Retire or Expire?
12 Oct 2025 · 0 min
0:12
Trystan Trenberth argues that healthy people don't really want to retire. He contrasts his two grandfathers: one traveled and wrote books, the other sat in a chair. His phrase: if you retire, you expire.
Trystan Trenberth argues that healthy people don't really want to retire. He contrasts his two grandfathers: one traveled and wrote books, the other sat in a chair. His phrase: if you retire, you expire.
But not many people actually really want to retire in this day and age. If they have the health, I'd rather be just doing something I really love, making an impact with people and creating a difference.
I mean, if you retire, you expire. It's sad. Absolutely.
I remember my grandfather— it's not 100% accurate, I was very young— but one grandfather of mine traveled the world in his retirement and hiked and wrote books. My other grandfather took care of his garden. He loved planting tomatoes and vegetables, all that stuff, playing bowls. But pretty much the rest of the time he pretty much sat in his chair. And that was retirement. He stopped work. So that very big extreme difference in perspective on what retirement could mean. Yeah, there was a difference in means, obviously. But that activity level was very different. So I think that's a great coined term is, if you retire, you expire.
