So why do we work? My mini-retirement was enough to show me that it provides me an anchor of meaning. A recent article in the NY Times examined retirement vs. working into old age. “In 2000, after a long career at the helm of a commercial printing firm, Arline Tarte, now 71, left the industry for good. For two years, she played bridge, went to the theater and ballet, saw jazz concerts. But she says she found it uninspiring at best. ‘I was used to doing all that and running a company that was very involved,’ she said. ‘It was boring.’