Good health, a soul-mate, family, friends, living in a country that is – far from perfect – but relatively safe and stable.
If we are fortunate enough to have these, a lot to be thankful for! and I think really worth reflecting on from time to time to help us keep our perspective centred!
I was looking at some information on the Irish Pensions Board website and the Society of Actuaries in Ireland website recently, and more good news …..
…. on average we are living much longer now!!
…. so more time to enjoy those truly good things of life! Fantastic!
The Pensions Board says that a man retiring at age 65 today can expect to live, on average, to age 85, and a woman at 65 can expect to live to age 88!
Wow! Wasn’t like that, say, 25 or 30 years ago!
And the Society of Actuaries in Ireland says that for people who are now working, further increases in life expectancy are predicted before they retire! Plus, there is evidence that this is translating into increasing ‘healthy’ life expectancy!
Have a look at the full document by Clicking here, it makes very interesting reading!
But, as they say, averages can be deceiving, and many people will live until they are much older than the average.
So where’s all this heading??
In my opinion, the possibility of a longer healthier life is great news! or is it?
I do think it’s great news, but would maybe add the caveat, ‘it depends on ourselves’.
Those of us who try to be realistic will appreciate that the existing pensions systems and probably the retirement planning of most normal people, certainly in Ireland, just can’t cope with this continually increasing life expectancy at all! The signs are there if we care to look!
We know this, or we should, so I’m not going to harp on about it here.
But just a quick look at what I see are some of the practical options that might be open to us:
1. Work until we are much older before we retire.
Personally I feel this is a great option. I have spoken to people of all ages about retiring, and for those who love what they do and who they work with, the idea of being ‘booted out’ at age 65 or whatever, is just awful! I was talking to a lady fairly recently who was only a few years away from retirement, and she broke into tears at the thought! Bravo! Ireland needs people like this!
2. Find what we are passionate about doing, if we haven’t already found it!
Can’t recommend this strongly enough! If we love what we do, it is no longer work! It’s just that we get paid for what we love doing! Utopia! I also feel we can only truly excel at what we love doing and at best be very mediocre if we don’t get a strong buzz from what we do for a living!
I’m not advocating irresponsibility here for those who have responsibilities and are in paid employment. But the thought of spending the best hours of the day and the best years of one’s life doing something one fundamentally doesn’t like is just awful! Talk about a waste!
So if getting in just a minute or so before official start time, as many coffee breaks as possible, doing as little as possible, elbows on the starting blocks 15 minutes before finishing time and counting the hours until the weekend is the norm, maybe it’s time to start the process of finding what it is, in terms of a positive contribution to society, we might love to do. Don’t rush it, but make a start! Maybe more on that topic in a later post!
I’m a member of a number of business networking groups and it’s fantastic to see so many people of all ages both starting on and already progressed well along this path!
This could be a viable option for continuing earning an income beyond normal retirement age, even if it doesn’t become our principal income source!
3. Put more money into retirement planning
I think this is a practical option too, where and when we can afford to do so. Personally, I feel it is well worth foregoing some of the ‘stuff’ that really doesn’t add to our quality of life, such as unnecessarily extravagant or expensive lifestyle related consumption (eg. ott cars, holidays, houses, ‘toys’, clothes, entertainment, etc.) to reallocate here. It’s a double-win!
4. Continue dreaming of retiring at 65 or so
But with wishful thinking rather than concrete planning, and accept a much-decreased, if not deprived, standard of living. This option I don’t really fancy! What about you?
Our own choice, so let’s take responsibility for it!
On-topic comments and opinions always very welcome, thank you!
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Thank you..really informative!!
Such a well written post.. Thnkx for sharing this post!
Thank you for keeping us updated. I quite enjoy it and find all of the facts incredibly useful.
Thanks I will be looking forward to your new posts. But now I will have some time to put some of your previous advice into action.