We celebrate life’s major milestones with clarity: a wedding marks a marriage, a birth welcomes a child, a graduation signals the completion of schooling. These are events—pivotal moments that usher in new chapters. And yet, when it comes to retirement, we’ve made a critical error: we’ve treated it as an entire stage of life rather than what it truly is—a single event that begins a new journey, not defines it.

For decades, cultural narratives and government policies framed retirement as a short final chapter—a few golden years of rest before the end. People “retired” at 65, often living less than a decade beyond it. In that world, calling retirement a stage made sense. But today, when 100-year lives are becoming more common, we can spend 30 to 50 years after that milestone. Does it really make sense to treat retirement as a static stage rather than a springboard?

No other life event is framed this way. Divorce changes your life, but it’s not its own stage. The death of a parent alters you, but you move forward. Even parenthood, profound as it is, transitions as children grow. Retirement should be no different—a moment that signals change, not an endpoint.

Think about the word “graduation.” Some schools call it “commencement,” because while it marks the end of studies, it also signifies the start of what comes next. That’s the lens we need for retirement: a ceremony marking the close of one career or role and the beginning of a new phase of contribution, learning, and fulfillment.

Retirement as a verb—to retire from something—makes perfect sense. You retire from your role as CEO, or from full-time caregiving, or from physically demanding work. But retirement as a noun—a fixed identity or stage—limits imagination and locks people into outdated scripts.

When people see retirement as a life stage, they often default to the idea that “life slows down now.” They stop exploring, stop challenging themselves, and too often disengage from the passions and purpose that fuel fulfillment. Research shows this can accelerate decline—mentally, physically, and emotionally (National Institute on Aging).

On the other hand, people who view retirement as a pivot rather than a pause—who use it to launch second careers, travel, volunteer, or mentor—report higher happiness and health outcomes. They see retiring not as the end of something but as an opening to new possibilities.

We need to normalize retirement as one event in a much longer narrative. Just as marriage, birth, or loss reshapes us, so does stepping away from a job. But what follows isn’t a stage called “retirement.” It’s simply life—life where you might start something new, learn differently, or embrace passions long set aside.

This shift in mindset is critical, especially for younger generations. If you expect to live to 100, you may retire multiple times—each one marking the end of a role, not the end of growth. Retire from a corporate career at 55 to launch a nonprofit. Retire from that at 75 to write a book or mentor others. Each moment is a commencement—a fresh start.

Living the Age Brilliantly Way

Adopting this view frees you from outdated scripts and empowers you to design a fulfilling life at every stage. It asks better questions:

• What do I want this next phase to look like?
• Which passions or purposes will I explore now?
• How will I nurture my relationships, health, and finances to support this chapter?

These are the conversations worth having—not “What will I do with retirement?” but “What will I do next?”

How do you see retirement—as an ending, or as the beginning of what’s next? How would reframing it change the way you plan for your 100-year life? Share your thoughts in theAge Brilliantly Forum and explore how others are redefining this milestone for themselves.