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 Conventional wisdom holds that those who retire early at age 55 or 60 will live longer than those who retire later. Wrong! According to a study from the health services division of the Shell Oil Company in Houston, Texas, the longevity of those who collect their gold watches early is no better than those who continue to work as much as 10 years longer. And that's not all. Reuters Health reports that long-term survival rates actually appear to improve with increasing age of retirement for both high-income and low-income groups. It's long been thought that the less stressful and more relaxed lifestyle associated with early retirement would help people to live longer, but in fact the opposite was found to be true. Led by Shan P. Tsai, the team analyzed data over a 26-year period on more than 3,500 former employees of Shell Oil who retired at ages 55, 60 or 65. Of these retirees, about 11 percent were women. They found that even after adjusting for gender and income level, those who retired at 55 had a significantly increased mortality, compared with those who retired at 65. Specifically, the death rate was nearly two times higher in the first 10 years after early retirement at age 55, compared with those who kept working. Those who retired at 60 and 65 have similar survival rates, reports Reuters. The takeaway: If this study is any indication, retire no earlier than 60 to live the longest. The study findings were published British Medical Journal. --From the Editors at Netscape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
