One of my friends had this post on facebook, and I thought others on this thread would enjoy see/reflecting on these comments:
Many of us are between 65 and death, i.e. old. My friend sent me this excellent list for aging . . . and I have to agree it’s good advice to follow. The guy who sent this hi-lighted #19.
It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it. Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it. Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital. Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.
Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.
Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.
Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together
Don’t stress over the little things. Like paying a little extra on price quotes. You’ve already overcome so much in your life.You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.
Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A man is not old as long as he has intelligence and affection.”
Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.
Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. There’s nothing worse than an older person trying to wear the current fashion among youngsters. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.
ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised what old friends you’ll meet. Keeping in touch with what is going on and with the people you know is important at any age.
Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideals as you, but they are the future, and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.
Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time. You may have been younger, but you are still you now, having fun and enjoying life.
Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you older and harder to be around.
Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. If you’ve lost your partner (our deepest condolences), then find a person to move in with you and help out. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live alone.
Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf. You can paint, volunteer or just collect certain items. Find something you like and spend some real time having fun with it.
Even if you don’t feel like it, try to accept invitations. Baptisms, graduations, birthdays, weddings, conferences. Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). But don’t get upset when you’re not invited. Some events are limited by resources, and not everyone can be hosted. The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a field. Get out there.
Be a conversationalist. Talk less and listen more. Some people go on and on about the past, not caring if their listeners are really interested. That’s a great way of reducing their desire to speak with you. Listen first and answer questions, but don’t go off into long stories unless asked to. Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are. Everyone is going through the same things, and people have a low tolerance for hearing complaints. Always find some good things to say as well.
Pain and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of the cycle of life we’re all going through. Try to minimize them in your mind. They are not who you are, they are something that life added to you. If they become your entire focus, you lose sight of the person you used to be.
If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone - apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget and move on with your life.
If you have a strong belief, savor it. But don’t waste your time trying to convince others. They will make their own choices no matter what you tell them, and it will only bring you frustration. Live your faith and set an example. Live true to your beliefs and let that memory sway them.
Laugh. Laugh A LOT. Laugh at everything. Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life. But you did. So what’s not to laugh about? Find the humor in your situation.
Take no notice of what others say about you and even less notice of what they might be thinking. They’ll do it anyway, and you should have pride in yourself and what you’ve achieved. Let them talk and don’t worry. They have no idea about your history, your memories and the life you’ve lived so far. There’s still much to be written, so get busy writing and don’t waste time thinking about what others might think. Now is the time to be at rest, at peace and as happy as you can be!
REMEMBER: “Life is too short to drink bad wine and warm beer.”
Thanks. The reduced payment is relatively small so saving it, even with some interest, would not make up the difference in the payout. The other issue is that with inflation that amount would be worth less in the future so while I could live on 75% at current prices, who knows what that will be (hopefully) many years from now. My DH is only 3.5 years older.
Seems like we just have to make a decision and live with it. Either way, we are lucky to be to have a pension to worry about.
Scary to think that according to Nerdwallet (article in newspaper, written by Liz Weston) social security benefits likely will make up 75% or more of the typical retiree’s income - stated by Steve Vernon, a research scholar at the nonprofit Stanford Center on Longevity in Stanford CA. Vernon works with Society of Actuaries to study nearly 300 different retirement income approaches. They give one strategy which has people waiting to 70 to use SS. This is not a strategy for H and I, as we have good plans in place.
“Most people nearing retirement don’t consult a financial adviser, and only about half try to calculate how much money they’ll need to retire comfortably according to surveys by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Instead, retirees typically take one of tow approaches, Vernon says”. Minimize withdrawals, viewing retirement savings as emergency fund to be conserved. Or they wing it, using retirement savings as a checking account to pay current living expenses w/o much though for the future.
Well, I hope most of these folks relying on SS will get more than I expect to get from SS. It is a pretty modest sum. I hope mine will pay me Medicare B premiums. If it will also pay my medical insurance premiums, I’d be happy. If there’s any left after those two bills, even better.
I mostly agree with all 21 points, except there’s nothing wrong with heavy physical exertion (as long as you don’t injure yourself), and I still wear the same clothes I did as a teenager (except for a size larger), forget age appropriate fashion trends.
