Did you know that 100 years old isn’t as old as it used to be?

I feel bad for the people who are 99 years old and looking forward to the big one-oh-oh.  Turning 100 is not what it used to be 20 years ago.  The centenarian club is more crowded than it used to be, with more than 50,000 members in the United States alone.  If you want to get the attention once given to people turning 100, you will have to wait an additional 10 years to become a 110 year-old super-centenarian.  In 2002 there were about 18 members of that club. (Source).

What this means for those of us considering retirement or recently retired is that this age inflation is due in part to the advancement made in medical care.  More 100 year-olds mean more people in their 90s, 80s, and younger.  Many once deadly illnesses can now be treated or even cured.  Your odds of living well longer have improved.  Greater longenvity for those in their 100s also means greater longevity for you and for me.

Medicine is doing what it can, as fast as it can, to help you recover from, manage, or cure many diseases.   You can increase the effectiveness of medicine by partnering with a good doctor and doing what you can to stay as healthy as you can be.

You can learn about the role of your health during retirement in chapter 5, “The Physical Domain”, in Beyond Work: How Accomplished People Retire Successfully.  Specific information about 8 remarkable trends in health care that will be in place in 10 years or less can be found on pages 120-124 of chapter 5.

You can order a copy of Beyond Work: How Accomplished People Retire Successfully from Amazon by clicking here.

At what age to you think that you be old?  Why?

Are you worried about your retirement finances?

We live in worried times. I don’t have to tell you how uncertain the economy is today, how we have all seen our hard- earned retirement savings whither. It is clear that the only thing our country’s best economic thinkers can do is sit in the front couple of seats this roller coaster we’re riding and yell, “keep your head down!” This was not the financial security we had planned on as we looked towards retirement.

People are looking for help with our growing worry over our once-secure retirement finances. If you are not worried then you are either very rich or you have just not been listening. Worry is natural—it warns us of impending danger. This is a good thing. However, too much worry, such as worrying about worrying, can paralyze us. It can lead to a flight toward any sense of safety, which might serve as a quick fix that may briefly reduce the worry, but won’t improve your situation. Worried decisions are almost always bad decisions.

Worry as a growth industry
Worry has created a minor growth industry for retirement seminars. Unfortunately, these seminars only address a small fraction of what it takes to retire successfully. They tackle some of the financial issues at stake, but ignore the other aspects needed to craft a successful retirement. You can read the rest of this article at lifeafter50.com