Retirement is like the self-isolation rules we are living under

If you are between the ages of 50 and 65 and are not yet retired, and are in self-isolation because of COVID 19 think of it as an introduction to retirement. You have been given a great opportunity that I nor members of my age group did not have. You have been given the opportunity to preview your life in retirement. I am speaking to those who are not working and have money coming in from government support programs, and to those who are not working and have no or little income coming in from any source.

Why is this self-isolation like a glimpse into retirement, you may ask?

Income

First, you have a huge drop in your income. If you have been frugal and invested wisely and had a pension plan when you retire your income drops to between 40 and 70% of your income when you were working. In this time of self-isolation, your income is probably in that range. Your expenses may drop, or they may not but, if you have not been tracking expenses, I suspect that you are now and will do so again when you retire.

Circle of Friends

In this time of self-isolation, we do not get to see our friends as much as we would like to, and we may actually find out who are true friends are the longer we stay in self-isolation. In retirement, we do not see our friends as much as we would like, because they are, perhaps, still working, or they find other interests or they get old and sick and then they die. As the pandemic continues, we have to find new ways to connect to friends and families. When you retire you will have to learn how to connect differently with friends and family.

Hobbies and Interests

As the rules about engagement and the number of people who can be in a group tighten, we have to refocus what we do to keep ourselves busy and amused. We can no longer get together for the bowling game, the sewing circle, the poker or snooker game. In retirement, we find it harder to take part in these activities not because of the rules but because of physical limitations. It becomes harder to hear, see and move as we get older.

These are just a few of the similarities between retirement and the self-isolation we are currently embracing as a society. Take advantage of this time to rediscover who you are and what you want from your life when you retire and put it into practice now and start saving for when you retire. It is never too late to start saving and planning.

Meaningful Engagement

The Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), led by Baycrest, helps innovators develop, disseminate, scale, and promote adoption of promising innovation. This center is located in Ontario, bit does fund some projects outside of that Province. In 2018 they funded a project called “The Zeitgeist Program: Storytelling for Meaningful Engagement”

The researcher, Donna Levi, recognized that social isolation, loneliness and cognitive decline are major concerns for seniors living in long term care facilities. To address these challenges and provide opportunities for intergenerational social exchange and storytelling, her team created Zeitgeist Vancouver, a storytelling project which brings together residents living in long-term care and design students to co-write and co-design publications that highlight residents’ stories.

Through a unique collaboration between Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and the Health Design Lab at Emily Carr University (ECU), the goal of this project is to develop a new therapeutic recreation (TR) model for engaging residents in meaningful activities to address loneliness and cognitive decline. Through a social innovation approach, this project gives voice to residents, providing opportunities for creative and emotional expression, stimulation of positive memories and the engagement of residents in a unique and meaningful activity. Simultaneously, this project offered design students learning opportunities in communication and participatory design, creating a mutually beneficial intergenerational platform which combines and leverages local assets to enhance existing TR services.

The project was adapted from a project within a care home system in Switzerland, led by designer Carolyn Kerchof, the project was piloted at Purdy Pavilion (a VCH long-term care facility) in Spring of 2018 with 12 residents and 18 students from ECU.

The Zeitgeist program was a 6-week recreation program over 3 months for residents at local long-term care homes. Guided by their professor, university students in a communication design program helped small groups of residents to design and write personal stories and publish them. In total, 34 design students, 31 older adults with some level of cognitive impairment, two clinicians and two support staff participated.

Residents and students benefited from the program. The storytelling format was an excellent way to build connections between generations. Healthcare professionals said residents benefited from engaging with students. Long-term care staff learned more about residents and increased their confidence and ability to improve residents’ quality of life. Students enjoyed the opportunity to apply design skills in a real-world setting.

Discussing Vaccines with Health Care Providers Should Be A Priority

The following article is of interest to all of us, It is  from Zoomer Promotions, written by Pfizer Canada who want seniors to get vaccinated. So there is an agenda behind what they write, but the advice is sound.

Pneumonia is a leading cause of emergency department visits in Canada with an increase of 13 percent in 2017-18 from the year before. And older adults made up approximately 65 percent of pneumonia-related hospital admissions.

Older adults are especially susceptible to pneumonia, says Dr. Samir Sinha, Director of Geriatrics at Sinai Health System and the University Health Network, who was appointed by the Government of Ontario to serve as the expert lead of Ontario's Seniors Strategy.

“Some people may experience complications and will be hospitalized. If they have difficulty breathing, they may even require the use of a breathing tube in the most severe cases.”

He explains, “As we get older, two things can happen. The immune system weakens with time — we call it ‘immune senescence’ — and as you get more mileage, you can encounter heart disease and diabetes that increase the risk of pneumococcal pneumonia. And a hospitalization could impact your mobility after recovery.

“Right now, a lot of people underestimate how dangerous pneumococcal pneumonia can be,” warns Dr. Sinha. “If people understood the disease better, they’d understand how important it is to help protect themselves against it.”

Dr. Sinha recommends that every adult over 65 should be vaccinated.

Discussing with your health provider which vaccines are suitable or recommended to help protect against flu, shingles, tetanus and pneumococcal pneumonia, is what every older Canadian should consider, advises Dr. Sinha.

Vaccination does not protect 100% of those who are vaccinated and does not treat the infection or reduce the risk of complications such as hospitalization.

Will the age of retirement go up?

In Finland in 2019, people in the country retired on an old-age pension at an average age of 61.5 years. In practice, that means a year-on-year increase of two months, said the Finnish Centre for Pensions in a press release.

The average effective retirement age has risen by 2.7 years since the beginning of the century. The goal is for the average effective retirement age to be 62.4 years in 2025 at the latest. To reach that goal, the effective retirement age would have to rise by an ample 10 percent each year.

So, is Finland on the same path as many countries? The short answer is, of course. The official retirement age around the world is going up. The average of statutory retirement age in the 34 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2014 was males 65 years and females 63.5 years, but the tendency all over the world is to increase the retirement age. This is also reflected by the findings that just over half the Asian investors surveyed region-wide said they agreed with raising the retirement age, with a quarter disagreeing and the remainder undecided.

Why are governments and industry so keen to raise the age of retirement. We are living longer on average, a 65-year-old retiree will live 20 more years, but there's a 1 in 20 chance of living 30 more years or a 1 in 4 chance of living 10 years or less. To make the money last longer and not bankrupt a country the government believes they have to raise the retirement age.

In Canada, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries in 2018 looked at the target retirement age under public pension plans such as CPP, QPP and OAS and recommended they should increase from 65 to 67. The changes would be phased-in in 3-month increases each year over a 10-year period starting January 1, 2021. However, the changes are not intended to result in a reduction in benefits. Canadians would receive the same amounts at age 67 that they currently receive, but this would become the standard target retirement age.

In addition, the earliest age for benefits under the CPP and QPP would increase from 60 to 62. The latest retirement age would increase from 70 to 75 under the CPP, QPP and OAS.

The CIA recommends allowing employer-sponsored Registered Pension Plans (RPPs) to raise their normal retirement age from 65 to 67 for future benefits, with an adjustment for pensions already earned under the age 65 normal retirement age. It recommends raising the latest retirement age in an RPP or a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) to 75 from the current latest retirement age of 71.

The CIA also states that the retirement age for these programs should continue to be reviewed every 5 to 10 years, with adjustments based on changes in life expectancy and needs of Canadians.