You are well out of the ‘normal’ @busdriver11 - many seniors (esp men) do way more or attempt to do way more than they are capable of - but they don’t want to hire the help because they are penny wise dollar foolish. For example, a friend’s diabetic father was on a ladder messing with the house gutters and fell off the ladder. The injury along with his diabetes eventually killed him.
MIL at age 89 cannot see that the dishes she hand washes are clean or not. Sometimes it is hard to get her out of her kitchen.
Many elderly do not have any concept of good movement principles so a shoulder injury or back injury or other. SIL’s dad had some early Parkinson’s and fell off a stairway/ramp with quite serious injuries. IDK if he was in denial of his symptoms or what.
Learned a new thing from the paper ‘demoralization syndrome’ for some Parkinson sufferers.
My H knows if he moves in an odd way he ‘throws out his back’ and therefore takes care with it.
Many elderly don’t have core strength, don’t know what to do when they lose their balance, etc.
A big problem is obesity. W/O losing the weight, they are prone to joint injury, diabetes, etc.
^^I think people need to understand what their limitations are, and do what they are still capable of doing. Go by that, as opposed to following other’s guidelines, just because you are considered “old”. If you have strength or mobility deficits, obesity issues, try to deal with those problems and make them better, don’t just give up. Physical health isn’t generally going to improve without being proactive.
I love that video of the 100+ year old lady doing pushups.
I take a weight training class at my gym. Today one of my classmates celebrated her 92nd birthday. She is awesome. She usually does an hour of cardio dance and an hour of weight training class. It’s a heads up for those of us who are in our 50’s and 60’s. We still have time to lose those extra pounds and develop our core strength. Our later years will be much easier if we go into them in decent shape. I am aware that some of us have physical or health issues that can make exercise difficult but most of us have no excuse.
Wow that’s incredible and inspiring. I have a 87 year old neighbor who is an avid gardener and I hope to have that kind of strength and stamina at that age.
My spouse is 15 years my senior and can do much more gardening, yardwork and handyman tasks that I ever could. On the other hand, I can run a heck of a lot more errands and deal with red tape much better than him. @mom60, sounds like your classmate will be an excellent role model for many.
We have a family friend who is 84 and won a gold and silver medal with the National Seniors event for race walking. Her H died in a car accident but he was a gold medal winner for a number of years. She ‘trains’ 6 days a week. Probably in better shape than many under 40. She could pass for 60 in appearance.
Before cancer I got to my goal weight over a 26 month period of diet/exercise. I know now it will take me 3 years of concentrated effort. Unlike many with cancer, my body retained weight and put on 40 lbs almost immediately with the steroids and inactivity during 16 chemo treatments. But I beat aggressive stage III cancer.
H and I are getting weary of work and glad to look forward to retirement with a goal in the near future (3 years).
I just visited with my 91 year old dad. He walks a few miles a week, visiting with regulars and tourists at a popular local walk way. (He keeps a tally… 521 times since it opened a few years ago). That inspires me!
Note - He’s also been eating lots of fruits/veggies for decades. I try to emulate that too.
My mother turned 81 today. She’s still a massage therapist and doesn’t have a single health issue. She can outrun and outplay me. I have to admit, that’s starting to worry me. I need to take better care of my health.
My BIL age 80 has been retired for 14 years while my sis has been retired for the last year (she turns 65 in Dec). He walks several times in the day and watches what he eats. They have routines together (which would drive me nuts with H - we both like doing our own thing and only some things together, not having almost all time together!). BIL doesn’t want updates to the home (needed, and they have the $$) but I think sis will be able to get a kitchen renovation soon. IMHO they didn’t buy right, but they have made it home in the last 14 years (they moved for her job and he was able to retire when youngest went to college).
Well H was able to work until age 70 and his pension was maxed out. I am still working part-time. It has led to a very comfortable pension for H, with the max 55% survivor benefit if I outlive him. I plan to wait until I’m 70 to collect SS, which I’m hoping will pay SS part B premiums and maybe my medical insurance premiums. If H had retired sooner, we probably would have to be repaying loans for the kids’ college expenses and tuitions and our mortgage.
I’m glad H mostly liked his job and was able to keep it as long as he did. Many older workers find themselves booted out of a job in their late 50s and have to decide whether to jobhunt or just retire sooner than they had planned. The option to keep working isn’t all that easy for many folks. The work and workplace changes.
