LIFE begins at 50, said my father, eyes twinkling, as he rolled up his latest batch of paintings.
He had 'retired' to be an artist a year before - after slogging it out to put my sisters and I through college - but disliked using the word because he thought it smacked of inactivity.
Like him, I have never thought retirement was about doing nothing. Instead, it is a time - with a new freedom of action and deepening of human spirit - to shine like never before.
So I was surprised when last week, a successful 45-year-old banker confided in me that he was terrified of the prospect.
As a high-level executive, his opinion was sought at every turn; his decisions would make or break deals. He had come, after so many years, to equate his personhood with the status he held at work.
So to him, retirement meant only one thing - irreparable boredom.
I disagreed.
According to a recent article in Australian paper The Sunday Mail, retirement takes skill.
It requires us not only to get our finances in order, but also 'conduct a spiritual audit to see what makes us feel happy and fulfilled'.
If so, then all the recent talk of retirement targeted at people in their 50s is also relevant to youth.
After all, it is when we are in our 20s that we first take charge of our lives, to aim for the goals we want to achieve. Many of these goals are career-related.
The risk? Some of us may become so wedded to our jobs that we neglect to cultivate interests that can be sustained after that last pay cheque.
Without the daily drudgery of work, it should be easier for the retired to pursue passions put aside for their careers.
But where do you start, if you do not even know what that is?
If so, then our golden years may be wasted, spent in half-hearted attempts to reclaim meaning in our lives.
That would be a pity.
We should not take Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's recent statement 'Retirement means death' at face value. For if we retire from the corporate world and are able to maintain a sense of connection and stimulation, we will be able to do both - retire and live long.
Who knows? We might even find our pay cheques fatter, not in terms of cash, but in terms of lives touched and friendships forged.
