Frank Cubillo performs his solo tribute act to Frank Sinatra - “Frank Sings Frank – at more than 200 gigs a year.
“I told my wife I wanted to start a hobby or just experiment and see if I could do some gigs and perform here locally in the Hampton Roads area … and I just kind of started it, doing some auditions and I realized that I could start getting gigs,” Cubillo said.
When he started as “Frank Sings Frank,” Cubillo still worked a day job in the Navy.
“But I did moonlight, if you will, some gigs until I was fully retired,” he said.
Now 72 years old, Cubillo represents a growing trend of seniors staying in the workforce after traditional retirement age.
Americans over 75 are the fastest-growing age group in the workforce, more than quadrupling in size since 1964. This group of seniors working is expected to double in the next decade, essentially rewriting the retirement standard.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2025, there will be almost 3 million more older workers than there were 10 years ago —19% of Americans 65 and older are still in the workforce.
Last year, the average retirement age was 62, up from 59 in the early 2000s. Jay Walker, an associate professor of economics at Old Dominion University, said baby boomers staying in the workforce is increasingly common due to several factors, including not having enough savings.
“You see these surveys where people perhaps have not saved for retirement as much as prior generations and then we have had the change from a traditional pension to 401ks and with technology it’s just easier to continue working,” he said.
Kebe Sawyer owns a franchise of Seniors Helping Seniors, which hires older adults to provide companion care to their peers in the region. She said seniors are a readily available and important labor source.
“You would be amazed at how many seniors are either retired and they’re looking to do something part-time or they just want to get out of the house,” Sawyer said.
She’s noticed many older folks are living longer with resources that didn’t exist decades ago for aging people.
“Seniors are starting to realize they can exercise, they can eat healthy, they can stay active,” she said. “There’s been a lot of support, I would say, over the last 20-plus years for seniors that maybe years ago, those types of support opportunities were not there.”
With that, life expectancy has increased, and with the nature of work changing, becoming more technological and less physically demanding, it means people can work later in life.
Essentially, the modern labor market is driven not by physical demands but by brain stamina, which is rewriting the typical retirement story, Walker said.
While you might have some financial pressures … (the) greater flexibility in work environment, … you could extend a career, you still have some income coming in just because you like to stay active,” he said.
Cubillo retired twice before embarking on his current career path as a Frank Sinatra performer. He served in the Marines for 38 years and then worked as a civilian defense contractor.
He has no plans to retire a third time. He enjoys performing and sharing the story of his third career.
“I’m happy to share all the knowledge that I have and all the experiences I had with younger people,” he said. “That was ingrained in me in the Marine Corps. You know, be a mentor, that’s part of leadership.
