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 By Nancy Holmes Editor-At Large Worth magazine |
Nancy Holmes joined Worth magazine as Editor-At-Large in 1991. For twelve years in Europe and the U.S., she was a contributing editor to Town & Country magazine. She has also written three books including The Dream Boats, a non-fiction account of the lifestyle aboard the great yachts with their owners. It was followed by a novel, The Big Girls, published by Doubleday in 1984. Her second novel Nobody’s Fault, was published by Bantam in 1990. Based on a famous British aristocrat’s attempted murder of his wife and subsequent disappearance, it became a national best seller.
Ms. Holmes is not affiliated with, nor compensated by U.S. Global Investors. |
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Now that the 21st century is beginning, a few words on retirement might be in order. Man, how the definition of that word has changed! To retire used to mean a gold watch after 25 years with a railroad and a lot of dozing in the sun. It meant that you had it all made now and were being rewarded for not having to make it anymore. And in those times, you were persuaded that you might be a little over the hill and the time had come to slow down. Travel with the wife. Quality time with the grandkids. And so on.
These days twenty-year olds retire with forty million dollars and a life of pop music royalties for writing rap songs called something like “Me So Horny” or “Baby Got Back .” Others get golden handshakes, some for wrecking their companies. Many get a glazed look in their eyes and fear that life is over. Wives, unless they are still working, get a glazed look, too, what with the old boy around the house all the time. Then they embroider needlepoint pillows that say “Retirement: Too Much Husband, Too Little Money!” And then there’s me. Retire? Are you crazy? I’ve always worked. Model. Fashion editor. Columnist. Photo-journalist. Novelist. Editor at Large. Jack of all trades. Retiring has never entered my mind. I’m too old to retire and even if I weren’t, I wouldn’t. What in the world would I do with the rest of my life? Smell the roses? I do that every day. Travel. I do that, too, preferably by horse, yak, camel or llama rather than through the major airports of the world. Now. Far smarter heads than this talking one of mine have grappled with the emotional, financial and philosophical terrors of retirement for eons. Quitting, walking away, getting fired or telling your boss to shove it is not easy. A recent example is Abe Rosenthal who, with fifty-five years behind him as reporter, foreign correspondent and columnist for the revered New York Times, was recently shoved from his perch as weekly columnist at the Times. Seventy-seven years old, he had once been top editor at that paper for seventeen years. Now it was over and he was hopping furious about it. Barbara Walters helped him sort it out. “But Abe,” she told him. “You’re starting fresh.” “Of course I am,” he said. “I’m not going alone, I’m taking my head with me. I’m staying alive intellectually.” Way to go, Abe. That’s where I come from on the subject. I’ve always believed that when one door closes for whatever reason, another one opens. I am also certain that with the best economy in centuries, the thirty and forty-year olds who made so much money so fast that life holds nothing more than to retire and run off somewhere on their yachts or G5’s, will last about six months. One day soon, they’ll be back shooting the stars. One day very soon. All I can tell you is that I do believe you are as old as you feel. Good health is the most important requirement but it’s not everything. Don’t we all know some who have conquered such adversity? Money isn’t everything either. It can wreck a lot of people, but as George Jessel once said, “It sure settles the nerves .” Life is everything. Life is valuable. Life is invaluable. You only live once, and as some pundit said, if you work it right, once is enough. Regardless of the fact that I have about four score years on me now, I still feel about five in dog years. How about you? |
