How to Draw Back the Curtains on Your Winter garden
In February, first thing in a UK morning ,a peak out of the window often yields to the eye a rather grey, green and otherwise colourless vista.What to do, I ask myself, no lifelong gardener- the day is bright but frosty.This time of year is a great opportunity for prepping for spring and ridding the garden of perennial weeds ,and this work will also be good for me .A great amount of scientific research suggests that Gardening isn’t just about making your house look good, although even a little curb appeal never hurts. Caring for plants can also do wonders for your own wellbeing. Even some light work in your garden means you are interacting with nature whatever the season of the year. This is so beneficial to your mood and therefore your mental health.So resist returning to the warmth of the duvet.
Last time we looked at why sense of purpose in older age is so important. In today’s world, the pursuit of happiness is an ingrained concept. We’re often taught to expect our lives to be fairly happy, and we’re encouraged to do whatever it takes to achieve that. Also, we want to live long and well forever. I’m no exception. As we saw in the previous post the Okinawans know a thing or two about achieving satisfaction, happiness and meaning in life.As a people who live long, they would broadly recognise the following principles or beliefs.So without being ‘preachy’, this is my take from online sources on what we should be doing as we get older: Continue reading “10 Things that can help towards a longer and happier life”
Volunteers’ Week this year has been stretched to run from the 1st -12th June.It is held annually in celebration of the work that many thousands of people in the UK put in freely to help in their free time with tasks,projects for the benefit of others in their community or country. Continue reading “Why volunteering to serve others is good for you”
It seems a great many people do. A current google search using a keyword such as “breathing” will produce many tens of millions of references, many pointing to advice and information, much of which is clear It and helpful in our daily lives. It is clearly an important subject.So why add to the many millions of words already swirling around the internet, and elsewhere in books and magazines? Some messages are so important that they cannot be reinforced in the general population too often, one such is : Breath is Life. Continue reading “Why the way we breathe is so important to our health”
Regardless of the growing success of the month of May as National Walking Month, the appeal of gathering and walking in groups has risen apace in many other months of the year.This can only be to the general benefit of the now large number of people who look to walking in groups as a fun and healthy thing to do. Continue reading “9 of the best websites for walking events in the UK for all ages”
There are many misconceptions about getting older.One of these is that older people inevitably will suffer from significant age-related decline in health.This is what many parents and grandparents of those now in their 60s and 70s were led to believe.With a lower life expectation they also seemed to be condemned to a short retirement in ill-health before death. Society and culture did not expect any more from older people. The stereotypes were out there with ‘pipe and slippers’ often the onlyreward at the end of a working life. Nowadays so much has changed and with good reason.Apart from people wanting more out of life the realisation has surfaced that in reality something can be done to prolong an active life.
As we age, most people notice a range of changes in their health. One change might not seem like such a big deal, but more than one can add up to poor health long-term. For example, we might notice we are not as strong as we once were. We might discover that our balance isn’t what it used to be. As a result we may be prone to losing our balance and injuring ourselves due to slips, trips and falls. Continue reading “How to Lift Your Health, Balance and Strength Using Light Weights”
17 Health Benefits
Following an earlier article on the 60life.com, this article introduces a major series to be posted on this site about the numerous benefits of strength training at any age.
When you think about Mediterranean food do you think of pitta, lasagna, plenty of white bread, lamb and pizza? If so, you are missing the point.
The Mediterranean Diet, proved time and again to lead to less disease, a healthier heart, better brain function and a multitude of other health benefits, has been misrepresented in recent years. A true healthy Mediterranean Diet is based on the eating habits of Greece, Crete and Southern Italy of around 1960.
That diet is based on whole foods, plants and vegetables. To these basic essentials small portions of lean, healthy meat can be added, as well as seafood 2 or 3 times a week. The idea is that good fats replace bad ones, and you should always eat a breakfast rich in high-fibre foods, fruits and whole grains.Though allowed,daily products, are used in limited amounts.
Below are a few popular food choices which make up a healthy Mediterranean-style diet.
Whole wheat, whole grains and oats
Good fats like extra-virgin olive oil, sunflower seeds, nuts and avocados
Fish like salmon and sardines, tuna and herring
Shellfish, such as clams, oysters and mussels
Herbs and natural spices
Fruits and vegetables of all kinds
Whole foods (foods that are as close to their natural state as possible)
Foods you should avoid or eat less
An understanding of your eating options also means knowing what foods you should avoid, or simply cut back on. If you limit your intake of the following food items and components, and you will be making smart Mediterranean food choices.
