16 Retiree Stereotypes Americans Need to Stop Believing
Imagine this: You’ve waited your whole life to retire. But now that your retirement has arrived, people suddenly start making less-than-flattering comments about their perception of what you’re doing (or lack thereof).
Perhaps you even used to believe things about retirees that those people say to you. But just like it’s hard to convince a 20-year-old that youth is wasted on the young, it can also be hard for working-age folks to grasp what retirement is and isn’t.
While individual preferences and situations vary among retirees, we gathered these stereotypes that we believe far too many people have had to deal with upon entering their golden years.
1: A Time of Mental Decline

Contrary to what some people believe, just because a person retires doesn’t mean they suddenly start a cognitive decline. It turns out belief is a powerful thing. Studies suggest that people who hold more positive stereotypes about retirement, particularly in terms of health, have a higher chance of a longer lifespan.
So, people who are about to retire that believe they could experience mental decline because they’re no longer working could end up experiencing that very scenario.
2: Sitting Around

We’re not here to shame anyone: Go ahead and spend your retirement sitting around if that’s what you want to do. It’s not fair to place all retirees in the sit around box, though.
On the contrary, many retirees take advantage of their newfound time to do the things they weren’t able to do during their working years. With careful financial planning and a dose of luck, many retirees have the money to travel, pick up a new hobby, and do the things they love.
3: Depression Sets In

Research shows that around 28% of newer retirees suffer from depression. That number is significantly higher than the overall older adult population.
Nevertheless, some people assume that retirement and depression go hand-in-hand, especially as one ages. This simply isn’t true, and researchers believe that older adults with depression often have co-occurring medical problems. In other words, while retirement in and of itself can cause depression, it’s often combined with pre-existing factors, if depression happens at all.
4: Everyone Wants to Live in Florida

You may or may not be ready to shake your screen upon reading that all retirees want to live in Florida. But alas, it’s a stereotype that some people say (although we question whether they truly believe that all retirees long to reside in the Sunshine State).
While it’s true that Florida has the second-highest rate of people of retirement age (21.3%, with Maine being first with 21.8% of people ages 65+), not all retirees desire to be in a place with excessive heat, high humidity, and the chance of their house getting wiped out by a hurricane.
5: Lonely Lives

Yes, retirement can feel lonely for some people who enjoyed being around their coworkers and clients. But retirement doesn’t mean that everyone sits in a rocking chair looking out a window waiting for someone to visit or call them.
On the contrary, many people end up becoming social butterflies during retirement. From golf buddies to meeting people at volunteer activities, opportunities are abundant for making friends. And if someone chooses to live a more hermit life during retirement, that’s totally great too.
6: Everything Is Awful

Retirees sometimes have the stereotype of being bitter, without patience, and thinking that everything in the present about the world is awful and most things in the past about the world were great. That’s an unfair generalization.
However, it’s slightly fairer to say that a higher percentage of people become cranky as they get older. The chronic pain and physical ailments that people often get when they’re older is known to turn otherwise even-keeled people into a chronically cranky person.
7: Financial Worries Are Gone

Some people retire with a comfortable nest egg to their names; many others don’t. According to the Social Security Administration, approximately 25% of retirement-aged households depend on Social Security benefits for 90% or more of their income.
Given that Social Security checks are significantly smaller than what a person was earning before retirement, they can be challenging to live off of, especially if a person still has a mortgage or other debt when they retire.
8: You’re Done Working

Many of us are guilty of believing when we’re younger that retirement is the end of having a job. But as many retirees will either loathingly or happily tell you, that’s not always so.
According to one study, 48% of retirees who chose to go back to work did so because they needed more money to survive. In contrast, 57% of retirees report wanting to continue working in some form, with the social aspect of having a job being a common reason.
9: Motivation Dissipates

Just because retirees no longer have a boss breathing down their backs about deadlines doesn’t mean they suddenly lose all motivation.
While the things that motivate retirees may change during retirement, motivation is still a common denominator among people 65+ years old. Retirees might be motivated to help take care of their grandkids, beat their best tennis score, or give back to their community via volunteering.
10: Golf and Pickleball Only Sports

Did you notice that we chose tennis instead of golf or pickleball in the previous example? There’s nothing wrong with these sports being a favorite among many retirees. But they’re far from the only sports people partake in during retirement.
While you might not see local football leagues abounding with retirees, there are plenty of low-impact and moderate-impact sports that increase a retiree’s heartbeat without being as risky on the injury front.
11: Grave in Sight

Believing that retirees are on the brink of passing away is yet another retirement stereotype that young adults are more apt to believe. As one enters their 30s, 40s, and 50s, it becomes blatantly (and thankfully) clear that’s not true for most retirees.
Even though life expectancy dropped to 76.4 years as of December 2022 data, that still offers retirees many years before their grave comes knocking.
12: No Grasp of Technology

If we had written this article a decade ago, the idea that many retirees don’t have a good grasp of technology would have held a bit more truth.
However, the fact is that many people retiring today frequently use technology at their office and can hold their own when using social media (whether they want to use it is a whole different discussion).
13: Cruise Vacations

Some people have retirement pictured as people shifting from road trips and planning their own international vacations to taking their excursions exclusively via cruises. While data supports that cruise trips heavily leaned toward the 65+ crowd, that’s no longer the case.
As of 2018, the average age of cruisegoers was 46.7 years. Thirty-two percent of passengers were 65+ years old, meaning that the majority of people taking cruises were of non-retirement age.
14: Refusal to Change

“Because that’s the way it’s always been done” is a phrase that some people have heard from older generations. But pegging all retirees as not being willing to change how they think or live their lives is a mentality that younger people need to drop.
Case in point? Retirement itself is a change. Even though retirement is something that most retirees dreamed of, it requires changes to one’s habits and lifestyle.
15: Unproductive Days

Just like retirement for many people doesn’t mean sitting around in a rocking chair waiting for life to pass by it also doesn’t mean not getting things done. Retirees often still have houses that need cleaning, families to tend to in some form, and commitments that require their time.
I’d even argue that it’s more common to hear retirees comment how they don’t know how they used to manage their jobs and personal lives, given how packed their days are during retirement.
16: No Value to Add

Although older people are often a source of valuable wisdom, some people view entering retirement as a person losing their contribution to society. That’s simply not true.
A job is only one aspect of who a person is, and some retirees never liked their job defining them. Value comes in many different forms and given that retirees have extra time to devote to things they love, some may feel that they provide more value to society in their golden years than when they had a job.
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