Is Ben Shapiro Right That Retirement Is a ‘Stupid Idea?’
So, Ben Shapiro created quite a bit of controversy on X as a video of him calling for raising the retirement age back in 2024 resurfaced:
During his monologue, Shapiro correctly pointed out that when FDR set the retirement age at 65, the average life expectancy was 63. He also noted that it was fiscally unsustainable over the long haul for people to work 45 years and then be supported with Social Security and Medicare for another 10-20 years, which is also true.
Social Security and Medicare are doomed to become increasingly less valuable to seniors, and one of the big reasons for that is that the retirement age is currently set WAY too low. Even though it’s true, few people are willing to say that because Social Security and Medicare are essentially considered to be so “untouchable” that neither party will do anything other than nibble around the edges of the programs.
Believe it or not, that WAS NOT what created the controversy. It was this statement from Ben Shapiro that got everyone talking:
No one in the United States should be retiring at sixty-five years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem. Everybody that I know who is elderly, who has retired, is dead within five years. And if you talk to people who are elderly, and they lose their purpose in life by losing their job, and they stop working. Things go to hell in a handbasket real quick…
These comments are only a tiny sample from one tweet, but they should help give you an idea of what people are saying. Since MOST of the comments were negative, I’m going to focus on those, although there certainly were some positive comments as well:
As a starting point in talking about this, it’s worth noting that this is essentially a philosophical question with no definitive right answer, and a lot of nuance comes into play depending on your profession.
In other words, there is no one correct answer, and if you’re Warren Buffett or the guy talking about “mucking horse stalls,” your perspective is probably going to be very different.
Most Americans are probably closer to the “horse stalls” guy. They do a job they don’t particularly love just because it pays the bills. Every Monday, they groan when they have to get out of bed, and every Friday, they’re thrilled because they get two days away from work to enjoy. They do their job, but they don’t necessarily take a lot of pride in it. It’s just something they HAVE TO DO if they want to eat, live in a house, and have electricity.
Other people may enjoy their jobs but may simply be UNABLE to do them as they get older. For example, people who do physical labor may accumulate injuries, get a little feebler, and just struggle in their professions as they get up in age.
Even though I wasn’t doing physical labor, for many years I habitually put in 60–70-hour weeks. Even if you guaranteed me six figures per year to do that for 5 years now, I’d say, “No thanks.” I don’t have the concentration, attention span, or even the desire to do that anymore for more than a month or two.
Because of that, most people are going to quite understandably disagree with Ben Shapiro’s take on retirement.
On the other hand, what I would say to you is that he’s much closer to right than wrong.
Why?
As a starting point, it’s worth noting that once we reach adulthood, our life is roughly broken into three blocks. Sleep, free time, and work. Personally, I think that’s a good reason to spend a little more money on a bed and come up with some meaningful things to do in your free time that go well beyond just consuming other people’s content.
When you watch the NFL, you’re furthering the dreams of NFL players. When you play a game, you’re furthering the dreams of game creators and producers. When you watch a new movie with “The Rock” in it, you’re furthering Dwayne Johnson’s dreams. How about your dreams? What are you doing to further those? What are you doing that creates a legacy, takes you further in life, or that you take pride in? It doesn’t have to be putting a spaceship on Mars. You could plant some trees, clean up an abandoned cemetery, or teach Sunday school, and you’d be doing something meaningful.
However, a lot of people also take meaning from their work. When Ben Shapiro talks about thinking that retiring at 65 is stupid, he’s probably 100% right about his own life. He’s taking meaning from his work, and if you’re doing something that you enjoy, that you find meaningful, why would you want to stop? That’s why perhaps the best piece of advice I ever heard when I was younger was:
"Find something you love to do so much that you’d do it for free and find a way to make it into a career." – Anonymous
Will everybody do that? Nope. Can everybody even do that? Nope. If you’re one of the people who can, it’s a good idea.
Also, there’s one other thing worth noting.
There’s a way of looking at life that has been normalized in America for a long time that is, in many ways, not very healthy.
It’s a life plan that looks something like this: Get a job that pays the bills, work at that job your whole adult life, then retire at 65 and do what you really want to do.
Is that a good idea? For most people, probably not.
Why?
Well, first of all, what job? One job is not as good as another. Yet, this type of thinking encourages people to view a job as something akin to eating their vegetables before they get dessert. It’s, “I’m going to suffer through this until retirement, then life gets good!” Except 18-65 is 47 years of work, and the average American lives to 77 today. Sure, you might live much longer, but the odds say you are going to work 4 times as long as you’re retired.
Moreover, who knows what your situation will look like at 65. Will you have money? Will your health be good? How about your energy level? I don’t know what your dreams are, but if you wait until 65 years old to start fulfilling them, instead of working on them all along, you are taking an awful big risk.
What it all comes down to is that although everybody’s situation is difficult, it’s a very good idea to have SOMETHING meaningful you plan to do at the end of your life. That very well could be work. It could be volunteering at a soup kitchen, helping your kids run a business, or singing in the church choir.
Life is a long, messy business that plays out a little differently for everyone, but one thing we can say for sure is that having something, whether it’s work or something else, that helps give purpose to your life when you’re old is very important.
I was involuntarily ‘early retired’ at age 59. That was 11 years ago. Despite making necessary withdrawals from our retirement funds we now have more in our nest egg than when our ‘retirement’ began (not adjusted for inflation).
Social Security and part time employment have helped a lot.
My wife quit her retail sales job over a year ago. She decided it was too stressful to continue.
Last summer she fell on the pickleball court and shattered her femur. She is 90 percent recovered now, walking unaided.
I still work part time as a cashier and stocker at our local grocery store. The people interaction and activity are good for me. I want to keep doing this as long as possible but I also don’t want my final ‘check out’ to be at the store.
EDIT: I believe Ben Shapiro does not believe in forced retirement age. If so, I agree with that.
No, he is wrong; retirement is not inherently wrong
(although, retiring on someone else's dime via government largesse* is a horrible idea)
*on a related subject, the answer to the woes of the Social Security Ponzi scheme is not to raise the retirement age. the answer is to maintain as is for older earners and current recipients while weaning the govt out of this failing tool of political manipulation by converting to individually owned accounts for younger earners