The Ready for Ageing Alliance – a new charity sector coalition

We note and welcome a new coalition, The Ready for Ageing Alliance, formed to increase the pressure on Government and all political parties to face up to the major changes and challenges from our rapidly ageing society.

Like other commentators we wish it every good fortune but we have reservations. Some of those reservations have been adequately expressed elsewhere and we link you below to Dick Stroud’s excellent blog 50-Plus Marketing on the subject.

http://20plus30.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ready-for-ageing-alliance-will-it-make.html

We have long been asking for some statesmanlike approach to the subject of growing older but have seen very little so far. Indeed only this week we have seen major press coverage devoted to the exceedingly trivial issue of who should or should not receive free bus passes and TV licences. This does no credit to the media nor to the politicians involved but does highlight the very poor level of debate currently taking place.

Although the participating bodies in this new alliance are all much esteemed they do, in my opinion, have a fatal weakness – they are mainly concerned with today’s existing old, not tomorrow’s. As such they do not feature all that highly in most people’s consciousness.

The real way to get people involved in ageing issues is to make today’s young realise that this is coming for them, like it or not, and any change now will be for their benefit. And if they want improvement they must take personal and collective responsibility for their futures. Therefore, I would argue for a somewhat different mix of pressure groups to extend the sphere of influence.

The Psychology of Retirement

 

These days the line between work and retirement is increasingly difficult to define. How, when and in what manner it occurs is less certain than in the past. Its very meaning has changed with many people continuing to work even though they claim to have ‘retired’.

And, despite its inevitability in one form or another, many individuals still fail to plan adequately for its arrival. For example, a new report from financial services company MGM Advantage claims that “three in five (60%) over 55s admit to being unprepared for retirement”.

Thus the relevance to those interested in older workers of a valuable and interesting new book: The Psychology of Retirement – coping with the transition from work*. It is written by Derek Milne who retired as the Director of the Newcastle University Doctorate in Clinical Psychology training programme in 2012.

Unlike most other guides to retirement which tend to deal with the practicalities of growing older outside of full-time work, this enlightening handbook tackles the unspoken issue that many people find the transition to a happy and fulfilling retirement difficult and stressful.

In response, the book draws on proven psychological coping strategies to aid the process of coping with retirement, ensuring that individuals are able to gain a better understanding of the realities of retirement and maximize their enjoyment of a key period of life.

Incorporating the author’s personal experience, real-life case studies, the latest research and well-established theories, The Psychology of Retirement provides many insights and much food for thought concerning the nature of retirement and the new challenges and opportunities it represents.

* published by Wiley (February 2013).

MGM’s Retirement Nation Report 2012: http://www.mgmadvantage.co.uk/island/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Retirement-Nation-2012.pdf

Good enough for voluntary work, but not for payment or respect?

The value of older people’s contribution to society, via unpaid care, charitable and voluntary work has increased by almost £2 billion in the UK over the last 12 months, to a total of £26.8 billion, according to the new 2012 Retirement Nation report by financial services company MGM Advantage.

The report found that each year those approaching and in retirement give society on average 75 hours of charitable work at a value of £5.7 billion and 73 hours of voluntary community work at a value of £5.5 billion. Most significantly, they provide a massive 326 hours in free care for grandchildren, parents and other family members, saving the family economy £15.5 billion in the last year.

Yet despite this contribution, the majority of older people feel undervalued by society. Two-thirds (65%) feel they are treated badly by politicians, while four in ten (42%) feel that society treats them badly. A further third (34%) feel they are poorly portrayed by the media.

Commenting on these findings Aston Goodey, director of MGM Advantage, said: “It seems £27 billion’s worth of unpaid care, voluntary and charity appears to go unnoticed by society, politicians and the media, with millions of retirees experiencing a significant lack of respect.”

The implications of the withdrawal of this input would be huge for society as a whole, and fortunately is unlikely to happen. But taking such a massive contribution for granted is insulting. Is this just another case of what doesn’t cost isn’t valued? How should older people react?

