The average age of retirement from the work force in 1910 was seventy-four. Now it’s more likely to be around sixty-two, even though we live longer.

In generations past, the majority of Americans worked on farms or in small businesses for their entire lives. The farms and businesses tended to be run by families and passed down to the next generation. As work became less personalized and more repetitive for many, the idea of a rest in the last years of one’s life gained in popularity.

What if, instead, we required a slightly bigger chunk of current salary to fund a system available for us to draw on at different periods of our lives, not just a set amount at a set age? Some already accept less payment to retire at sixty-two. These early retirees sometimes reenter the labor force in new careers, perhaps with lower salary, but doing work they enjoy.

Obviously, payments at an earlier age for what could best be called a sabbatical would be much lower at forty-two than at sixty-two.

Perhaps we need a more flexible pension system that would operate more like annuities. What if we had the option of dropping out for a year or so during our early and middle years, using small “pension” payments based on what we had already paid into the system? Some professions already include a sabbatical within their careers.

Pension systems could be tweaked to allow one to drop out at, say, thirty to raise children. Or at forty to finish a college degree. Or at fifty to work on an invention or direct a non-profit.

One would take a much smaller pension, of course, at a younger age, to reflect the lesser amount put into the system. A younger person, however, could work at a part time job while drawing a small pension and taking college courses or writing a novel or raising children. Or just exploring and searching for a clearer purpose for one’s life.

Retirement would become a graduated process. Retirement would cease being “retirement” and become another opportunity for change.