The world isn’t black and white they say, but shades of grey.
This might be true for many things, but when it comes to age - not so much.
We live in a youth centric world - either we’ve got it or we’re chasing it.
Brands feature predominantly young models, and some of the biggest markets in the world are all about having or keeping our youth.
We’re youth oriented, and yet in a world that year by year is becoming less and less so.
We live in an ageing society, and I can’t help but think we can feel the loss of our energy and youth as a culture - not just as individuals.
According to the Human Rights Commission a significant percentage of organisations have an age above which they won’t hire - and that age is 50.
At the same time, we have governments around the world lifting the retirement age because they know they can’t afford social security for the ageing, and frankly they are panicking because they don’t have a solution to the age ‘epidemic’
And it is an epidemic in the truest sense of the world. Certainly more of an epidemic than anything the media shouts about. More of an epidemic than mental illness, more of an epidemic than flesh eating bacteria, more of an epidemic than violence and drug taking.
By 2050, around 25% of Australians will be over 65. That’s one in 4. We had better get used to including seniors in the productive economy.
The % of the population over 50 will of course be even higher.
Where are the productive workers and business owners of the future going to come from?
Where are the taxpayers going to come from?
You guessed it - the mature and seniors of our society will be working longer, starting businesses and staying productive into their 70’s and 80’s - sometimes because they want to, mostly because they have to.
The government won’t be able to afford social security, so we’ll have to fend for ourselves. And that means being financially independent.
Forty years of work followed by 40 years of retirement isn’t going to cut it.
We used to work 40 years for a 10 year retirement and still most people didn’t have enough money to live out the retirement we wanted.
How do you think we’ll go when it’s 40 years of work, and 40 years of retirement.
Not well I’d suspect.
Especially if we are stopping people being productive after 50.
If we’re going to save our society, and our lifestyle. We have to celebrate the abilities, skills and wisdom and value of our mature and seniors. To do this, we have to get out of our own way in regards to ageism.
It’s time to celebrate people of all ages.
It’s time to prepare for an older society where we celebrate living, not age.
Wisdom and Experience.
Real value not face value.
