October 2006: <<< back to Downloads
In this issue:
Welcome to the second in my prime newsletter. We were delighted with your response to our first issue and welcome all our new readers who have signed up since then. It’s heartening and encouraging that there is so much interest and support from so many different people -internationally - for the ideas we put forward, and that people find, so your feedback indicates, that what we have to say is useful and stimulating. So please do make the effort to spread the word about in my prime to your friends, family members and colleagues – encouraging them to sign up to this newsletter too.
As we write this in October, we are experiencing a warm and lingering autumn following a glorious, long hot summer. Many people find it easy to overlook the benefits of autumn in their headlong rush into winter, but we believe it’s a greatly underrated season with notable parallels between its soft, mellow, reliability and being in my prime.
Although autumn has none of the fresh expectancy of spring, or the exciting, full-blown, sizzle of summer, it has it’s own mature magnificence, with none of the disadvantages of the winter that will follow. However, how much you choose to enjoy the delights of autumn and revel in its inimitable atmosphere, or alternatively see it as simply a gloomy forerunner of winter to come reflects many people’s attitude to growing old. As in my primers we may be in the autumn of our years, but to overlook the joys of this special time is to miss out on a great deal.
Ultimately, it all comes down to attitude. The French philosopher Albert Camus said “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” Being in my prime can also be a second spring if you want it to be. It’s just different from the first.
In a dream you are never eighty - Anne Sexton (1928-74)
You may be in your prime now, but how are you going to manage – practically and financially - when you are old? A recent survey commissioned by Help the Aged has found that nearly two-thirds (62%) of 45-65 year olds have made no financial plans for their potential long term care costs in later years. Furthermore, one in five says that life is too short to worry about something which may not happen.
Should the need arise, then there are many different approaches which people think will see them through. Some believe that their existing state pension is enough but, with care costs averaging around £400 per week, this is unlikely to be so. Some expect the government to cover the costs, others say they will use their own resources including selling their property, and yet others will rely on relatives.
Jonathan Ellis, senior policy manager at Help the Aged, said “This research highlights the worrying extent of confusion among people who are at an age when they should be planning ahead, or at least thinking about what future care needs they may have.”
Research in Australia, published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, considers a slightly different angle. They have found that although life expectancy has increased, currently 77.8 years for men and 82.8 years for women, so have the years of living with a disability, being an average of 18.7 years for men and 20.7 years for women. On average, the final 5.4 years of a man’s life, and 8.3 years of a woman’s , would be spent suffering severe or profoundly activity-limiting disabilities, the report found.
Back in May in my prime reported that Care Home need has been found to be predictable many years in advance. Dr. Louise Russell of the Institute for Health at Rutgers University in the USA has completed a study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, which indicates that factors like smoking, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity and diabetes, which increase the risk of illness and early death, are also good predictors of the need for nursing home care later on. The risk associated with diabetes is especially large.
Most people would not think in their middle-age about the need for nursing home care when they will be older but the seeds are being sown at that stage in their lives. The message seems to be to make remedial lifestyle changes as early as possible.
In case you may have missed the point, try remembering this AGEING acronym from Dr. Thomas Perls, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Geriatrics Section, Boston University.
A is for attitude, having an attitude that makes you both optimistic about your ageing as well as the ability to manage your stress well.
G is genetics. Take a look at the longevity in your family. If people are passing away in their 90s and older, that is very good news. On the other hand, if people pass away in their 60s and 70s, alarm bells should be ringing.
E is exercise. It's important as we get older not just to do regular exercise but to emphasize strength training. It is less strenuous on the body, but the impact is even better.
I is for interest. Not just exercising your muscles but exercising your brain, doing things novel and complex, perhaps leads to delaying the onset of Alzheimer's disease and memory loss.
N is nutrition, and mostly that is around having a diet to maintain a healthy weight. Additionally, look into what specifically you can take or desist from taking to offset particular ‘ageing’ diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes.
G is certainly get rid of a)smoking and b) anti-ageing quackery. You absolutely cannot smoke cigarettes. You absolutely must not fall for all the hucksterism on the Web and elsewhere about ‘miracle’ remedies purported to stop ageing.
Ultimately AGEING well is all about facing up to reality, planning a sound anti-ageing strategy, acting sensibly and ENJOYING things right now - the best years of your life, while still keeping a watchful eye on likely developments in the future.
The safest way to double your money is to fold over once and put it in your pocket - Kin [F. McKinney] Hubbard
Savvy in my primers always appreciate a bargain and one of the great benefits of being this age is that suddenly a whole range of discounts and concessions become available. Of course, you may have to be prepared at the end of the day to overcome your pride and ask for them – but how stupid would it be not to?
A couple of tips for claiming ‘senior’ concessions – first, always carry your driving licence with you as proof of age; and second, look at your existing memberships and subscriptions. Many offer discounts for seniors but may not apply them automatically as you cross over into the magic age range. So check and ask for them. And if that doesn’t work, you may want to consider (if you still want to deal with the organsiation!) cancelling your membership and rejoining at the appropriate rate.
A really great site for accessing all kinds of cut price deals for the over 55s is www.seniorconcessions.co.uk ( if you know of any that they haven’t got listed, do let them know). And see also our new fact sheet– Sink or Swim? Breaking free of the spending spiral – which is full of handy reminders on how to save more by spending less.
