Pasricha on the Perils of Retirement (2024)

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In a recent interview with WBUR, author Neil Pasricha (MBA 2007) argues that retirement “is a terrible idea.” Inspired by anecdotal examples of people whose health failed shortly after retirement, Pasricha—author of the bestselling book The Happiness Equation—began to research its origins and implications. “Turns out the two most dangerous years of your life are literally the year you were born and the year you retire,” Pasricha tells WBUR.

So why do so many people hit a wall when they retire? Pasricha says that we tend to cut out what he calls “the four S’s”: Social (“the strength of our relationships with our friends and family”), structure (“a reason to get out of bed in the morning”), stimulation (“we always need to be learning something new”), and story (being part of something bigger than yourself). “And those four S's of social, structure, stimulation and story bring us great joy and deep happiness,” Pasricha tells WBUR. “When we retire, we're often exorcising them from our lives.”

You can hear more about Pasricha’s happiness research in this 2017 episode of Skydeck, recorded live during reunions.

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