The idealism of youth is still active in seniors

It is amazing when the young find that the old still have deep yearnings and ambitions and some of us are still filled with the energy and idealism of youth. The recent stories of the grandfather who had climbed up a tree to stop a pipeline recently springs to mind. The press played the story about the age of the person, not the idealism which shaped his decision to act.  Youth may believe that we become more stoic and sage-like over time, which may be true for some, but most of us still have hopes, dreams and desire.

My generation is not becoming slowly disillusioned by life, we are holding on to our sense of the wonder of life and we hold on to the vibrancy and vitality we had when we were young. We all have joys, hopes, fears, and longings that never go away no matter how old we get.

I have been fortunate as I see a lot of seniors when I am giving the workshops on Health and Wellness. Some of them assume I am an expert or an authority (which I am not) and they talk to me about life. Sometimes they talk about regrets, sometimes they talk about love, sometimes they talk about success. Most of the thoughts about regrets revolved around families. The main regret appears to be that the relationships, either with their children or between their children, turned out differently than they hoped.

When people talk to me about happiness and successes they talk about times when they were young and raising their families when their children were younger and living at home. I remember these times as very stressful, but they, of course, have no doubt that those days were also the happiest.

Happiness is more complex than we thought when we were younger. Our understanding of what makes us happy changes as we age. When we’re younger, perhaps we imagine happiness as a feeling instead of a state of fulfillment, meaning, or abundance.

Being old brought a lot of advantages: more time, more perspective, less hustling to be the best and most successful, and an urgency to strengthen the important relationships in your life. Many of my friends and the people I talk to, talk about death, but none of us are afraid of death but we are afraid of dying and when we are dying becoming a burden on the ones we love.

I know young people and some older people who have an intense fear of growing old. They assume that as we get older, we lose our vibrancy and thirst for life. In my experience talking with my friends and through my interactions with the few thousand people I meet through the lectures I give; this couldn’t be further from the truth. The people I know and meet, still laugh like crazy, fall in love like mad and pursue happiness fiercely. Put simply, one person I talked to asked me, “Do you wish you accomplished more?” Before I could respond he answered his own question by stating sadly, “No, I wished I loved more.”

Do you live near a park?

As I walked back to my car, after setting up the workshop I passed a lady and she said, “Good Morning”, I replied, “Good Morning and how are you doing?” She looked at me and frowned and just said: “I’m alive”. I deposited some material in the car and went back to the center where I was giving a workshop on “Common skin conditions for seniors”.  When I walked into the room, the woman I had passed was sitting in the front row. She looked at me and said, “You are giving the workshop?” I said, “Yes, and I am glad you are alive to be here for it.” She laughed and the other 14 people at my workshop looked at her and then I left the room for a second, but when I came back she and other people in the workshop were laughing.

As I was leaving, after the workshop, I took a look around the center. There was a dozen or so people in the Billiard room, the small cafeteria was almost full, I could hear, but could not see the people in the auditorium exercising, the card room was buzzing and the lawn bowling courts (all 4) were full of teams enjoying the nice weather. There was also a number of people just watching. I was struck by the energy in the center and the good feeling of the group. Loneliness is a problem for many seniors, but it did not appear to be a problem for the people I saw this morning.

CARP,  is one of Canada’s largest advocacy group for older Canadians, it surveyed its members in 2017 to find out about their social environment, contact with people, age, health, access to public services, and family situations and analyzed the correlation between these factors with feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Here are some of the findings:

•        People who were married were far less likely to be lonely and were far less socially isolated than those who were not married.

•        Access to public services reducing loneliness far more then the effects of having children or grandchildren.

•        Those who rated the transit they had access to as ‘high-quality’ were far less lonely; this effect was about half the size of the effect of being married.

The members said that living near parks, community (senior) centers, libraries and high-quality transit helped their quality of life and helped combat loneliness.

Loneliness Affects People’s Health More than Age

The survey found that people who are lonelier or have less social contact are also likely to report lower levels of general health, and are more likely to report that they are sicker than they were one year ago.

Surprisingly, loneliness impacts people’s description of their overall health more than twice as much as being older. The impact of loneliness is also about one third larger then the effect of socio-economic status, which public health research has long established as an important predictor of health outcomes.

CARP’s social isolation and loneliness survey was completed by 5,308 CARP members from every province and territory, except Nunavut. This poll was conducted by e-mail from April 17, 2017, to March 1th, 2017. 99.4% of respondents were over 55.

Will you retire at 65 or earlier?

Many Canadians expect to be working past the age of 65 because they won’t be able to afford to retire.

That’s according to a new survey from Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) which found that 42% of respondents who are not already retired think they will still be working past 65.

Saving for retirement is the most substantial financial concern of 20% of respondents while 17% cited managing debt.

That said, 41% of respondents said they are confident that their finances will improve over the next 12 months; 45% expect them to be the same and 11% think they will be worse.

While the vast majority of Canadians expect to be in the same or better financial position next year, there is still lingering anxiety among others about saving for the future and managing current debt. This highlights the importance of financial literacy education, in particular, around retirement saving and debt management.

Of the 2,042 people surveyed, 74% said they contribute to their savings monthly with 63% having a savings account and 52% having funds in a TFSA (66% of them made contributions in 2017). Just 9% said they have no investments or accounts at all.

Interest rate concerns

With interest rates set to rise further in 2019, 39% said that a significant rise would make mortgage and debt payments challenging.

Almost two thirds of respondents said they have made cutbacks to day-to-day spending over the past five years.

And when asked about their financial skills, 48% gave themselves a grade of B or higher and 49% graded themselves C or lower, 3% were unsure

Do you have a retirement plan? 2

In your plan once, you have considered your financial situation then you need to look at some other important ideas.

Rediscover your purpose

How you think about retirement beyond just finances matters. Other desires will likely influence the choices you make once you retire, including how you spend your time. Having a positive mindset and clearly defined goals can make it easier to create the kind of lifestyle you desire most.

Taking care of your physical health is also a key part of the retirement planning picture. Data from Statistics Canada shows that healthy seniors are more likely to be active, and active seniors have stronger social ties, are more involved in their communities and more likely to indulge in hobbies they enjoy.

Maintaining social connections and personal relationships are particularly important for your mental and emotional wellbeing. A 2017 CARP survey found that older Canadians who spent time in public places with others present, such as parks or libraries were less likely to experience feelings of loneliness.

Retirement is also an opportunity to re-centre and rediscover your purpose then pursue it wholeheartedly. That could involve testing your entrepreneurial skills and starting a business. It might be volunteering or sharing your expertise with others as a mentor or it could mean indulging your creative side and finally writing your memoir.

When your retirement plan covers all the bases your mindset, maintaining good health, staying connected with friends and family, engaging in new or old activities you love the result can add up to give you a deeper sense of satisfaction.

Shaping Your Vision

Planning for all aspects of retirement puts you in control of your retirement destiny, allowing you to forge ahead with confidence. The sooner you begin planning, the more flexibility you will have to account for life changes or unexpected obstacles that could otherwise leave your vision out of reach.

Determining how much you need to save is an important next step. The average Canadian believes they'll need $756,000 in retirement savings. Your individual savings goal may be higher or lower, but it's equally important to consider your purpose in retirement and consider the larger picture.

That's what this series will help you with. As you explore the different topics, keep in mind this central question: what will you need to feel fulfilled, purposeful and content in retirement?