Fast food and fried food
Processed and red meat
Products made with white flour
Refined sugar
Bad fats like hydrogenated oils, saturated fats and trans fats
Butter, margarine and lard
Salt
Monosodium glutamate (MSG is found in up to 80% of all processed food)the
Isn’t this rather too strict a diet?
It doesn’t have to be.You can see the above are foods to avoid or eat less of and are not all strictly forbidden. Eating red meat a few times a month is considered alright. And sea salt can be used in limited quantities since it is not processed like table salt. Essentially, it is important to focus on eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains, and less processed and refined food, salt, sugar and unhealthy fats.The wide variety of foods available and good for you means that the diet is not boring.
Making smart food choices is the basis of the Mediterranean Diet. Before you prepare your next meal, be honest with yourself. Is your diet primarily whole food, plant and vegetable-based? Does it substitute healthy fats for bad fats? Will it ensure that you eat fish 2 or 3 times each week, and red meat no more than 2 or 3 times a month? If so, you are well on your way to choosing the foods found in a Mediterranean-style diet that lead to fewer diseases and better overall health.
Scary headlines jostle daily in the media to attract our attention.Many do not deliver on the message and become just so much unnecessary distraction in our everyday lives.Now, where our health maybe concerned most of us will always prick-up our ears and take notice for fear of missing something of importance. Standing-up for your health is a theme that has gained traction in the last few years, but does it work? Sitting is killing us?Continue reading “Standing-up for your health really works”
Today, throughout the UK and in many countries overseas, the start of the First World War is being commemorated.One hundred years ago, the deadliest of conflicts began.In many villages and towns, the sacrifice of families and loved ones made during a period of four years of war will be remembered at special services and ceremonies held in the UK and Belgium.In Glasgow, heads and representatives of Commonwealth countries, many of whom were last night celebrating the close of the successful Commonwealth Games, will attend a commemoration service in the City’s cathedral.
One such area that has been holding events leading upto today is North Devon. Over the weekend memorial services and exhibitions were held in Bideford,Berrynabor,Barnstaple and West Down. A flypast of Sea King aircraft and a wreath laying ceremony was arranged at Barnstaple.The annual flower show in West Down was WWI themed,and today in the hall at St Calixtus Church a special exhibition will be open from 10.a.m. and later, an open air service will be held in the church hall grounds, ahead of 11 p.m. and the marking of the time of the announcement of war a century ago.
There has been much in the recent news about the growing belief that older people though finding themselves in inappropriate homes as some of their powers decline would far prefer to stay independent of a care home environment.
Perhaps not surprisingly a high number, 9 in 10 over 50s, according to the recent Daily Telegraph report of people surveyed about where they would prefer to live and be cared for, opted for staying put in their own homes. It seems though that most of us leave it far too late even to start any sort of conversation with anyone, including close family. We will discuss finance for older age, even funeral arrangements but not the long term living space we need or desire to maximise enjoyment of later life.
In the case of staying home and independent,planning for our living space in older age is of course not a new concept although there can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to deal with the many requirements of individuals with different levels of health and abilities, as well as preferences for a particular lifestyle. There is a range of ‘fixes’ that can be considered to help maintain good quality of life, from small to medium ‘tweaks’ like adjusting the height of work surfaces ,installing better handle design for easier opening of doors and windows; also making more open living spaces for wheelchair access, for instance.At the other end of the range, there is the complete design-build always ‘fit for purpose’ living space. This looks to provide a living place in which to age, with practical comfort and aesthetics in mind.
Such a space should be able to function so as to enable both the able in mind and body and the disabled to co-habit in comfort and style.This latter of course is the holy grail,as it were, of planning for later life, and is often referred to as Universal (accessible )design which produces a broad range of practical ideas to incorporate in buildings and environments making them inherently accessible to people regardless of age. This helps at a social level so that the more elderly do not find themselves marginalised in their own homes and they can continue to enjoy the society of younger people.
Universal design was the brainchild of an architect who was himself confined to a wheelchair.His idea is a place to start a conversation about future living.It is a wide subject. You can start your own conversation with a quick start guide to learning how to live comfortably and with independence. Startling statistics from AgeUK tell us that the number of people over 65 in community-based care and support at home is falling rapidly in the UK. This is seen to be a trend working entirely against our wishes.It is time we all prepared better for our care in old age if we wish to be where we want to be and not allow ourselves to end up in places not of our choosing. Aging in a Palace is a slim volume but a good read. It may be laced with many questions and few specific and detailed solutions, but it is thought provoking.
