Inside a Positive Retirement - Wisdom for Now and Tomorrow.

James Lipton was 93 when he passed away in 2020. You may have come across Lipton’s face once or twice if you’d ever flicked through the hundreds of channels on pay-tv looking for something to watch. With a suspiciously dark beard for a man in his 70’s and 80’s, you’d usually see Lipton sitting on a theatre stage, a famous actor to his left, and an audience of captivated young actors sitting before them.

The show you’d be watching was “Inside the Actors Studio” with Lipton as the host/interviewer. The format was different to most celebrity interviews due to the fact the actors on stage with Lipton truly wanted to be there. Lipton was well researched, there were no gossipy questions, and the actors weren’t there on a press tour to promote their latest film. The focus was mostly on what led them to acting and the films and tv shows they’d worked on across their career.

The show’s reception spoke for itself. The version hosted by Lipton ran for 24 years. It was broadcast in 125 countries, and had the fifth most Emmy award nominations in history when it ended.

While Inside the Actors Studio’s major focus was on the actors themselves, Lipton’s presence, with precise questions read from trademark blue cue cards, was invaluable. Lipton spent time in the Air Force before trying his hand as an actor, then a writer for soap operas, before going on to produce TV specials and becoming an acting teacher. In all, he’d spent over 40 years doing various other jobs before he came to public attention. This made Lipton’s age one of the most remarkable things about him. By the time Inside the Actors Studio started, he was 67. The project he began in his late 60’s became the thing he was best known for and received the most acclaim for in his life.

In addition to being the host, Lipton was also the writer and executive producer. Most of the hour-long shows were edited down from several hours of discussion which formed part of an acting class at Pace University in New York. Lipton was said to put in 12-16 hours a day working on the show, and there appeared to be little difference in his mental agility between the first episode featuring Paul Newman in 1994 and the last episode with Ted Danson in 2018.

At an age when most of us would want to be slowing down, Lipton was ramping up. Retirement planning clearly wasn’t in Lipton’s mind, or if it was, Inside the Actors Studio was his form of retirement.

Retirement planning will always primarily focus on money. The financial resources we have and the returns they generate will be the fuel of life when we no longer have employment. However, money is only half the battle. The other half will be what to do with ourselves. Assuming 8 hours sleep a night and a 40-hour work week, plus a half hour to and from work, with another half hour for lunch, the average person will spend a minimum of 42% of their waking hours each week, in and around work. When that disappears, it will leave quite a bit of time to fill in.

Some retirees will have no issue filling in that time and moving on, but others will struggle. A 2020 study found 28% of retirees suffer from depression. Those most affected were retirees who were forced into retiring unexpectedly, something that isn’t a huge surprise. If something so large is suddenly taken from someone or forced upon them, it will be a shock and will require a period of adjustment.
More than likely these cases involve health issues, which may also limit the retiree’s ability to turn their attention to a new task and keep themselves occupied. While such issues will be harder to deal with, for retirees fortunate enough to remain in good health there will still be challenges.

According to a UK paper from 2013, retirement increases the likelihood of suffering from clinical depression by around 40%. This is said to stem from a loss of identity, purpose, and missing the social aspects of employment. Here the key issues will be awareness of this potential problem combined with some self-awareness. A retiree understanding the potential challenge, along with who they are and what motivates them, can then start looking at ways to best deal with a transition.

The self awareness component is very important. Understanding who we are and what motivates us will tell us what will be missed. If a person is keen to get up and go to work every day, gains something from the challenge and stimulation of work, and enjoys interacting with people, that’s a large and positive part of life that will need to be replaced. The time void might be even larger depending on whether they have many or few hobbies and social outlets outside of work.

In contrast, if a person would rather stay in bed extra hours, finds work to be stressful and tedious, doesn’t like socialising, and has other hobbies or activities they’d rather be doing, then having significantly more time on their hands will be something of a relief.
Humorously, Ken LeClair, a geriatric psychiatrist and Professor at Queens University in Canada, suggests a healthy dislike of work in the years before retirement can be very useful when transitioning.

“The best thing that can happen to someone before they retire is that they hate their job at the end. Those that have loved it and are restructured out or pushed out have a harder time. If I had a recipe for good retirement, it would be to have a bad job in the last three working years.”

However, no one should just assume they’ll react positively or negatively to a transition. The work grinch may find they miss the work environment more than the person who feels work is an important part of their life. Those sources of annoyance may have been an unwitting source of comfort and a reliable touchpoint.

In the end, it will come back to that feeling of purpose. There are more studies than we can link to that show having some purpose in retirement is linked with better cognitive performance, fewer depressive symptoms, better well-being and feeling more satisfied with life. Money’s nice and important in retirement, but it doesn’t give us purpose.

James Lipton was exceptionally lucky he had a purpose for so many years beyond 67. At some point we’ll all have to ask ourselves what will be our “Inside the Actors Studio”? The thing that will hopefully contribute to, not only our longevity, but our health and happiness beyond 67.