For futher information see The Retirement Nation 2012 report www.retirementnation.co.uk

Proof that innovation isn’t the prerogative of the young

An inspiring story in today’s Metro concerns two women who four years ago, in their fifties, established Incredible Edible – a food growing and sharing scheme which has now been adopted internationally.

To date, more than 30 other areas in Britain have taken on the name and similar schemes are running all over the world.

Incredible Edible was founded by Pamela Warhurst and Mary Clear – now 61 and 56 respectively who wanted to cut through all the red tape that often comes with community projects and just get out there and grow.

Incredible Edible relies on volunteers and donations and a refreshing “can-do” attitude. ‘We never envisaged that it would become a world movement,” said Mary Clear. “We have no staff, no office, no filing cabinet or telephone number other than our own, and yet a world movement has happened. …We had the balls to stick with it and carry it through, without referring to the usual models – consultants and bureaucracy.”

This is a wonderful example of older people’s entrepreneurial activity, energy and passion which we know is there in bucket loads and about which we should hear more. Any more examples anyone?

PS: The only downside of the Metro article is that the accompanying illustration is of a random young woman. Why no picture of the two ladies themselves, or at least a photo of an older gardener?

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/newsfocus/901280-incredible-edible-launches-scheme-to-grow-and-pick-food-anywhere#ixzz1x61510mf
 

 

What becomes of Previously Important Persons?

Catching up on a blog by Mark Freedman (of Encore Careers fame) in the Harvard Business Review, I was intrigued to read his comment: “A former high-ranking media executive I met recently described himself as a new member of the PIP Squad — Previously Important Persons.”

It underlined what we all know – that to retire is to lose one’s importance and to become invisible in the eyes of the world. Ask any older person you meet what they do and it’s almost certain that if they say they’re retired they will immediately qualify it by addiing “but I used to be…..”  In short, they are a PIP.

PIP status isn’t linked to grade and salary achieved. A person didn’t have to be a big cheese, chairman or professional in their career. Whatever their level, what they were was someone who was important in the eyes of the world by virtue of their place as a contributing, valued individual.

Retirement strips people of that value and recognition. Above and beyond financial reward, it is what drives many to want to keep on working.

Mark Freedman’s blog: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/outsourcing_the_old_folks.html

Deciding when to retire

Today, when standard mandatory retirement ages are a thing of the past, it is more important than ever for employers to understand some of the factors underpinning the retirement decision. For example, the timing of retirement where one of the key myths is that a person’s retirement date will depend largely on when their partner decides to retire, particularly in the case of women.

However, as a recent article in the Wall Street Journal indicated, the days when a husband automatically retired at 65 with a corporate pension and his wife dutifully followed him, are over. Most women approaching retirement age are now working, and many have their own retirement savings and viewpoints about the nature and timing of retirement.

Many of today’s older women entered (or re-entered) the workforce later than their partners following a period of non-work or part-time working while they raised their children. Consequently they may be at their peak with prospects ahead of them when men slow down and want out.

Add to this the fact that retirement, particularly for women, who tend to live longer, can now last for up to thirty years or so and women may look with horror at the prospect of relinquishing an income, social relationships and recognition for many potentially unfulfilling years ahead.

Of course, it’s not all bad news; many people – female and male – have very positive retirement plans. But, as the article indicates and my own experience with coaching and advising older people bears out, many individuals simply don’t talk to each other in any meaningful way about retirement beyond a shared acknowledgement that it will be good to leave the rat race behind.

Employers can help in many ways, not least through providing meaningful, couple-centred later life planning programmes and coaching. That may sound overly altruistic and unrealistic in this economic climate but, if employers want to see their older workers making positive transitions into retirement and being clear and open about their future plans, something has to change.

See the WSJ article at:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204571404577255662010466038.html?KEYWORDS=retire

Budget blues

It has always seemed to me a great pity that politicians and business leaders never seem to take the big and painful decisions at the right time – that is when times are good, rather than when times are bad and they are no longer in control of the process. Oh for a few farsighted statesmen rather than the short-termists we always seem to get, concerned only with their own immediate impact and survival.

