The Superager Who Never Retired: What an 87-Year-Old Lexicographer Teaches Us About Purpose

The Dow crossed 50,000, China stepped in on Iran, and markets decided that was enough good news for one day.

The quick scan: Thursday was the best session of the week. All three indices climbed, records fell again, and the Dow reclaimed the 50,000 milestone for the first time since February. The catalyst wasn't earnings or economic data – it was diplomacy. China signalled it would use its influence with Iran to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and markets responded immediately.

S&P 500: +0.77%, 7,501.24 – A fresh record close; technology and crypto-related stocks led the charge
Dow Jones: +0.75%, 50,063.46 – Back above 50,000 for the first time in months; a milestone that had been within reach for weeks
NASDAQ: +0.88%, 26,635.22 – Solid gains as chip stocks recovered further following the US clearance of around 10 Chinese firms to purchase Nvidia's H200 chip.

What's driving it: The session's defining moment came from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who told CNBC that China would work behind the scenes to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait. "It's very much in their interest to get the strait reopened," he said, noting that China is the world's largest crude oil importer and that more than half its oil comes from the Middle East. Nearly all of Iran's crude oil exports go to China – which gives Beijing considerably more leverage over Tehran than Washington has. Markets read the Bessent comments as the most credible signal yet that a resolution is closer than the headlines suggest. April retail sales rose 0.5%, slightly below forecast but still positive, and weekly jobless claims came in at 211,000 – a touch above expectations but well within healthy range.

Bottom line: The China-Iran development is the most significant geopolitical shift since the war began. If Beijing does lean on Tehran and the Strait reopens, oil prices fall, inflation eases, and the Fed rate-hike conversation becomes much quieter very quickly. For L-Plate Retirees, that chain of events would be unambiguously good news for both portfolios and purchasing power. It's not a done deal – but for the first time in months, the path to resolution has a plausible map.

Her Father Is 87 and Still Working. She's 62 and Has No Plans to Stop Either

The scoop: Every time someone she knows retires, Lorraine Ladish's stomach drops.

She's 62, lives in Florida – a state practically engineered for retirement – and finds it quietly jarring when people assume her working days are winding down. Her response is always the same: she comes from a family of driven creatives, and she has no intention of stopping.

Her father is 87. He still works.

He is a lexicographer – the kind of person who compiles dictionaries for a living, which is either the most patient profession imaginable or the most quietly heroic, depending on your view. He is also a linguist and a lifelong English teacher who used to run a language school in Madrid until the rent became untenable and he moved his teaching online and into his students' homes. He is currently developing a bilingual phraseological dictionary, pitching it to universities and digital publications in a world where, as Lorraine notes, silence is far more common than rejection.

He has not stopped.

What superagers actually do

The term "superager" gets used loosely, but in its proper sense it refers to people in their 70s, 80s and beyond whose cognitive and sometimes physical performance resembles that of people decades younger. Researchers have been trying to understand what they have in common.

The answers tend to cluster around a few things: regular physical activity, strong social connections, a resistance to giving up when things are difficult, and – critically – continued engagement with demanding mental tasks. Not passive consumption. Active creation. Work that pushes back.

Lorraine's father ticks these boxes without, one suspects, ever having consulted a longevity research paper. He pitches. He writes. He teaches. He sends chapters to his daughter for feedback and gets notes in return. He is, at 87, still a participant in the world rather than an observer of it.

There's a body of research supporting the idea that purposeful work protects the aging brain in ways that leisure alone does not. The distinction matters. Gardening, travelling, watching documentaries – these are fine things. But they are qualitatively different from work that requires you to produce something, to meet a deadline, to be accountable to someone else's expectations. The cognitive load of purposeful work, it turns out, is part of what makes it protective.

What work gives that retirement doesn't automatically replace

For Lorraine, the list is specific. Work gives her intellectual stimulation, relevance, a creative outlet, and the ongoing need to adapt to new technology. Because she is self-employed, it also gives her freedom – to set her hours, choose her projects, work from wherever she happens to be.

