What keeps people working later in life? Reflections on Warren Buffett’s long run.
A few months ago, The Conference Board reported the finding that the sheer number of workers aged 55 or older who love their jobs is stunningly high compared to younger generations.
Warren Buffett, 95, knows that sweet feeling of job satisfaction many older workers experience and how hard it is to let go of.
Buffett is stepping down from his duties as Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B, BRK-A) at the end of the year. In a letter to shareholders published on Monday, he announced that he would no longer write an annual letter or speak at the company’s annual meeting. His successor, Greg Abel, 63, is set to take the firm’s reins as CEO on Jan. 1.
Buffett still plans to go to the office for now.
“I’m happy to say I feel better about the second half of my life than the first,” he wrote. “To my surprise, I generally feel good. Though I move slowly and read with increasing difficulty, I am at the office five days a week where I work with wonderful people. Occasionally, I get a useful idea or am approached with an offer we might not otherwise have received.”
To put in perspective how long Buffett has been on the job: He has been leading Berkshire Hathaway since before Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg were born.
What keeps someone working well into their ninth decade of life is worth pondering. I reached out to a handful of longevity, retirement, and workplace experts to hear their take on why Buffett stayed so long at his job.
“I thought Buffett’s letter was a landmark display of wisdom, maturity, and consciousness,” said Ken Dychtwald, psychologist and gerontologist, CEO of Age Wave, and a bestselling author.
“He is an extraordinary example of a human being who has been a leader and continues to demonstrate what a leader could become at the age of 95. Why did he work so long? I think he liked it.”
There are three key reasons for working per Dychtwald. One is to earn a paycheck. The second is that it creates purpose. The third is that it creates socialization among the generations.
Buffett no longer needed the paycheck, but the other factors apply.
“Here is a man who worked at his job for 64 years and was the most powerful and influential person in the world in financial services, but continued to work because there was important work to be done,” Dychtwald said.
“I think he took great pride in what he did. He liked being a role model for not only capitalism, but humanism and his contributions to so many things, and his designation of the importance of people who have wealth to not to be showing it off, but rather to be contributing it to those less fortunate. Who would imagine that the leading capitalist for the last century would have such a gentle and openhearted philosophy towards life?”
FILE – Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, smiles as he plays bridge following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., May 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Clearly, Buffett is in the twilight of life, yet his longevity offers lessons for the rest of us,” Chris Farrell, author of “Unretirement” and “Purpose and a Paycheck,” told Yahoo Finance.
“First of all, don’t listen to scholars, commentators, and colleagues that say it’s all downhill in the second half of life. No, you now have experience to tap and the knowledge to connect the dots in creative ways.”
To stay on the job, your work needs to matter. “The work matters if it is a way to satisfy curiosity, to learn new things, and offers the ties of collegiality — and even friendship — among colleagues and peers,” Farrell said, “If you’re not getting those rewards, then maybe it’s time to move on, perhaps to retirement, perhaps to an encore career.”
For many people, work defines who they are and what they value, and that’s certainly the case with Buffett, he added.
“The same holds for many artists, professionals, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers like machinists and electricians. They’ve spent decades building expertise — why stop when they’re still good at it? Well, at least until age eventually does take its toll (and that’s clearly the case with Buffett now).
What is intriguing about Buffett’s letter is how much time he spends on friends, colleagues, people that he has met over the years and shaped him for the better (many from his hometown of Omaha). Work can be a big part of social life, especially as people age and friends pass away or move. Work becomes a source of belonging and conversation.”
The lesson here isn’t to work until you no longer can, Farrell said. “The lesson is to find and stick with what gives you meaning and connections to the broader society.”
“It is amazing that Buffett has chosen to work into his 90s, but it is also an increasingly common story,” Ken Stern, a longevity and aging expert and founder of the Longevity Project, told me. “As Americans live longer, more and more people want to find purpose in the second half of life and also make sure that they have strong social connections. [There are] lots of ways to do that, but work, for a growing number of people, provides both meaning and connection.”
“Think of Jane Goodall who famously worked into her 90s or Mel Brooks, who at age 99, has just committed to producing and starring in ‘Spaceballs 2’,” Stern said.
He added: People aged 75 and older are the fastest-growing component of the American labor force, with the number of older people working expected to double by 2030.
“Some of that has to do with economics, of course, but for many people, like Buffett, it has more to do with meaning, connection, and a more fulfilling, healthier life,” Stern said.
Now, my own take. Work is an identity for many people. It describes us, intellectually absorbs us, motivates us. For many of us, as we move beyond the traditional retirement age of 65, we know we still have the juice to contribute. Our gut says that our best work isn’t in the rearview but is possibly ahead.
Moreover, having a sense of purpose and understanding of how our work is meaningful — not only to our lives but to the world beyond — keeps us on the job.
The ideal scenario is to exit the workplace, or retire, when you want, how you want. Almost none of us can do so free of financial pressures like Buffett can. But we can all draw on this pearl of advice from his letter:
“It is never too late to improve … Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it.”
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