And so it is now with the various measures being taken to deal with the issues surrounding a large and growing older population. The Budget just announced has come in for a lot of criticism, as they all do, in particular this time with regard to pensions and pensioners. But the concerns driving some of the current measures have been coming for decades and nobody was prepared to tackle them at the appropriate time. And so they have to be addressed now, at a time when any measure is going to be painful for someone, whether it is the young, the “squeezed middle” or the older population. In the end the pain will have to be shared around and we can only hope that such pain will, in the long run, be less here than in some other countries.

So let us stand back a moment and look at the bigger and longer term scenario, one that will quite definitely not go away of its own accord. There are certain things about matters related to demographics – they have the weight of numbers on their side and you can see them coming a long way off.

The first thing is that the population as a whole is living much longer than it used to. Living longer is generally a good thing, provided we can address the issues surrounding health, personal financial well-being, and a reason to get up in the morning. Living longer is something that will affect everyone, the young, the middle-aged and the elderly and so measures must be put in place to prepare everyone for later life, in an environment in which government funding is not a bottomless pit. After all, the money comes from us – we give with one hand we take with the other.

Therefore living longer (a good thing) implies working longer and/or saving more. And so state pension age will have to increase alongside increasing longevity, not only for financial reasons but for an individual’s feeling of value and worth and for the social interaction work brings. With this must come the ability to stay in work longer, in terms of health, the work environment itself and the right to continued employment.

And for those with some way to go to retirement, saving must be seen as a worthwhile venture. For some years there has been a powerful lobby suggesting there be an adequate universal pension for everyone, removing the excuse that saving is not worthwhile because with means testing later on you might as well spend it now rather than save it. This is being put in place. What we now need are some worthwhile savings mechanisms. They too, hopefully, are coming.

It is quite possible to argue about the fairness of the transition arrangements, for all sectors of the population not just pensioners, but directionally I believe that we are now beginning to see some progress.

 

 

 

 

Age friendly products

I have recently been alerted, via Dick Stroud’s excellent blog site, (see http://20plus30.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/age-uk-is-launching-accreditation.html) to what appears to be the re-launch of the Age UK age friendly product/service accreditation scheme. It was previously called “Age OK” and now is called “Engage” but is still extremely low profile on the Age UK website. The cost to a company is not small, £1500 for the assessment exercise and accreditation, and £1000 a year for continued membership of the Engage network. Age OK did not seem to get many takers so we will see whether Engage captures the imagination.

If I am honest, my impression is that this is a bit of a money-spinning device for Age UK rather than the “age friendly” equivalent of what we might see from Which?, for example. As a huge charity existing to serve the older population I believe Age UK could be a bit more detached and objective in their approach to this very important area.

Also, at the time of the Age OK push I suggested that there was great scope for identifying products and services which were “age unfriendly”. I am not saying that the name I facetiously constructed “Negative Age Friendly Features” or “NAFF” should do anything other than fade away but negative publicity captures the attention of organisations faster than anything else and sends a serious shudder through the ranks of an organisation’s senior management.

This brings me to the topic of “greywashing”, a subject I have been meaning to write about for a while. This I will do shortly, in conjunction with stones and glasshouses.

 

The European Year of Active Ageing

In case you hadn’t yet noticed:-

“2012 is the (European Commission’s) European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations. A chance for all of us to reflect on how Europeans are living longer and staying healthier than ever before  – and to realise the opportunities that represents.

Active ageing can give the baby-boom generation and tomorrow’s older adults the opportunity to:

     stay in the workforce and share their experience

     keep playing an active role in society

     live as healthy and fulfilling lives as possible.

It is also key to maintaining solidarity between generations in societies with rapidly increasing numbers of older people.”

This is how it is described on their website. For more see

http://europa.eu/ey2012/ey2012main.jsp?catId=971&langId=en

Last week, on 6 March, we attended the UK launch of this major initiative with many fine speakers and a TV link-up to the relevant EU Commissioner. Quite why the launch of “2012 as the year of” should take place in March I am not quite sure.

More from the website states:

“The challenge for politicians and stakeholders will be to improve opportunities for active ageing in general and for living independently, acting in areas as diverse as employment, health care, social services, adult learning, volunteering, housing, IT services or transport.

