The Rolling Stones began their conquest of America on October 1st of 1964, when they first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. One of their stylistic offerings to the American TV audience was "Time is On My Side," a cover of an Irma Thomas tune. At the time, Dana Cable Sr. was 38 years old. (Ed Sullivan was shocked by the appearance of Mick Jagger and company...and vowed that they would never be invited back. They were...five more times.)
Today, Dana Cable is 80 years-old, and the president of Milwaukee-based Growing Systems Inc., a manufacturer of specialty equipment for the propagation of young plants. Cable, still works 10 hours daily, works weekends, meets with his customers...and has no intention of retiring. "I know what I want...and it's not going to Florida to retire...It's still too much fun to work."
Cable may be part of a niche trend...the CEO, executive-entrepreneur who can ignore mandatory retirement rules.
This is a sea change from 50 years ago. In the 1950s, about 25% of all corporate executives died in their office. (I don't mean that they actually died in their chair, behind the desk...I mean that they died before they were 65.) It used to be true that, if you wanted a few years of enjoyable retirement, you better get out before the ravages of the businessman's lifestyle caught up with you, i.e. stress, smoking, Martinis, etc. Today, with healthier habits, executives are living longer...and don't have the same compulsion to "get out while the getting's good."
It's not just the executive-types who plan on hanging around. According to the AARP, 68% of workers between the ages of 50 and 70 plan to work during retirement, or forgo retirement altogether. When you couple the aging of the baby boomers with the relatively low birth rate, it adds up to a workforce that will continue to age. Workers 55 or older accounted for 12.9% of the workforce in 2000; by 2015 they will make up about 20%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Dana Cable plans on continuing to work for, at least, another 10 years. "You can bank on it. That's only 90."
In 10 years, Mick Jagger will be 73.
"Time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is
Now you always say
That you want to be free
But you’ll come running back (said you would baby)
You’ll come running back (I said so many times before)
You’ll come running back to me"
Comments