Why you will probably live longer than most big companies
Four hundred twenty-nine of the original Fortune 500 companies open in 1955 are no longer in business today.
Martin Eriksson • Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams
But the entire concept of being entitled to retirement is, at most, two generations old. Before World War II most Americans worked until they died. That was the expectation and the reality. The labor force participation rate of men age 65 and over was above 50% until the 1940s:
Morgan Housel • The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness
Thus we are left with an interesting consumer quandry — if companies are taking as long as twelve years to exit but trends have shortened to less than twelve month periods, how can brands be expected to keep up?