Are you YOLD?

Among the many terms that describe the various generations – Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and now iGeneration or Generation Z – there appears to be a new name for people like me. I am not young, and I am not old – I am yold.

Welcome to the word some of us have been waiting for even though we were not aware we were waiting for this word. The word is “Yold”.

The Japanese call people between the ages of 65 and 75 “yold,” the young-old. We are a highly influential group of and while some of us have presumably retired, many more will do so in the coming decade. But as I and others have stated many of us are avoiding retirement. We hope that by continuing to work and staying socially engaged, we as the young old will change the world, as we have done several times before at different stages of our lives.

I was born in 1946, toward the beginning of the baby boom. As I came along, new schools were built to accommodate our entry into the world (our demographic bulge). The economy started to grow and by the time the last of the boomers came along, (1960) it grew to the point that there were jobs for them. This Pandemic has highlighted a flaw in our system that would have been exposed in a few more years. The issue is the lack of beds and care for the elderly. Boomers have always put strains on the system and because we are political (we learned how to win political battles in the turbulent sixties) the system has responded to our needs. So, there will be enough long-term care beds to handle the impending influx when my youngest brother gets to that stage. It is not only a great time to be alive, but it is also a historic time to be yold. As a recent article in ‘The Economist’ explained

The year 2020 will mark the beginning of the decade of the yold, or the ‘young old’, as the Japanese call people aged between 65 and 75. The height of the baby boom, the period of high fertility in rich countries after the second world war, was 1955-60. The traditional retirement age is 65, and 2020-25 is 65 years later. One might, therefore, expect peak retirement for baby-boomers in the coming years—except that they are not retiring. By continuing to work, and staying socially engaged, the boomers, in their new guise as the young old, will change the world, as they have done several times before at different stages of their lives.

The yold are more numerous, healthier, and wealthier than previous generations of seniors. There will be 134million 65- to 74-year-olds in rich countries in 2020 (11% of the population), up from 99million (8%) in 2000. That is the fastest rate of growth of any large age group. Health worsens with age, but the yold are resisting the decline better than most: of the 3.7 years of increased life expectancy in rich countries between 2000 and 2015, says the World Health Organization, 3.2 years were enjoyed in good health. The yold are also better off: between 1989 and 2013, the median wealth of families headed by someone over 62 in America rose by 40% to $210,000, while the wealth of all other age groups declined.

Whether we continue to work for pay or not, many of us will have more time than we ever did to pursue personal interests and passions. A German study found that people who remain at work after the normal retirement age managed to slow the cognitive decline associated with old age and have a cognitive capacity of someone a year and a half younger. While it is important to be intentional about how we spend our remaining years – ideally focusing on family, friends, fitness, fun– we should also decide how we can make a difference in these challenging times. For those of us contemplating retirement right now, here are some of the many challenges we could face:

·        How do we make this the best chapter of our lives?

·        How will we collectively change the world?

·        How can I, personally, change this world for the better?

We have not been raising children, building careers and businesses, creating art, or pursuing lifelong learning for nothing. We can now draw on the full power of our life experiences to make things better, not just for ourselves, but for the Millennials and iGens, as well.

To do this, we need to be bold and positive about the future. Instead of bemoaning the way things have changed since we were young. Why don’t we use our voices to bring about even more change? By engaging in our communities, getting involved in politics, standing up for those less fortunate, using our social media channels to spread encouraging messages, or doing our part to preserve the environment, we can go from strength to strength as seniors. We certainly have strength in numbers.