Retired, not expired: These seniors went back to school, wrote a book and started a fashion store
Published on
27 Jul 2024
Published by
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – For many, the word “retiree” conjures up images of a senior leading a carefree, if routine, life.
But some retirees are pushing past stereotypes to pursue their passions well into their golden years.
Take, for example, Mr Nadarajoo Sivanandan, who was 71 when he graduated with a diploma in legal studies. Or Ms Sherrie Low, 59, and Ms Ai Yat Goh, 68, who wrote a business book that topped The Straits Times’ weekly bestsellers non-fiction list for weeks in 2024.
“It is important to keep the ‘fire in the belly’ and the gumption to pursue any new love of their life,” says Dr Kelvin Tan, head of the Singapore University of Social Sciences’ minor in applied ageing studies and a senior lecturer for the master’s and PhD programmes in gerontology.
He has seen older people picking up new musical instruments and calligraphy, improving their digital literacy and becoming tour guides.
“No longer do we see older people, especially men, become taxi drivers after retirement as their natural choice. The new older people are trying out new passions with choices of lifelong learning opening up, including AI (artificial intelligence),” he says.
With a fast ageing population – almost one in four Singaporeans will be aged 65 by 2030 – more workers are slated to hit the metaphorical “wall” of retirement in the coming years.
The re-employment age is being raised progressively and will be capped at age 70 by 2030, with the retirement age expected to be 65 by that year. At the same time, Singaporeans are now living longer, with life expectancy at 83 years in 2023, up 0.6 years from 2013.
According to the Ministry of Manpower’s Labour Force 2023 data, 30.6 per cent of seniors aged 65 and older were employed in 2023, 3 percentage points higher than the 2019 figure. It noted that the increase in the statutory re-employment age has improved the employment rate.
Dr Tan believes that today’s 60something baby boomers are well-placed for active retirement as they are better educated than previous generations, have more savings and understand the need for a healthy and active lifestyle.
However, some may struggle when they segue from corporate warrior to retiree as they lose their sense of identity, he says. That is where strong social networks, from family to friends, can help to reduce their fears during the transition.
“Planning ahead before retirement can help people to manage the change from a steep cliff drop to a more gentle slope. Creating interest groups early can help their lives to have a continuation of meaning and purpose. For example, there is an older Singaporean who retired and created an interest group in stargazing,” he adds.
Or, as in retired Italian banker Giuseppe De Giosa’s case, turning an aesthete’s eye into a bespoke fashion store with clothes made from vintage kimonos when he was in his 60s.
Meet the sassy seniors who have redefined retirement on their own terms.
At age 71, veteran court interpreter graduated with diploma in legal studies
On Nov 4, 2023, Mr Nadarajoo Sivanandan put on a spiffy white shirt and red tie to dine out with a former colleague and good friend.
“Dress up,” she instructed, when she offered to buy him and his wife, stay-at-home mother Teresa Lauzar, 75, a good meal. The friend declined to be named.
The veteran court interpreter, who turns 76 in September, wondered where they were going that warranted formal clothing.
When he stepped into the grand ballroom of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore that morning and saw staff members from Kaplan Higher Education Academy, he finally caught on. His friend and the diploma graduation team were surprising him with the graduation ceremony he never had in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former executive secretary now a teacher assistant at an inclusive pre-school
With her signature red lips and coiffured hair, Ms Julie Oei looks like a polished grandmother picking up her grandchild from Kindle Garden Preschool.
That is, until you notice that she is wearing the inclusive pre-school’s maroon uniform top.
It is 3.30pm on a Friday and the children in the Nursery 2 class, aged three to four, have just woken up from their naps. Eight of the 10 kids here are in school today. A couple of girls rush to Ms Oei as she approaches.
“Come, Teacher Julie,” says one of the girls, grasping Ms Oei’s arm possessively, while eyeing this reporter and the photographer with curiosity.
They wrote a best-selling business book on visual thinking
Ms Sherrie Low, 59, and Ms Ai Yat Goh, 68, did not expect to be best-selling authors post-retirement.
But their book, The S.T.A.R. System: Applying Visual Thinking For Business Success, published in 2024 by Marshall Cavendish Business, debuted on March 7 and topped The Straits Times’ non-fiction bestsellers’ list on March 16 and 23, as well as on April 6.
The 156-page tome remained on the list for five weeks, dropped off and then topped it again on May 18. It returned on June 29 at No. 2.
“Our readers have helped us make the seemingly impossible possible,” Ms Low wrote in a grateful LinkedIn post in April.
Former banking exec stitches together new career in fashion
Following Mr Giuseppe De Giosa’s retirement from banking after nearly 40 years, he stitched together a new career from threads from his youth.
The 73-year-old Italian, who first came to Singapore in 1990, has long been an aesthete and a collector of Tibetan rugs, European antiques and Japanese fabrics.
In 2017, Mr De Giosa launched his bespoke fashion business, DGA Threads, in Lower Delta Road, specialising in one-of-a-kind garments and accessories made with vintage Japanese kimonos.
His tubular dresses, sewn with contemporary and vintage yukata cotton, and clutch bags made from mulberry silk and fabric used for an obi, or kimono sash, cost $280 each.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Reproduced with permission.
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