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Arthur Porter has worked at his Ford Motor Company auto plant for a whopping 65 years. The 87-year-old U.S. Marine veteran still clocks in a full shift, making him the oldest tenured worker amongst Ford’s 169,000 global employees, according to WGN-TV Chicago (1).
Unsurprisingly, a lot has changed over his six-decade career. When Porter first started, working at an auto plant meant plenty of manual labor. “It’s robots now,” he quips. In fact, he’s a robot manager. Porter manages the plant’s automated guided vehicles, or AGVs, which carry parts across the plant floor.
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So, what’s his big secret to longevity? The answer is an instructive lesson for anyone trying to make long-term career or financial plans.
The big secret to longevity
Porter, along with many of his long-tenured peers at the Ford plant, told WGN-TV Chicago that their desire to stay active was a key reason for why they were still working in their 70s and 80s.
“I don’t want to stay at home and stay in a bed,” he said. “I’d rather be active. I’ve been active for all of these years, so I might as well stay active.”
But the biggest secret to his longevity isn’t his need for exercise — it’s his ability to adapt to changes.
Porter says his mother gave him this advice: “Whatever you do, do it as you want to do it.” For him, that meant keeping pace with change and learning new skills along the way.
A 65-year career spans several economic boom-bust cycles, the rise of new technologies and a visible shift in the workplace. For instance, there have been roughly seven or eight recessions since Porter started work in the 1960s, according to a list compiled by Sofi (2).
The kind of workers who survive such long time horizons are rarely the ones who bet everything on one frozen worldview. Instead, they’re the ones who are constantly learning, acquiring new skills and adapting alongside the economy.
This is a lesson not just for your personal life and career, but also for your finances.
Read More: Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?
Adapting your finances
If you have several decades of income, savings and investments ahead of you, you probably want a long-term plan for dealing with any changes that might come your way, like the next recession.
One way to do that is to stay up to date with expert opinions and analysis by using a platform like Moby, which gives you expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.
These industry veterans can help you make sense of a changing world and navigate investment opportunities with confidence. Moby’s team spends hundreds of hours sifting through financial news and data to provide you with stock and crypto reports delivered straight to you. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and can help you reduce the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.
Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.
Automating your finances
Just like Porter adapted to automation in his workplace, you could also automate your finances to modify and re-balance your portfolio whenever the market shifts.
Platforms like Stash make this incredibly straightforward.
With over 1 million active subscribers and more than $5 billion in assets under management, the intuitive app lets you set daily, weekly or monthly recurring investments that fit your cash flow.
You can build a diversified portfolio in just a few clicks using its award-winning Smart Portfolio, which adjusts your investment mix based on your goals and risk level. Prefer a more hands-on approach? You can also choose your own stocks and ETFs, or combine both styles.
And if catching up on retirement is a priority, a Stash+ subscription offers 3% IRA matching, which can give your contributions an extra boost.
You can set up a recurring deposit in just a few minutes and steadily build your nest egg on autopilot.
Plus, you can get a $25 bonus investment when you fund a new Stash account with $5, plus a 3-month trial to explore the platform.
*All investments are subject to risk and may lose value. View important disclosures. Offer is subject to T&Cs.
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Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
WGN TV (1); SoFi (2)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
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