In The Globe’s second On Money personal finance newsletter, investment reporter David Berman looks at why people might want to shelve those early retirement dreams and live more like a Rolling Stone.

Keith Richards: Rock star, drug-and-alcohol survivor, late-retirement role model?

The Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter is many things to many people.

But as he moves into his 80s, Mr. Richards – along with numerous other geezer musicians who remain active on stage – has become a source of inspiration for some workers who are approaching retirement age and wondering if they, too, should keep doing what they are doing.

And they don’t have to be rock stars.

A middle-aged grunt like me can look at the likes of Mr. Richards, Madonna, Neil Young, Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson and conclude that an easier life far from a stage – er, desk – might not be an ideal pursuit just yet.

As many of these multimillionaires are demonstrating, the decision to remain active may have less to do with making more money and instead rest on other factors.

For one thing, we are living longer, healthier lives.

A report from Goldman Sachs earlier this year noted that a 70-year-old in 2022 had the same cognitive ability as a 53-year-old in 2000.

“In a very tangible sense, 70 is the new 53,” Kevin Daly, a senior economist at Goldman Sachs, said in the report.

What’s more, the average life expectancy for people living in developed economies has risen to 82, up from 78 in 2000. And the median effective working life – or the average number of years a person stays active in the labour market – has risen to 38 years from 34 years.

“This trend towards extending working lives shows little sign of abating and is taking place in countries with minimal changes to pension laws, suggesting an adaptive response to increased longevity,” Mr. Daly said.

Does working longer sound like a downer?

This is where Mr. Richards and other famous musicians look like role models, because we can see that they are living their best lives.

Sure, one reason famous people prefer to stay famous is that, for them, retiring can mean disappearing. That doesn’t apply to most of us who are already leading fairly anonymous lives.

But there’s another reason that may be driving the stars: There is evidence that delaying retirement can mean living longer.

A study of 3,000 Americans, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health in 2016, found that those who held off retiring until 66, rather than 65, saw their risk of dying fall by 11 per cent.

And a 2013 study of French workers, funded by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, found that longer careers were associated with a lower risk of developing dementia.

None of this means that we have to keep working in jobs that we no longer enjoy, or can no longer do well. And there are plenty of ways to maintain a mental edge beyond our careers.

But the big takeaway is that our retirement plans should involve more than money. We might not want to emulate all of Mr. Richards’s choices, but his decision to keep playing guitar is one worth celebrating.

If you have thoughts on retiring early – or late – drop me a line at dberman@globeandmail.com