We all have different ideas of what the word retirement means. For some it is a cherished goal with visions of a perpetual holidays, clever grandchildren visiting that they can brag about, golf or taking up that painting or writing hobby that they always yearned for and they can finally ditch the daily 9-5 grind. For others, it represents a land that they hope to never reach because it symbolises boredom, beige – a lot of beige, comfortable shoes, talking only to people of their age and walking and living at a slow pace. MIT's AgeLab has asked adults across the United States to come up with words describing life after career and found that women and men and young and older people have very different perceptions and vocabulary of what retirement means but most of the words that the respondents used, were positive. There was an interesting distinction between how men and women viewed retirement. The researchers write in the Wall Street Journal that the words respondents chose, showed that retirement was "an elusive vision" and that it may be a barrier to planning properly for retirement. If our most popular article on Biznews is anything to judge by, people are looking for justification to retire early and Alec Riddle's warning that work pounds older bodies is taken to heart, while other articles that championed the idea of working later for a sharper mind and better health, are less popular. – Linda van Tilburg

The revealing words people use to describe retirement