The human race is faced with a cruel choice; work or daytime television – anon
Over the coming years we believe we will see a huge number of changes taking place within our society and globally as a result of rapidly changing demographics (in particular the emergence of the in my prime generation with increased longevity and the associated financial pressure to work for longer). One of the biggest is likely to be the growth of portfolio working as a career style of choice for both individuals and their employers.
A portfolio career, as its name implies, is one in which you spread your skills, time and talents over a number of different areas – some of which may earn you money and some of which – for whatever reason - you may do for free. The important thing is that you manage and develop your options as seriously as you would have at any time in your earlier career and that you make it clear to others that this is what you do.
Designing a Portfolio Career comes down to achieving an appropriate and desirable balance in your life between need and want and of course finding suitable opportunities with enlightened employers (current or future) who realise that this is a valuable way forward for ensuring they can attract and retain the skills of older workers whilst avoiding many of the perceived problems associated with an ageing employee base. To read more, click here to see our new fact sheet on Portfolio working .
So much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work – Peter Drucker
News of interesting fall out from the much hyped Age Discrimination legislation introduced earlier this month, with HR journal Personnel Today reporting that a major UK recruitment agency has warned staff that words such as dynamic, ambitious, young, vibrant, mature and gravitas must under no circumstances appear in any of their advertising.
The company, which employs 1,300 staff in 14 countries, has also vetoed references to “modern qualifications” such as GCSEs and modern degrees, including media studies and information technology. Other educational references, including recent graduate and newly qualified, are also banned.
Energetic, youthful, quick-learner, self-starter, high-flyer and experienced are also vetoed, (as apparently is the phrase ‘common sense’.) The journal also reports that some employers have started banning communal birthday cards because of the risk of distributing discriminatory ageist comments. Businesses are worried that teasing taunts, such as being “over the hill,” could generate claims under the new laws. Best add the words sense of humour bypass to the banned list as well then?
All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed – Sean O’Casey
Currently it’s a great time for in my prime actresses (female actors for the politically correct) with some of our finest starring in predicted award-winning roles, demonstrating that yes, there are good roles for older actors though not nearly enough of them.
Helen Mirren has had a double whammy with starring roles in The Queen and Prime Suspect; while Meryl Streep shows that if you’re Meryl Streep you can get away with silver hair in her role in The Devil Wears Prada. Felicity Kendal is currently rehearsing for her role in a new West End revival, David Hare’s Amy’s View. And no doubt, our perennially industrious favourites, Judi Dench, Maggi Smith, Brenda Blethyn and Julie Walters are all currently occupied on projects – which only leaves us with one question. What’s happening to the men?
Is it true that we seem at the moment to have a somewhat of a deficiency in the alpha male, in my prime entertainer department? Thank goodness Marks and Spencer have had the sense to feature Brian Ferry as their face of menswear for their autumn campaign, building no doubt on the success of Twiggy promoting their mature market womens wear. And then, of course, there was Robbie Coltrane back as Fitz. But who else – they all seem to be either too old or too young for us. Contact us and let us know your views on who you think are the best in my prime media stars – male or female - and why you think they are or aren’t good role models for the rest of us.
Life is absurd. Be merry. Be free – Tom Hodgkinson
Have you ever wondered why you bother to go to work? Why so much of our consumer culture is so completely meaningless? Whether there might be a better, freer, happier way to live our lives? As an in my primer, of course you have, so Tom Hodgkinson’s How to be free (Hamish Hamilton, 2006) could be a book for you.
Following his cult bestseller How to be idle, he takes his readers on an inspirational journey towards true freedom and happiness, drawing on the French existentialists, British punks, US hippies, medieval thinkers and anarchists throughout the ages for input into his simple, joyful blueprint for modern living. Read How to be free and learn how to throw off the shackles of anxiety, bureaucracy, debt, government, housework, moaning, pain, poverty, ugliness and waste and much more besides. You may not agree with what he says, but it’s a wonderfully thought-provoking challenge for any in my primer. Click here for details and other book recommendations.
Regular visitors to our site may have noticed that we’ve now introduced a weekly tip – a little sound bite of advice about just about anything of relevance to in my primers.
This week’s tip is about networking – an essential skill for anyone running a small business:
In business, success is less about what you know, and more about who you know. So, when it comes to starting up and running your own business, building up a network of contacts through business networking isn’t optional, it’s essential. For the majority of small businesses it’s one of the cornerstones of effective marketing.
Fortunately, as an in my primer, you will probably have a good range of contacts that you’ve already built up over your working life, particularly if your business is an extension of your previous type of work. But, if you’re starting up in a completely new and different field, it’s probable that your contacts may be few to non-existent, leaving you feeling isolated, uncertain, and probably short of both camaraderie and customers!
Of course, you should make every possible use of your ‘non-business’ contacts to spread the word about your new business and the type of customers/clients you are looking for. Family, friends, ex-colleagues and any contacts you have through sports, charitable or other interests are all potentially great sources of referral and dissemination of information, so do make this your first port of call once you’ve set up your business.
If you still need to make more contacts, as you undoubtedly will, look for specific business networking opportunities – your local Business Link, Chamber of Commerce and the web should all offer a plethora of opportunities. But remember, you must persevere. The power of networking lies not so much in the people with whom you make immediate contact but in the potentially vast network of people they know. So, don’t dismiss networking and the people you meet as a waste of time – ultimately your purpose is to build potentially profitable relationships – you’ll be amazed at what can happen as a result.