When to retire?

There has been much discussion in the media recently about longevity and when is the best age to retire?. The simple answer is it all depends on your - 'health status' -  in other words how fit and well you are? Health economics is a fascinating subjects and was one of my favorite topics when I was at the London School of Economics (LSE). So I read with interest the latest finding published in the Journal of Health Economics about the latest ideas in The Times today. One important fact is the being forced to retire from work, by redundancy or company closure does correlate with 'age of death'. The element of choice is removed, social networks broken, job status goes, all contributing to feeling depressed. This unfortunately is not sufficiently recognised by health professionals, with dire consequences. Being in control of when we retire is an important part of self esteem and self worth, take this away and problems will follow. Retirement is a form of death, and therefore loss, and should be treated with a similar degree of respect.