Market Data 
- Many older Americans continue working into their retirement years, even though they’re millionaires.
- Americans are working later in their lives than ever, many for financial reasons.
- Older Americans told BI they could retire but want to keep their minds fresh and social lives full.
Jack Bishop, 81, can comfortably retire after five decades in the restaurant industry. However, he has no plans to.
The Air Force veteran opened restaurants in Panama City Beach over the course of over 50 years, weathering hurricanes and a fire. He still operates two locations of a seafood buffet.
Bishop, a father of two, said he often sacrificed vacations for his business, though he’s taken joy in training student workers, many of whom he’s paid tuition for. He’s paid his managers and core staff for the months the business closes for the season, which he said reduced his turnover rate.
Bishop could retire — he’s worth a few million dollars — but he said his connections to many restaurant providers and community members hold him back from retiring.
“My plan was to be retired at 55, but I felt like I was in my prime, and we were doing great,” Bishop said, adding he waited until 70 to take his $4,000 monthly Social Security checks. “I wanted to keep my mind alive.”
Are you an older American working past the US retirement age of 67? Email this reporter at [email protected].
Bishop is one of about two dozen older Americans who responded to Business Insider reader surveys on work and aging and said that even though they can retire, they have no desire to stop. For this story, BI spoke with six of them.
Some said work gives them purpose and a social life, while others said they have peace of mind that they can afford large emergency costs or long-term care. Though many older Americans told BI they retired early and relish not being in an office, some who chose not to retire have millions in the bank but said they wouldn’t know how to enjoy retirement.
Deb Whitman, AARP’s chief public policy officer, said the number of people 55 and older who work or seek work is twice as high as in the 1990s, with Americans overall working longer.
“One thing you’re seeing about people working longer is this fear of holding onto the job that they have because they might have lost one before or fear that they’ll be pushed out any day,” Whitman said, adding that many older Americans experience age discrimination.
Working with seven figures in the bank
Michael Mosher, 74, worked as a lawyer, but his income was inconsistent over the years — he made $850,000 one year and lost $10,000 the next. He said much of his low seven-figure net worth came from real estate deals.
When the pandemic hit, Mosher lowered his caseload but didn’t retire. He said he sometimes takes a month or two off work to travel, and he owns about 300 acres of pasture land with three dozen cows. He still lives frugally: He pays $500 monthly rent for his office, and his other expenses are about $1,000 monthly.
Mosher said if he were to retire, he would live comfortably on about $50,000 a year from Social Security and $50,000 to $75,000 from investments. He’s considered downsizing his ranch, which would sell for between $2 million and $3 million. Still, he said he would only quit law once his brain starts going, adding he wants to preserve his reason for getting up every morning.
“You need to do something productive that engages your mind and body,” Mosher said. “As long as my brain holds up and my back and knees don’t go away, I’ll be a lawyer or rancher. I have the ability now to control my docket with the lawyer part so that I can run the ranch and not vegetate.”
Retiring, then unretiring
Anne Sallee, 68, thought she would enjoy her retirement. But after two years, she decided to go back to work.
“I consulted for free and volunteered in my community, but I can vividly remember the first time the doctor’s office asked me if I was retired, and I said yes. It was a painful moment,” Sallee said.
Sallee, who lives in Winter Park, Florida, worked as a jeweler and paralegal while raising her three children. She said she hadn’t planned for retirement until the mid-1990s, but by the decade’s end, she could support her children, pay rent, and save. After a divorce, she married a financial advisor and joined a women’s investment club that taught her the basics.
After working up to a six-figure salary, she spent four years in local government roles in Oakland Park, Florida. After holding various other hospitality management roles, she retired at 65.
“I decided this was it. I was going to retire. But I quickly found myself bored,” Sallee said, adding she had enough in savings to live comfortably for years. “I started doing a lot of volunteer work in my immediate community, helping people with whatever problems I thought I might have a solution for.”
Sallee said she wanted to “see in people’s eyes” how her work has helped them, prompting her to return to work. She had accepted the city’s economic development coordinator position, which paid half of her last one. She said she didn’t need the money, as she has over a million dollars in retirement savings. Sallee said she might retire in a few years if her job stops giving her excitement, but she suspects she will always be involved in something.
“I had to be up and dressed at a desk at 8 every morning, which was a shock to my system,” Sallee said. “I was used to a little more flexibility in my day, but I’ve been here now two years, and I absolutely love it.”
Reaching retirement age but in it for the long run
James Sullivan, 61, an infectious disease doctor in Chicago, said he has “every reason in the world to be carried out of the office dead.”
Sullivan, who went into private practice in 1996 working with HIV patients, said he has about 500 patients, many of whom he’s treated for decades. He said at one point, he worked 12 to 16 hours every day.
Sullivan lived very frugally throughout his career. In medical school, he lived with six roommates, paid off his student loans within six months, and bought cheaper primary homes in up-and-coming areas. He prioritized dividend stocks and index funds. He also never had children.
“I did well financially because I liked what I was doing,” Sullivan said. “I enjoyed every minute of what I did, no matter how sad or how hard it was.”
Despite some frustrations with how corporatized medicine has become, Sullivan said he cherishes spending an hour with each patient. He spends time with family at dinners, but he frequently works holidays and rarely takes vacations. Sullivan has about $10 million in assets, including a house and an investment property, and he invests in his partner’s medical education and training and his siblings’ families.
Sullivan said as someone who frequently interacts with lower-income patients, he wishes lower-income people could retire comfortably with good Social Security. Still, he plans to work until 75, if not later.
“When I get asked to see somebody in the hospital, and it’s an interesting case, I get to deal with other smart people. We get to talk about it. We get to look things up constantly and learn,” Sullivan said. “I’m not looking for weeks of quiet time. I’m not even sure I’d know what to do with that.”
