by Jay Lund
By age 66, one realizes that, empirically, the great ride of life and a career will likely end within a few decades. One recounts the longevity (or not) of one’s relatives. Major long-term commitments look riskier. One observes examples of people who prepared well and poorly for their decline and passing. One sees examples of people who retired well and poorly in personal and financial terms, as well as in service to larger family and society.
The decision to retire is an optimization problem (of course), an “optimal stopping problem.”
Objectives
Optimizing a decision begins with identifying decision objectives, “What distinguishes better decisions from worse decisions?”
Objectives in retirement include, in no particular order:
Financial – With some financial success (including a devotion to not spending money), personal finance and greed becomes less important later in life. “You can’t take it with you,” they say. At some point, the financial objective is satisfied, leaving room for other objectives. Greater wealth is nice, but might not be worthwhile.
Personal – Life has many opportunities for enjoyment, even quite a few beyond being a Professor at the University of California (which remains the best job I can imagine). Family, sailing, fixing things, travel, reading more broadly, and so many other things, even relaxing a bit.
University – After investing decades working for a fine institution which is so important for the well-being of the future for young people, society, and the world, one has some dedication to the cause (despite its faults). Retirement saves this great institution some money and allows the university to hire a new professor, one who is better and cheaper (freeing me to do other things while allowing the new professor to have the career of a lifetime). I am deeply grateful to the people of California and the University’s many students, faculty, and staff for this wonderful and rewarding career and institution, I must remain loyal to the institution.
Professional – Playing with ideas is wonderful, and sometimes useful. Research is rewarding in these ways. Students have always been a vital part of this. Teaching and research are enjoyable and useful ways to improve my thinking and effectiveness. So I would like to continue teaching, research, and engagement in real problems.
Decision options
In addition to the timing of retirement, one observes several different ways to retire.
- Clean break retirement – This tends to be good if you have driving ambitions in another direction or if dislike your job. A clean break brings immediate satisfaction if you hate your job.
- Gentle retirement, keeping the best of your job – Retire, but still teach, research, and engage in different ways, probably with reduced intensity over time.
- Don’t retire yet.
- Retirement by mortality or illness.
Solution evaluation
Rational, so-called “structured,” decision-making evaluates each main decision in terms the decision objectives, as provided below (for my case).
| Decision option | Financial | Personal | University | Professional |
| Clean break | All good | Less good | Less good | Less good |
| Gentle | Best | Best | Best | |
| Don’t | Less good | Less good | Less good | |
| Never | Less good | Less good | Less good |
All decisions are equivalent financially. There is enough money for my likely remaining time, but not so much as to corrupt or distract the mind from greater pleasures.
A Gentle retirement provides the flexibility to mix personal and professional objectives immediately and to adjust this mix over time. All other choices are inferior to this option, and require no more analysis.
Gentle retirement allows the university to hire new people who will begin a career’s worth of accomplishment and teaching. It will do this at a lower cost than continuing to pay me. And me continuing to teach, research, and engage (albeit less intensely) allows me to supplement the new hire. Gentle retirement is clearly better for the university than not retiring, or than retiring and running away.
Gentle retirement allows me to enjoy the best parts of being a university professor (teaching, research, and engagement with real problems) while de-emphasizing less enjoyable parts, realizing that it would be unwise to pursue a long rewarding administrative career at this age.
The non-dominated (optimal) decision for this multi-objective problem is clearly to retire, but gently, with some flexibility in implementation. I look forward to the joys (and problems) of implementation.
Implementation
One friend retired from teaching to become, as he said, “a gentleman scholar.” I continue to enjoy being a scholar and can aspire to become more of a gentleman.
The future will bring expected and unexpected changes. The decision to retire gently will have to be implemented adaptively as things change. Despite many eternal truths, the world is non-stationary for all or us.
Conclusion
There will be a conclusion, but not entirely yet. Becoming a professor at the University of California was the great accomplishment and enduring joy of my career. I hope to leave it gently and slowly. Hopefully more of a “planned retreat” than a discrete stop.
“The party don’t stop ‘til the brain cells die.”, as the old punk lyrics go.
Further reading
“Optimal stopping,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_stopping
Lund, J., “Approaches to Planning Water Resources,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, Volume 147, Issue 9. September 2021.
Since July 1, 2023, Jay Lund is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geography, and Hydrologic Sciences at the University of California Davis.
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