"What is retirement? Retirement is death." It's quite an assertion, even from a 94-year-old.
But that’s Ken Smith’s considered view of the state all workers must at some stage contemplate, as they endure the daily grind of a long career in the workplace.
In an increasingly pressured world, Ken’s view may be an anomaly, but he’s had 76 years at Solihull builders EH Smith to make up his mind on the pros and cons of retirement.
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Ken still drives five days a week to work, where he is chairman of a £100 million turnover concern. He makes few concessions to age, although his advancing years have forced him to call time on fell-walking and climbing .
The world of builders’ merchants may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but it clearly suits Ken, who has no plans at any stage to do a Fergie and cut back on the day job.
He puts his longevity down to cold showers and cod liver oil, while admitting to a management style that encouraged rather than alienated staff. No hairdryers in evidence in the EH Smith boardroom.
As I approach four decades in journalism, it seems to me that Ken is onto something here. Work consumes vast parts of so many lives – and 24-7 technology has multiplied that consumption tenfold – but it’s still essential to the majority.
We all dream of a lazy retirement, sipping drinks in the garden, reading books, endless travel, but the reality may not match the rose-tinted vision.
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Few people would relish life down a coal mine, for example, but I’m told the men who lost their jobs at Daw Mill Colliery back in March are increasingly desperate to rediscover a daily purpose in their lives.
What most people forget as they count down to retirement is that work is so much more than just toiling away to pay off the mortgage.
It’s a year in, year out routine that, at its best, promotes mental well-being, provides friendships (and occasional enemies, a defining element of any life), exasperation and joy in equal measure, and can be a source of supreme satisfaction. No mere lottery win can ever measure up to work’s potential riches.
Ken Smith worked that one out 70 odd years ago.