Worth may be raised in retirement (5)
I believe the answer is:
merit
'worth' is the definition.
(I know that merit is a type of worth)
'raised in retirement' is the wordplay.
'raised' says the letters should be written in reverse (going up in a down clue).
'in' indicates a hidden word.
'tirem' is hidden within 'retirement'.
'tirem' back-to-front is 'MERIT'.
'may be' is the link.
(Other definitions for merit that I've seen before include "Just deserts" , "credit" , "Earn" , "Rate" , "Excellence, worth" .)