At a time when much debate in the UK centres on insufficient housing to cater for the needs of a burgeoning population,encouraging downsizing by older people to make way for buyers of a younger generation is again being put forward as part of a solution.
Apparently,according to the Prudential, more than 2m homeowners over the age of 55 and over plan to downsize in the next few years.Another report suggests that downsizing could release upto £100,000 cash from the average property sale in the UK (in London this figure could be as much as £275,000).
So why and why now?
Homeowners have for many years felt trapped in the economic recession but they are now becoming more confident about the future and making a major lifestyle move. For many, the sale of a current property means:
-more appropriate living space as needs change in older age
-having more disposable cash perhaps to distribute to family
-help to ‘make ends meet’ in retirement,
-being able to spend on holidays and travel
-funds to secure long term care.
Restricted physical mobility, high property maintenance and refurbishment costs,the ever increasing utility prices for gas,water and electricity are just some of the drivers for downsizing according to the website downsizingdirect .com
This trend to downsizing is is seen by many commentators as good for the general property market, freeing-up housing for those finding it difficult to step onto the property ownership ladder.Some feel it may also lead to the building of new developments to suit an ageing population where services and the benefits of community will provide greater fulfilment and quality of life.
The strong message seems to be for those looking to downsize is to seek appropriate professional financial advice. It is important to have a realistic expectation of what a sale will yield, and what will be left after all the costs of selling,buying a another home, and moving have been factored into the mix.
Have you had recent experience in this?Do let me know.
Dame Joan Bakewell,the cultural broadcaster and writer once dubbed ‘the thinking man’s crumpet’ by the late Frank Muir, has suggested that elderly people would be far happier if they eschewed ambition,giving-up on ‘winning’, and lived more content with their lot. At a recent gathering at the Hay-on-Wye Festival, she also added, on the other hand, that a person in old age needed a sense of purpose when pursuing careers, caring for young family, and keeping one’s remaining friends, cease to play a crucial part in life.Old age she felt was like a ‘country’, where its inhabitants were generally excluded,depressed, and lonely.
The ‘country’ of old age
This for me this raises the age-old question : when does one reach the frontier of this awful country thus described? It is rather like measuring the proverbial piece of string.One arbitrary line, like the current official retirement age in the UK, for instance is not appropriate for the well being of all people reaching it, if strictly applied. Dame Joan believes that at the age of 81 she is reaching that frontier. For others of differing states of health, level of skills, including social, and lifestyle needs, the step into old age may be much nearer, or perhaps further away. I do like the idea, though, of conducting a later life that minimises anxiety so often the result of living with rivalry.
Where I have difficulty is defining ambition. One person’s ambition maybe to do more for others; another to write poetry or a novel, or perhaps simply just to do do something different, and have different interests from an earlier life.This kind of ambition is to be encouraged in my book.
Look for a sense of purpose
Whilst, the country of old age for many may seem a very bleak place, unless you can rest content on your laurels in the comfort of a life well lived, Dame Joan does see how this can change. Life can still be wonderful and fulfilling. With some adjustment of their goals, the elderly can still have a sense of purpose for the rest of their lives.
Old age is no longer a place of willing submissiveness
To help people with the necessary life changes, she advocates official help with the appointment of a ‘commissioner’ for the old, charged with looking after their special interests.The old now have significant political power, she says,’old age is no longer a place of willing submissiveness.’ People in later life now expect more from their later life.
What do you think?Your comments would be most welcome.
The Conservative party has pledged to consign the possible granting of state pension increases so small as to be meaningless ,to the political dustbin by confirming the retention of the ‘triple lock’ guarantee for state pension increases post-2015 ,if re-elected. No sooner had this political football been punctured than murmurings were to be heard from other political quarters threatening to remove the following pensioners’ non-means tested benefits :
– free tv licence fee for the over-75s
-winter fuel allowances
-bus passes
-free prescriptions and eye tests
It is true that there are some wealthy pensioners in the UK who could well fund these benefits for themselves. According to the Hands Off ! campaign, however,the high figures for usage point to a clear need for these benefits to be retained.It also says that the high level of unclaimed means tested benefits, for over 65s, clearly shows that means testing does not work.