This is a useful distinction that often gets lost in retirement planning conversations. We spend enormous effort calculating whether we have enough money to retire. We spend comparatively little thinking about what we are retiring to – what will provide the structure, the identity, the sense of being needed, the daily reason to get out of bed and do something that matters.

The research on retirement and wellbeing is genuinely mixed. For people leaving stressful, unfulfilling jobs, retirement brings measurable improvements in health and happiness. For people who derive meaning, identity and social connection from their work, the picture is considerably more complicated. The first group was escaping something. The second group is leaving something behind.

Lorraine is clearly in the second group. So, at 87, is her father.

The question most retirement plans skip

None of this is an argument against retirement. It is an argument for being honest about what you are retiring from and what you expect retirement to give you in return.

If the answer to "what will replace the meaning my work provides?" is genuinely clear – if there are projects, relationships, creative pursuits, community roles that will fill that space with equivalent purpose – then retirement may be the right choice and the timing is right. Many people have made that transition beautifully.

But if the answer is vague – if "I'll travel more" or "I'll finally relax" is the full extent of the plan – then it may be worth examining whether what you're really planning to retire from is the commute, the office politics, the boss, rather than the work itself. Those are solvable problems that don't necessarily require stopping.

Lorraine's father didn't retire from writing and teaching. He retired from the lease on his building. The work continued.

At 62, Lorraine writes: "I don't even feel I've peaked yet." At 87, her father is pitching a new dictionary to universities who mostly don't reply.

They are, by any conventional measure, two people who should have stopped by now.

They have clearly not got the memo. And they look, from the outside, like they are doing just fine.

Actionable Takeaways for L-Plate Retirees:

• Separate "retiring from" and "retiring to." Most retirement planning focuses on when you can stop working. The more useful question is what you are moving toward – what will provide structure, identity, social connection, and the feeling that what you do each day matters. If the answer isn't clear, that's the planning gap worth closing first.

• Consider what work actually gives you beyond income. For many people the list includes intellectual stimulation, relevance, creative outlet, routine, social connection, and a sense of being needed. Before leaving work entirely, audit which of these you have a clear plan to replace – and be honest about whether "I'll figure it out" is a plan.

• Don't confuse the job with the work. You may want to retire from a specific employer, a commute, a demanding boss, a particular set of obligations. That's different from retiring from the kind of thinking and creating you do. Many people find that leaving the job while continuing the work – in freelance, consulting, volunteer, or creative form – preserves what was most valuable about their career without what made it exhausting.

• Purposeful work protects the aging brain in ways passive leisure doesn't. The research on superagers consistently points to active cognitive engagement – producing, creating, being accountable – rather than passive consumption. If your retirement plan is weighted toward watching and experiencing rather than making and contributing, it may be worth rebalancing.

• Build your "encore" before you leave, not after. The transition is smoother when the next chapter is already underway. That might mean starting a side project while still employed, building a freelance client base, getting involved in a community organisation, or developing a skill that could become purposeful work in a new form.

• Purpose doesn't require payment. Lorraine's father isn't working because he needs the money at 87. He's working because the work gives him a reason to keep going. Volunteering, mentoring, teaching, writing, creating – these carry the same cognitive and emotional benefits as paid work when they involve genuine effort, real output, and accountability to something beyond yourself.

Your Turn:
When you imagine your retirement – or if you're already in it – what does a purposeful Tuesday look like? Not the holiday version, but an ordinary week in the life you're building.
If you could continue some version of your working life on your own terms – your hours, your projects, your pace – would you? And if not, what specifically are you relieved to leave behind?
Lorraine's father pitches his dictionary to universities who mostly don't respond. What would you keep working on, even if the world wasn't particularly paying attention?

👉 Hit reply and share your thoughts – your answers could inspire fellow readers in future issues.

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