Many people aren’t ‘retiring’ or stopping work at age 65. They are doing what some call ‘Time Shifting’ and it is becoming the new model for retirement. Read on to see if time shifting might be a good strategy for your own retirement.

Retirement has been changing over the few last decades. Is it really retirement? I’ve been trying to think of what’s happening for a while now. Most would try to use the word “retirement” to explain what’s happening in their lives, but it’s not retirement in the classic sense of the word. Many people aren’t “retiring” or stopping work at age 65. They are doing what I call “Time Shifting.”

Time shifting is where you can stop working any time you want, but maybe you don’t stop working. Maybe you slow down your work. Maybe you get a newer, more fun job. Maybe you do something else entirely.

People of all ages are doing this type of time shifting, because we are now location-independent. It’s easier to time shift when you are over a certain age and have saved enough money (or if you are lucky to have a pension or a Social Security check). But, I’ve seen younger people time shift too, because they are willing to move to a less expensive location, such as Costa Rica.

“I gave up the unhealthy lifestyle I’d been living and took up fun stuff like shooting water at kids during Carnival and visiting the frogs at the sanctuary.”

“Looking to fund trips back home, I decided to revive my once abandoned writing career and I now work remotely for a publication out of Dallas. I earn enough money to live comfortably and I bank around half of my Social Security every month. I like to think of myself as semi-retired. I work but I still have enough free time to eat decadent desserts and enjoy the parades.”

As you can see, she’s still working, but not because she has to. She has time shifted and is working remotely from her home. She could fully “retire” because she is saving half her Social Security check, but she chooses not to retire.

Hank said that the word “retired” conjures up someone hating their job for years and years, and then they get to stop that and do something they like.

He said that in his case, he loved what he did when he was working but that the word “retire” doesn’t fit what he is doing now. Hank said we need a new word to explain when you do something different but aren’t retiring. He’s right. We do need a new word.

I propose that this new term is “Time Shift” or “Time Shifting.”

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Reviewed March 2024

About the Author

Kathe Kline is on a mission to help people have a better retirement. Retired from a 25-year career in financial sales, she noticed that money didn’t necessarily make a better retirement. She began the Rock Your Retirement Podcast to help people with their retirement lifestyle.