“We have,for the first time,placed a value on the economic and social contribution that older people make to our society. In 2010,over 65s made an astonishing net contribution of £40 billion to the UK economy through,amongst other contributions,taxes, spending power,…” Lynne Berry, WRVS
Hands Off! also says,the recent period of austerity is seen as having hit hard the older as well as the younger generations in the nation.The risk of poverty in older people is said to be higher than for most other EU countries.
There have been a number of recent changes affecting pensioner benefits:
-the date for women’s pension retirement age brought forward
-state pensions linked to the lower measure of inflation (CPI)
-raised qualifying age for Winter fuel payments
-the freezing of personal allowances for over 4 million pensioners, expected to save the government £1bn by 2015.
“There are over 10 million people aged 65+ living in the UK. Two out of three believe that politicians see older people as a low priority.The ‘Hands Off’ campaign plans to change that.”Hands Off!”
So how is it going for you this year,so far? Did you start the year with a resolution to exercise more?Maybe you bought a pedometer, or some such aid, to help you set targets and measure your exercise levels.Just maybe, though, you will have followed the over 80% or so it is reckoned fall away from achieving their resolutions.
Well,I did make a resolution to achieve a daily average of 10,000 steps a day within the first three months of the year. I bought the pedometer and I have tried to build-up my daily step rate.At the moment I am achieving around 6,000 steps on average. So some days, I do more than 6,000, other days more around 5,500. My current rate is classed as just above a sedentary lifestyle, an improvement, but I must do much better in the coming weeks.
If you have never measured your walking steps, it does require some application to achieve the higher step rates for beneficial exercise. There is no doubt I feel much better for the challenge.
The thing about going for a good walking habit is that if you falter, you can quickly step it up again without too much loss of benefit. I find now that I think about how to step-up my effort during the day.So,for example, instead of driving the car short distances, I will take that 10 minute walk.I will take the stairs in a public building rather than a lift.
Would you feel better for that extra exercise? Well,don’t just take my word for it: research studies in Brazil and the US have concluded that taking 6,000 or more steps daily can decrease the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.They found that typically an adult male walks 5,117 steps in a day, equivalent that is to a walk of about two and a half miles and, apparently adding a further 1,000 steps to this tally may be just enough to lower this health risk by reducing abdominal obesity.
The research also indicates that your daily quota of steps does not have to be concentrated in an exercise programme.The health benefit can be gained if the physical activity is spread throughout the day.
Daily there is much talk about the growing levels of obesity throughout many parts of the world. You can help yourself by keeping to this simple daily exercise plan to walk more each day. Set yourself a reasonable and effective target.
Walking has been described as the most underrated of human activities, and yet, when I last searched on Google there were 499 million entries for this one word alone! Clearly there is a vast interest in walking but are we reaping the full benefit of this most natural of skills? In health matters and particularly in terms of preventable serious illness, it seems we are not. Insufficient physical activity and an overly high intake of calories in food and drink are causing widespread chronic diseases in the general population of many developed countries.
Should I do this?Will I benefit?
People of all ages can greatly benefit from walking for exercise. And the fantastic news is that it is never too late to start taking advantage. From the outset, you should listen to your body and only do what is comfortable for you. If you are not a walker for fitness you should build-up your level of activity introducing walking into your daily life until it becomes a habit you enjoy and don’t wish to lose. Importantly, it should become fun,and you should feel better for it.
The benefits of walking are :
– More active life
– Losing weight
– Having fun
– Gaining a purposeful habit
– Saving money
– Expanding social life
– Providing protection against serious illness
Many of us need help later in life to sustain the level of physical activity required to ensure we give ourselves the best chance of living long and healthy lives. Significant changes in our lifestyles can affect our attitude to exercise. Often,when we reach a certain age and move away from busy family and business schedules to finding more time on our hands, we can tend to slow down. The equation we need to guard against this:
High calorie Intake + Low Physical Activity = Obesity,diabetes, and other chronic diseases.
So what will help? A good habit of taking exercise regularly and within our individual ability can pay high health dividends. In order to acquire this habit most of us need to see the measurable results of our efforts indicating clearly our progress towards incremental and reasonable improvements in our fitness. We need targets to aim for and the ability to measure easily how we are doing. The answer is to use a physical activity monitoring device everyday.
