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This Is the Secret to a Good Retirement, According to an Anthropologist Who Interviewed 100 Seniors
Ask people if they’re on track for a good retirement, and many will immediately start talking about their finances. Do they save enough? Have they diversified their portfolio properly? What will happen if they experience some unexpected crisis?
All of these are worthy questions, of course. But according to a new study out of Japan, saving enough to enjoy your golden years is only the first step to a good retirement. If you really want to feel happy and fulfilled after you step back from work, another ingredient is key, according to in-depth interviews with more than 100 Japanese seniors.
A different view of the good retirement
When many people want retirement advice, they go see a financial planner. But Shiori Shakuto, a lecturer at the University of Sydney, is an anthropologist, not a number cruncher. So when she wanted to learn about what separated those who thrived in retirement from those who struggled, she took a different approach.
For her research, Shakuto conducted in-depth interviews with more than 100 male and female Japanese seniors. Their stories, which she recently wrote up on The Conversation, are in many ways specific to the work culture and social structure of…
