Washington ? After decades working in financial and real estate management, 61-year-old Bill Copeland retired to his version of the American dream — not full-time leisure but a less-taxing job.

He’s hardly alone. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say that when the time comes they will keep working rather than fully retiring. The reason given most often has nothing to do with money.

They simply want to stay busy.

For Copeland, after years of 60- and 80-hour work weeks, that means “only” 40 hours a week at a job selling power tools and advising people on how to use them.

“I’m doing something I want to do, that I know about and I can help people,” said Copeland, who works in Falls Church, Va., at a Home Depot, a company that makes an effort to attract older workers.

The political debate on the future of Social Security has focused fresh attention on retirement and how older Americans make ends meet. As they live longer, healthier lives, work is an option for an increasing number.

In a recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll, 63 percent of those surveyed said they thought they would work for pay after they retired. The reason given most often was “to stay busy,” followed by “to make ends meet” and “to have enough money for extras.”

People find various ways to stay in the work force. They work past retirement age, cut back to part-time, or retire and then take a new job — often with less stress, fewer hours and less money.

Joseph Quinn, a professor of economics and dean of the college of arts and sciences at Boston College, has studied retirement patterns and believes people tend to retire in stages.

“For many people, retirement is not an event but a process,” he said.

Interest in working longer is related to many factors, researchers say. Some of it has to do with people living longer. The life expectancy for people now is just under 78 years, an increase of almost a decade during the last 50 years.

Other factors include the expansion of work with fewer physical demands, reductions in the value of investment and retirement nest eggs and a reduction in the flow of new workers.