Society is increasingly rejecting the “golden years” model of retirement in favor of a new model that sees later life as a time of opportunity and reinvention, says HSBC Holdings in a new worldwide study on aging.

HSBC, which has 110 million customers in 77 countries, commissioned the research because it felt not enough was known about individual desires for later life. It comes amid dramatic shifts in life expectancy, which is increasing at a rate of 2.5 years per decade and by 2050 is expected to reach 90.

That in turn, HSBC notes, is placing increased pressure on spending on public pensions around the world. In Canada, for example, 5.1% of GDP was spent on public pensions in 2000, but will probably hit 13% by 2050.

Entitled ‘The Future of Retirement’, the study surveyed 11,453 adults in Brazil, Canada, mainland China and Hong Kong, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Britain and the USA — countries and territories that contain more than half of the world’s people and combine to give a representative sample of the global population. .

“The ageing of the ‘baby boomer’ generation, declining fertility rates and increasing lifespans are combining to create new and complex demographic pressures across the globe,” said Sir John Bond, Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc, in a statement. “The resulting changes will in many cases be very positive but they also create real challenges, not least with regard to the funding of retirement. Even in Canada, the nation our research found to be the best prepared for retirement, just 24% now equate later life with financial independence.

The study shows that for many people traditional retirement is a thing of the past. Eighty per cent want to scrap mandatory retirement while just 14% equate financial independence with old age.

In six of the 10 societies surveyed, alternating work and leisure was seen by the majority as the ideal ‘later lifestyle’ – already a major shift away from the notion that later life is dominated by a passive retirement, the study says. “Even in India and [Britain], the most skeptical about flexible work arrangements, more than a quarter want to take on some work in their later years.”

In addition to wanting to reject traditional models of retirement, people also want is greater choice in when and how they retire. Only 17% felt employers should have a mandatory retirement age while 80% felt that people should go on working as long as they are able, if they wish to. Only 29% thought avoiding stress was important to a happy later life. Less than a quarter (21%) said that never working for pay again would form part of their ideal retirement.

But given the choice between increasing taxes, reducing pensions or raising the retirement age to ease this burden, 45% chose the latter, emphasizing the desire of many to make their own decisions. Just over a quarter (26%) said they would accept higher taxes. Only 15% opted to reduce pension benefits.

The survey contains a message for advisors, too. It shows that while the research uncovered a growing desire to redefine how we traditionally think about later life, it also found that people in many countries are unsure of where to go to find appropriate advice. Almost two-thirds (63%) of those surveyed said they had begun to prepare for retirement but most of this was restricted to reading up on the subject and discussion with family and friends.

“ For most people in most countries, the desire is for a balanced lifestyle that includes periods of work, leisure and education – or a blend of all three at once, with the proportions altering to take account of the interests and demands of the moment,” the study says.

This new model of retirement was considered the best approach in seven of the 10 countries and territories HSBC researched, with younger people being particularly likely to aspire to it.

“The idea of old age has itself grown old. In the past, people thought of the onset of old age as being marked by an event — such as a 65th birthday, retiring or collecting a pension. People now see old age as beginning with the decline of personal abilities, such as memory, eyesight and energy. This is a much more personal and individualistic definition, and means that people become ‘old’ at different ages: a 60-year-old may be ‘old’ while an 85-year-old remains youthful.