AS I SEE IT
BY MARIANNE HERON
You might think that one of the greatest achievements of the last century, a gain of 30 extra years of life, would be celebrated from the roof tops. But, instead, those extra years are more frequently perceived in negative terms, with whinges about the cost of pensions and healthcare.
Go back to great grandparent’s day and the chances are you wouldn’t have had a retirement at all. Life expectancy would have been just 52 on average, well short of 70 the age at which you could back then have claimed your pension. Now, average lifespan has gained an extra 30 years to 82 – a triumph for civilisation.
What is more, that gain is stretching rapidly, nearly half of those born today can expect to live to 100 and health span has increased too – longer life enjoys extended well-being, something that is often overlooked.
The over-65s are sometimes described as a demographic timebomb. Why the panic? A big part of the problem is at the other end, not enough babies are being born; the birth rate has plummeted, down 20% in just the last 10 years, so that mid-century there will be only two workers supporting a retired person instead of four. The number of over-65s here will double to 1.6 million by 2050 and age-related expenditure is expected to increase by 6% in the next three decades.
But why not look at things differently? Over-65s represent a silver economy, estimated by an EU Commission study to be worth €5.7 trillion. Surely a golden opportunity for business. Being older ain’t what it used to be! Romance is blooming among the silver set, more are getting married, the number of over-60s tying the knot doubled between 2012-22. There are more over-65s working – 113,000 according to the CSO 2023 figures – and many more would like the opportunity to continue earning.
Time- rich oldies (let’s call them Yolds, young olds) are getting about by driving – nearly half a million 60-70-year-olds had full driving licenses in 2023 and 70-80s weren’t far behind. Yolds are going for overnight stays, the annual number having doubled in four years to more than a quarter of a million.
Let’s not forget the contribution that over-65s make through what feminist Betty Friedan, author of The Fountain Of Age, called ‘human work’, those things done for love and not for money, eg. volunteering, caring, grand parenting and mentoring.
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing ( TILDA) found that 22% of retirees spend time volunteering and some grandparents may spend as much as 37 hours a week caring for grandchildren. Never mind the contribution made by retirement age parents sharing their homes with the next generation who are unable to afford a place of their own, given the housing crisis, or helping them to finance future homes. As Churchill said: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”
These are the kind of things that don’t get taken into consideration when weighing the contribution of older people against the cost of their care. Nor is the fact that the senior generation continue to pay taxes and that their efforts helped to make the Ireland that we have today.
Retirement itself is changing, just as the three phase life of education work and pension stage is. In place of cliff-edge retirement, where one minute you are a computer programmer a system analyst or a human resources manager and the next you are not, phased retirement and extended working, or starting a new venture are now in vogue. Far from hanging up their hats, an increasing number of older people are taking on the entrepreneurship mantle and starting businesses which provide employment and contribute to the economy.
The new stretch of life tends to be seen in terms of what growing older was like back in the day and not what it can be now – an exciting stretch full of possibilities lasting several decades. It can be the best bit and the good news is that it actually is thanks to the Happiness Curve, which, shaped like a smile it traces happiness level from optimistic youth downward to a low point in the early 50ss and then upwards again as we grow older.
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Marianne Heron is a retirement life coach see:
www.rewiredontretire.ie
