I Turn 65 Today. I’m Not Retiring Today I turn 65 — the age when society gently suggests I should take up golf, buy more beige clothing, and start referring to my past in the past tense. Instead, tonight at my Halloween birthday party, I’m retiring The Phoenix Hotel — not myself. After nearly four decades of watching that funky San Francisco landmark rise, burn, and rise again (like, well… a phoenix), I’m ready to hand over the keys (in January) to the land owners after a 39-year land lease expires. But don’t cue the farewell music just yet. I’m not done. I’m simply changing costumes. The truth is, I’ve never been good at the traditional notion of “retirement.” It’s always sounded more like a medical diagnosis than a life stage. (“I’m sorry, sir, you’ve come down with retirement. It’s terminal.”) For people who work with ideas, creativity, and relationships, there’s no clean break between doing and being. Our curiosity refuses to clock out. For knowledge workers, the problem isn’t that we can’t stop working — it’s that we’re finally doing the work we actually want to do. That’s a hard thing to walk away from. According to a recent Northwestern Mutual study, only 44% of Millennials expect to retire by 65 — and one in five believe they’ll never retire at all. Not because they can’t, but because they don’t want to. Retirement used to be a reward for surviving work. Now it often feels like an interruption to meaning. The Industrial Age version of retirement made sense when work was mostly physical — when your back gave out before your spirit did. But for today’s thinkers, makers, and mentors, the mind keeps evolving. Our operating system updates itself every few years. We’re not winding down — we’re just switching from “production mode” to “wisdom mode.” So tonight, as I raise a glass to The Phoenix Hotel, I’m also toasting to its namesake: rebirth. I’m letting go of one chapter to make space for what I can’t yet imagine. The first half of life is about creating your résumé. The second half is about creating your eulogy — not morbidly, but meaningfully. I don’t want to stop working. I want to keep awakening. In a culture that worships youth and productivity, it feels almost rebellious to say: I’m not retiring, I’m rewiring. My business card may change, but my curiosity won’t. If anything, it’s louder than ever — like a slightly eccentric friend who refuses to leave the party. So here’s my toast: to the Phoenix, to midlife mischief, and to the beautiful trouble of staying curious at any age. I may be 65, but I’m not done dancing with my next act.
I turned 66 last Wednesday, and I also believe that retirement would be “an interruption to meaning.” I may shift away from a traditional 40+ hour work week, but I cannot image life without some form of work.
I love - and agree - with everything you said. I "retired" in June and have the same distaste for the word. After 35 years in student affairs I'm re-careering and taking classes to prepare me for my next (dream) job as a career counselor/career coach. When I shared that with some people they were perplexed. They would ask me why I didn't want to spend this time just enjoying myself. Why can't they understand that enjoying myself is EXACTLY what I'm doing???
I turned 65 this year and am not ready to call it quits. In fact, I feel like I’m just getting started on the next path. I am mentoring students and training up internal staff for clients. I am still creating. At 65, we have wisdom, energy and passion to still make an impact. 65 is only the new 45.
I think the word 'retirement' is meaningless now, I didn't use to. Retirement infers stopping to me, and when you stop you start a slow march to decline. I'm not smart enough to have a different word for it I just know learning never stops, appreciation only grows, vision is soo much better now, love is a full heart.
Love to see it. Started my agency at 58 and plan on opening another business when I'm 65. As long as it's fun, I'm going to keep doing it.
Chip Conley, this is it. The mindset shift we are seeing across the longevity economy. It’s not just about extending the years or chasing the science of longevity — it’s about reimagining what we do with the years we’ve been given, and how the world shows up, builds, and innovates to support them. Thank you for helping reframe aging isn’t an exit, it’s an evolution. The opportunity now is to rewrite how we move through this stage of life — from burden to belonging, from aging out to opting in. We’re living longer — and contributing longer. The “third third” of life isn’t a social cost; it’s one of the greatest untapped human and economic opportunities of our time. 🔥 Here’s to staying curious, staying wired, and building what’s next — together.
What a beautifully articulated reframe of retirement — not as an end, but as a shift into deeper meaning and wisdom. This line especially struck me: “For knowledge workers, the problem isn’t that we can’t stop working — it’s that we’re finally doing the work we actually want to do.” As a coach to high-achieving professionals navigating reinvention, I see this every day. When your work is tied to purpose, curiosity, and contribution — why would you walk away from that? Thank you Chip Conley for modeling what it looks like to stay curious, creative, and fully alive in the next chapter. Here’s to rewiring, not retiring!
Happy 65th Chip. I am not far behind you. Like you there’s no reason not do what you want to do, if our health permits. Question, what happens when beige clothes become the rage?😁
I have said that myself... that retirement seems like I would make a change in my significance and contribution to society... that I would become strictly a demographic to which marketing was aimed. I like working. I like thinking. I like being challenged. I love contributing. I'm not quite there in age, but not too far ... but the thoughts are already in the back of my mind... and if I'm not actually working in the future ... then I'm volunteering to both help others and to maintain my sense of me.