Nov. 13: Ageing gracefully beats the alternative: former President Jimmy Carter

November 13, 2025

When former U.S. President Jimmy Carter authored The Virtues of Aging in 1998, he could not have then known that he would continue his long and productive retirement for a further 26 years.

The book provides some nice insights about making your “golden” years the best years of your life.

“I was just 56 years old when I was involuntarily retired from my position in the White House,” he begins. “What made losing the job even worse was that it was a highly publicized event, with maybe half the people in the world knowing about my embarrassing defeat.”

Worse news lay ahead – the family peanut business, run in a blind trust while he was president, had hit a bad patch due to “prolonged drought” in Georgia and was a million dollars in the red.

With a young daughter heading off to college, their short-term financial picture looked dim, and “it was natural for us to assume – like many other retirees – that our productive lives were over.”

Instead, things began to improve. The farm business was bought by a large agricultural firm, both Carters received offers to write about their lives, and soon they were on the college lecturing circuit.

Instead of facing retirement with despair, the Carters worked to “ensure that our retired years would be happy, and maybe even productive.”

It’s Carter’s view that older citizens should not be nudged out of the workforce at retirement age. A survey taken at the time the book was written found “93 per cent of respondents believe that the elderly should be allowed to work as long as we wish… and 75 per cent think wisdom comes with age.”

After all, he continues, “during the past 25 years the number of people over the age of 85 grew almost six times more rapidly than the overall population. The faster-growing group of all, however, is those over a hundred!” In fact, there were 100 times more centenarians by 2000 than there were in 1956, the book notes.

After worrying that the U.S. Social Security system might eventually be unable to keep up with payment demands of retiring boomers, Carter observes that the U.S. savings rate was far lower than that of other nations – around two per cent per year, “less than a quarter as much” as the Japanese savings rate. “Most baby boomers… will have little if any savings when they retire,” forcing them to rely on government programs which are underfunded, the book continues.

The Carters began their long retirement together by staying active at such things as tennis, fly fishing, going for a run, and hiking in the hills.

In “retirement,” they established the Carter Center, an organization devoted to the advancement of human rights, promoting peace, and alleviating suffering around the world. The former president won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for these and other humanitarian efforts.

Perhaps the high level of activity and engagement helped the Carters value their time in retirement more highly.

“There is no doubt we now cherish each day more than when we were younger. Our primary purpose in our golden years is not just to stay alive as long as we can, but to savour every opportunity for pleasure, excitement, adventure and fulfillment,” he writes.

A later chapter talks about the pleasure of developing adult relationships with grown children, enjoying “the indescribable bless of aging – grandchildren.” Because of the logistics of getting the family of 20 kids and grandkids for Christmas or Thanksgiving (competing with other in-laws for the privilege), the Carters try to organize an annual trip where the whole family comes along, say for skiing in Colorado or cruising the Caribbean.

Asked by others how he has managed to stay in good health well past retirement age, the former president summarized the advice of experts as following:

• “Do not smoke.
• Maintain recommended body weight.
• Exercise regularly.
• Minimize consumption of foods high in cholesterol and saturated fats, sugar and salt.
• Do not drink excessively and never drive when drinking.
• Fasten seat belts.
• Have regular medical checkups, including blood pressure tests.”

Later, he quotes some findings from the McArthur Foundation, which “concluded that the three indicators of successful ageing are avoiding disease and disability, maintaining mental and physical function, and continuing engagement with life.”

The engagement part involves “keeping up relationship with others and performing productive activities,” he explains.

It can also include volunteering, he writes.

“There is still a tremendous potential to expand the present level of volunteerism among elders,” he notes. “Although more than 80 per cent of us do work around our homes and 70 per cent provide some assistance to friends and relatives… two out of three older people do (no volunteering) and most active volunteers contribute less than four hours a week.”

“You are old,” the book continues, “when regrets take the place of dreams.”

“When I have mentioned the title of this book too a few people, most of them responded `Virtues? What could possibly be good about growing old,’” he writes. “The most obvious answer, of course, is to consider the alternative to ageing.”

This is a great read, and the energy and sense of purpose of the Carters is quite something to behold.

The book talks about how people are saving less than they used to and how having your own savings can improve your income if – without savings – you are fully reliant on government programs.

The book mentions how people today save far less than their parents and grandparents did. As well, the book warns of the dangers of – without personal savings – having to rely solely on modest government programs for your retirement income.

If you are alone on the savings journey, why not partner with the Saskatchewan Pension Plan? With SPP, you decide how much to chip in – you can make annual contributions up to your personal registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room level, and can transfer in any amount from other RRSPs.

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Jimmy Carter, The Virtues of Aging

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