Workers Thriving at 70, 80, and Even 100

(CNN) -- Jack Borden would like you to consider working well past retirement age. As a 101-year-old attorney, he has the credibility to encourage it.

Attorney Jack Borden, 101, says he's never thought about not working. "What would I do?" he said.

Borden, who has been practicing law for the better part of 70 years, still spends about 40 hours a week at his office in Weatherford, Texas, handling estate planning, probate and real estate matters.

Retire? Not while he's able to help folks.

"As long as you are capable, you ought to use what God gave you. He left me here for a reason, and with enough of a mind to do what it is I'm supposed to be doing," said Borden, who also has been a district attorney and Weatherford's mayor.

He arrives at the practice he shares with his nephew at 6:30 a.m. He goes home for lunch at 10:45 a.m., rests in bed for 45 minutes -- doctor's orders after pneumonia a few years back -- returns to work by 12:45 p.m. and stays until at least 4.

Not everyone who works past 65 does so because they want to. In a survey completed last month, 38 percent of respondents working past the age of 62 said they may have to delay retirement even further because of the recession, according to the Pew Research Center's Social and Demographic Trends project.

But in answer to another question in the same survey, 54 percent of workers 65 or older said they're working now mainly because they want to. Seventeen percent said their main reason was money, and 27 percent said both factors motivated them.

"Some of them enjoy it, and some of them need the money. But even if they need the money, they also enjoy the work," said Cynthia Metzler, president of Experience Works, a nonprofit that helps low-income workers ages 55 and older acquire new job skills.

The group, which operates in 30 states and also uses federal funds to pay participants a minimum wage to work community service jobs while they look for other work, last month named Borden as America's Outstanding Oldest Worker -- a title it bestows annually to a worker over 100.

Last week, Borden was in Washington to participate in events the group was holding to mark National Employ Older Workers Week.

When it comes to putting off retirement out of desire, Borden is hardly alone.

Preston Brown, 70, is a police officer in Yakima, Washington. He's enjoying the challenges that come with patrolling streets full time, and the experiences are relatively fresh: The former marketing worker and real estate broker didn't join the force until he was 51.

He was attracted to law enforcement as a teen but was told he was too short. The height requirements eventually changed, and after some friends persuaded him to go on a patrol ride-along, he began a process that landed him a job with Yakima police in 1990.

Whatever is required, from report-taking to chases, he's up for it.

"From time to time there will be a physical confrontation ... and we can get involved in foot chases and vehicle chases. Usually the vast quantity is on night shift more than [my daytime shift], but still I'm involved in those," Brown said.

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