Confronting the Personal Ethics of Aging and Retirement

The Challenge

The average American woman now lives to age 79, the average man to 74. They now enjoy more than 10 years of relatively healthy retirement. Whether these are golden years or not depends in part upon resolving certain ethical questions about how to budget, how to spend leisure time, how to prepare for the end of health and life.

What's at Stake

By 2030, about 20 percent of the American public will be over 65 years old. These changing demographics raise a host of ethical issues. Most obviously, older Americans tend to have lower incomes and greater expenses, especially for medical care. On average, they spend 19 percent of their income on health care, and the figures are worse for the lowest income levels. As the life span increases, older Americans must decide when to stop working, how much to save, how long to prolong their lives. They wonder if their material comforts are being bought at the expense of longer-term security, if their care will eventually force their children to stint on their own needs. These issues have a huge impact on the rest of society, as well, as we consider how to allocate resources between the generations.

Critical Questions

• What is the responsibility of the younger generation to provide for the needs of the older generation, or should retirees be expected to have made provision for themselves?

• What is the "good life" in retirement? How much leisure does it include and how much service?

• Should end-of-life decisions be made at the sole discretion of the affected individual or does the family or the larger society have a stake?

• How can we better respect the dignity of people who are no longer working or who may be disabled by age?

May 21, 2002

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