That would mean that retiring ten years earlier would extend one's life expectancy by (at least) 8.5 years.
Color me skeptical!
I did a little googling, and this was my first hit:
Some evidence does at first glance appear to exist to support the first claim - that people who work longer die younger than those who retire early.
A paper attributed to the aircraft-maker Boeing shows that employees who retire at 55 live to, on average, 83. But those who retire at 65 only last, on average, another 18 months.
The "Boeing study" has been quoted by newspapers, magazines and pundits. It's circulated on the internet for years. The problem with it is that Boeing itself says it's simply not true.
Later in the same article:
People who retire early because they are seriously ill will make average life expectancy for all retirees of that age look lower.
There's another statistical trap. Some of the people who retire at 55 will die before they reach 65. But of course no-one who retires at 65 will have died before they reached that age. That also distorts the data.
Here's the hyperlink:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18952037
I'm intrigued by the fact that you say that a friend of yours who works for Boeing told you about this. I wonder if this is a case of the famed "a friend of a friend said that..."
Regards,
I heard the 18 month death after retirement story at Generous (not) Electric in 1988. I was working 56 hour weeks then at a high stress job. I quit shortly after, killing my self for the company for what?
She showed me the chart. Boeing paid out retirement on the average of only 18 months when an employee retired at 65. Their stats, not mine.