimes, but would I give it up? Absolutely not.”

The Solution: Feed Your Strengths, “Be Willing to Experiment”

Walton asked Dr. Primavera, a highly trained psychologist, for his suggestion. What should those people do who, in Walton’s words, “have reached or been pushed into retirement, and found ourselves bored, stifled and unhappy?” What about future retirees who fear such a gloomy outcome?

Dr. Primavera’s prescription sounds like common sense. “Select activities that maximize your strengths,” he recommended. “Analyze your skills going back to your original job or career. Where do they fit? Where will you feel good about what you’re doing?”

It’s also essential that we be willing to try new things in our retirement years and get out of our rut. “You’ve got to be willing to experiment,” Primavera said, “[to] try out different kinds of work until you find something that’s right for you. And then decide how to go about making it a part of your life.”

Retirees Seeking Greater Purpose are in Good Company

Walton concludes his article with this word of encouragement. “If Primavera’s advice resonates with you personally, you’re far from alone,” he writes. “Based on government data, there are millions of Americans aged 65 or over with bachelor’s or advanced degrees who are currently working — not because they need the money, but because they, like Primavera, crave the sense of meaning and purpose that a fulfilling job or entrepreneurship can provide.”

The aging of America will continue to alter our society dramatically. “Between now and the year 2030, their numbers are projected to grow by another 40 percent,” says Walton, “as the seismic unretirement trend continues to change the map of life.”

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(originally reported at www.nextavenue.org)