Fighting to stay properly accepted

Retirement Diaries #10

Friends and family are usually kind and considerate when engaging with older people. But there is no doubt that older people are identified as such and have to get used to the “Seniors” label. It does, of course, bring with it some nice benefits such as cheaper fares and being ushered to the head of the queue in the election voting lines.

However, there is a conspiracy. Everyone under the age of sixty instinctively knows that they must make allowances and treat the older person kindly and with more care. While this may be nice, it can also make someone retiring feel uncomfortably lacking in vigor and especially losing physical competence.

Because so many retirees now plan to continue working after retirement and because the fact is that so many of them are still fit and well, they can easily be made to feel ‘old’ We know from the actuarial studies that still healthy people now in their sixties are likely to live deep into what was previously considered to be ‘old age’.

Here is a plan. Let’s raise the retirement age, and allow those that want to, and that still have the drive, to stay on until they choose to hang up their boots. That is one idea, but another thing, Cyril Ramaphosa and his new government are short of the skills that would enable them to address some of the “service delivery” issues they are trying to resolve. It might not be a bad idea if all qualified people who retire and want to continue their professional careers to offer themselves for re-deployment into a government funded skills ‘academy’ from where they can be seconded into projects where their skills are in short supply. They could then continue working and earning some extra income to supplement their savings.

Instead of retirees idling away their time on the golf course or being sucked into day-time television they could have a next, and perhaps final burst of productivity. It would be a great way to give life in retirement a new meaning and the country would benefit from keeping the needed skills in place.

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