Not everyone gets the good genes or good fortune that has Orville Rogers flying around the country to attend master’s level track meets, but he is an inspiring example to follow. Money describes Rogers in a title that says it all: “This 100-Year-Old Has Been Retired for 40 Years, Has a Healthy Savings Account and Is a Track Champion. Here’s His Impressive Path to a Rich Retirement”
Longevity in savings that aligns with his years is a powerful force. He started saving in 1952, 25 years before the creation of the retirement savings plan we know today as a 401(k). Back in the day, companies provided their employees with pension plans and those without a pension plan lived on Social Security when they retired. Life expectancies were shorter, so you didn’t need quite so much money. Rogers was born in 1917 and his peer group’s life expectancy was about 48.4 years old.
By saving for retirement and using his downtime between flights to educate himself about money, he started investing and says that his account is now worth around $5 million. He says he wasn’t particularly frugal either and supported his church and other Christian causes throughout his life. However, he had time on his side making periodic investments over an extended period of time.
Another practice that extends life: exercise. Rogers took up running at age 50 and hasn’t stopped yet. Studies have shown that anyone, at any age or stage, is helped by a regular schedule of physical activity tailored to your personal needs. Even people who are wheelchair bound and living in a nursing home can benefit from a chair exercise program. Among older seniors, the ability to walk a quarter mile (one lap around a track) is linked to better health outcomes.
Until recently, Rogers ran five to six miles a week. He’s in rehab now and working his way back to his prior running and training schedule.
When you live as long as Rogers has, you outlive a lot of family members and friends. Rogers moved into a retirement community two years after his wife died, making new friends because as he says, “… if I don’t, I’d have none left.”
Faith has also been a strong force in his life over these many years. At 98, he wrote a book, The Running Man: Flying High for the Glory of God. When he was starting out in his retirement years, he flew church missions in Africa.
“I’m enthusiastic about life,” Rogers says. That kind of inspiration is a lesson to us all.
Reference: Money (Nov. 2018) “This 100-Year-Old Has Been Retired for 40 Years, Has a Healthy Savings Account and Is a Track Champion. Here’s His Impressive Path to a Rich Retirement”
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