The European Year seeks to raise awareness of the issues and the best ways of dealing with them. But most of all it seeks to encourage all policymakers and stakeholders to set themselves goals and take action to meet them. 2012 should go beyond debating; it should start bringing tangible results.”

Unfortunately, a few things stand out.

There were very few politicians, policymakers or employers, as major stakeholders, in attendance. Furthermore, a number of the speakers complained of “pilotitis” or “projectitis” a phenomenon whereby things are started while money and enthusiasm exist, then fall by the wayside until they are eventually re-invented sometime later. And, the continuing problem of lack of clarity about the needs of different groups of older people was once again apparent. Without revisiting old ground, 50 year-olds are different to 80 year-olds!

Obviously it is early days in the year, well early-ish, so maybe more will emerge.

If you wish to “get involved” or would like to suggest appropriate initiatives, do check out their website.

The yin and yang of work and retirement

Traditionally society has viewed work and retirement as different, exclusive states. Either you worked or you were retired. Now, as the range of different work to non-work transitions widens we need to alter our fundamental approach.

Thinking about this, the concept of yin and yang sprang to mind – which is surprising as it never has done so before! But, if you think that yin and yang represents an amalgamation of two opposing states then it really makes sense. According to the website Absolutely Feng Shui, Yin is soft while Yang is hard. Yin is stillness while Yang is movement. Female is Yin while Man is Yang. Intuitive is Yin while Logical is Yang. Winter is Yin while Summer is Yang, and so on….

Where’s this leading? Well, at the moment we seem to have a situation where, in general, we consider work is bad, retirement is good. Unless of course you’re an expert in well-being, or a government official in which case it’s work is good, retirement as non-productive leisure is bad.

In the future our society will face a situation where nearly everyone will have to work for a considerably extended period – albeit, ideally in some flexible fashion. So starting to think of work and retirement in yin/yang terms as an amalgamation of the best of each state could be very helpful in changing people’s attitudes. 

Work is challenging, retirement is fun; work is constraint while retirement is freedom; work is innovation, retirement is routine…. or should that be the other way round?  Anyone like to contribute any more?

 

 

Time to get real about retirement

A press release which recently arrived in my inbox highlighted that millions of Brits are dreaming of a retirement they may never get to experience.  

Research with 2000 British adults conducted by Benenden Healthcare, a mutual healthcare society, found that most Brits have an idealistic vision of their golden years where they’ll enjoy glorious sandy beaches, rounds of golf, and glamorous city breaks on at least four holidays abroad a year.

The study determined how people expect their retirement to be, before measuring those expectations against results of those already retired. It found dreams of an ideal retirement have convinced 30 per cent of Brits that their standard of living will improve dramatically once they’re able to retire.

The ‘ideal retirement v real retirement’ report found that along with golf club memberships and exotic breaks people are also dreaming of countryside walks, regular spa visits and new cars. But in reality, just one in ten are saving enough cash to support a comfortable retirement with the reality for many being that retirement will be just as much a struggle as our working years – if not more so.

Despite the majority of those interviewed expecting a comfy and relaxing retirement, 45 per cent admitted they thought they weren’t saving enough for the future with, remarkably, a fifth saving nothing at all. Indeed, three in ten people confessed to a ‘live for the now’ approach to money, with little thought given to their pension or later years because ‘there’s plenty of time yet.’

But people currently in retirement were less carefree in their assessment of retired life – less than a third said they can afford the holidays abroad that were a key feature of the ideal later life.

Lack of time, money and health issues are also preventing retired people from carrying out what they want to do. Furthermore, 35 per cent claim that retirement has seen their standard of living decrease notably and a tenth said retired life was not at all like they’d pictured it would be.

While none of this is surprising in relation to our knowledge about the reality of retirement today it does underline how little this appears to be impacting younger people’s attitudes and beliefs about later life. At a time when we are also considering our attitudes towards and treatment of older people, which in general is abysmal, it’s time that people got real about facing up to some of the horrors that might come their way.

 

 

 

 

Primetastic! – 50 tips for life when you’re over 50: Kindle edition now out

 

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