As a retirement editor, I sift through hundreds of stock photos of aging couples; I’ve come to know one perfect pair that consistently hits just the right note for a retirement article. They are, essentially, a mirror to our own sense of what aging should look like. Around Kiplinger, we call them “Dan” and “Sue,” though we don’t know their actual names.

They are both athletic, with thick, silver hair and bright smiles. In their late sixties, they are active and fun, but they also look like the kind of people who would pore over tax brackets. I’m almost certain they are Serbian, because that’s the location given for most of their images. At the very least, they are European; one poolside shot shows Dan in a Speedo, which hardly screams “American.” There’s no way to know, however, because stock photo companies generally protect the identity of their models. In fact, many models are regular people, not professionals.