Peter Pressman decided to retire in 2003 after 40 years as a New York breast cancer surgeon much admired by his patients for the time and skill he devoted to them and their families.
He was 68, and a combination of factors told him it was time to call it quits. He found some changes in surgery to be less rewarding, he had a desire to travel more with his wife and office partner, Peggy, and he wanted more time to pursue cultural interests.
“I loved work and I never coveted spending a lot of time on the golf course, but I looked forward to not having to get up at 5:30 every morning and being able to read the newspaper before nightfall,” Pressman, now 72, said in an interview.
“I was obsessed at first about whether I’d have enough to do, but I soon discovered I didn’t get enough done. I needed more structure in my life. I also missed the ongoing relationships with my patients and the intellectual and social stimulation from interacting with colleagues.”
With Yashar Hirshaut, he had written Breast Cancer: The Complete Guide in 1993, a book that got him interested in nonsurgical aspects of the disease. He worked on another revision of the book that was published in 2004.
And when Weill Cornell Medical Center asked him to develop and direct a genetic risk assessment program to help women affected by genes that raise their risk of breast and ovarian cancer, Pressman accepted gladly.
“My professional goal had always focused on bettering the lives of women, and this is something meaningful that enables me to continue to help women and remain involved professionally,” he said.
“I’m in the clinic two days a week and see every patient personally,” he continued. “With this commitment, I find I structure my time better and get to do a lot more. I make lists of the things I want to do and find the time to do them.”
Pressman is a classic example of a retiree who reinvented himself. Marc Freedman, the founder of Civic Ventures, an institution seeking to capitalize on the experience of baby boomers in solving the world’s problems, calls it Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life.
That is the title of his 2007 book that challenges complacency about retirement (published by PublicAffairs), and the fundamental idea behind encore.org, an online network for people who want to use their experience to create meaningful “encore careers.”
In the book, Freedman emphasizes the logistical and financial fallacies inherent in an “endless retirement, 30 years of R & R,” and the individual and societal need for older people to continue to work, but in ways different from their earlier years.
In 1935, when Social Security was established for Americans 65 and older, the average life expectancy was 61. Today, Freedman points out, many baby boomers “can expect to live 30 or more years beyond traditional retirement age.”
As 70 million baby boomers approach 65, the country is facing both an impoverished Social Security system and empty retirement accounts among millions of older people.
In place of the hand-wringing and doomsday predictions, Freedman suggests creating new approaches and opportunities for 60-somethings, especially in the public and nonprofit sectors.
Like members of the Experience Corps (created by Freedman) who help children succeed in school, these people might work as volunteers, with their expenses paid, to fulfill community needs.
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