Activity Measurement
I recently bought a pedometer. This I believe will help me to build-up my daily walking activity. Already I have noticed a significant change in my daily walking activity. I will let you know how I get on. Over the next few weeks, I would also like to bring you some tips and related information about the benefits of the free at the point of action gift of walking to help ourselves sustain or improve the quality of our lives.So, if you don’t want to miss out,you can sign-up for my regular newsletter, in the box at the right of this screen- no obligation, and certainly no danger that your details will ever be used elsewhere.
Here’s something we can all do today.Here and now.Cut down on our motor fuel costs by driving more efficiently. The Energy Saving Trust has calculated that the average driver in the UK today can be better-off by adopting some easy changes in driving technique and care of the car.
We all have some aspect of our driving that we can improve, even after many years of holding a driving licence. The following are five easy ways we can save a significant amount of money, possibly as much as 270 pounds sterling per annum.There is no expense involved, just a little attention to what we do. Here goes, in no articular order of importance:
Drive more smoothly – Avoid sudden acceleration and heavy braking ( unless in an emergency). Given the conditions on the road and the density of the traffic, the keeping of the proper distance between you and the car in front can be maintained by easing-off the accelerator in good time, rather than frequent braking abruptly keep your distance.
Slow down – getting to your destination sooner does not always save you money.
Switch-it off – When it is appropriate and safe to do so switch-off your engine instead of allowing your engine to idle while stationary.With the weather becoming colder, it is unnecessary to warm-up your car before you set off on your journey. Modern cars don’t need to be warmed-up from cold.
Switch to a higher gear as soon as you can – when it is safe and appropriate moved into a higher gear as soon as possible
Close your car windows – the aerodynamics of a car are greatly changed if the windows (s) are open causing in inefficient ‘drag’ particularly at speeds of 60 mph or more.Also if using air conditioning, itself a high user of energy,it will be inefficient for the heat or coolth is allowed to merely ‘fly’ out of the windows.
Other things to watch are : keep weight down as much as possible by not carrying unnecessary items; make sure your tyres are regularly checked and pressures kept at the right level; and only use a car rack when one is needed.
For further information, you can go to The Energy Saving Trust website ,giving you more details of the above,and also other ways of saving energy,including in the home.
By staying physically fit we can both extend our lifespan and age healthily.Fact. This message is the clear conclusion of an extensive study carried out by researchers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Cooper Institute.
Today, there is such overwhelming medical evidence out there from many of the best research centres in the world that we can greatly improve our chances of living not only much longer, but without many of the chronic diseases that often beset people in their later life. It has been long known that adjusting our lifestyle -even a little- can be good for our health. We are advised to exercise more; reduce alcohol intake; stop smoking; and maintain a normal weight. We know it’s right. It’s just that we treat these lifestyle changes much like new Year resolutions, and frequently fail to act. What the above study report tells us is that even a little exercise – just 150 minutes a week – can make so much difference to our longevity and our quality of life.Even regular light walking as on a gentle stroll, is good.
It is never too late to improve for the long term our fitness and our lives. Although the Southwestern study reported on the beneficial effect of being physical fit in your 30s,40s,and50s when reaching 65 and over, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, as reported on the British Medical Journal website,has produced research results which point to a benefit of an extra 6 years in people over 75 who have reduced some or all of the above risk factors causing chronic ill health. Activities seen as particularly beneficial include walking and swimming.
This post keeps on the theme of retirement. It is well known that life expectancy among those currently retiring in their sixties means they could have some 25-30 years more ahead for them.But what to do with all that time?That is the challenge.
We are accustomed to seeing emphasis placed on good financial planning for retirement. Although having a good income behind you when you finally give-up the 40-hour working week knocks away a high hurdle when contemplating a long period of retirement, this of itself does not guarantee a fulfilled and positive retirement.So if you have looked forward to no longer having to answer to your boss, or the demands of every day business, how can you give yourself the chance to enjoy your new found freedom?How do you find satisfaction in your and real quality of life?
Recently, the University of Greenwich in England, undertook a survey to try and find the answer to the above and other questions. This study in conjunction with Laterlife Learning,looked at the responses to an e-survey conducted for the period October 2008 and January 2010. This study found that the keys to a fulfilling retirement were:
1. Having aspirational reasons for retiring
2.Going on a retirement course
3.Having an active social life
4.Having someone to share retirement with
5.Having at least three of the ‘the Big Five’ personality traits
6. Money matters:Having a lack of financial resources,though, was not an impediment to satisfaction in retirement, and access to enjoyable experiences.
Some help tips in the conclusions from the survey report briefly are:
aim to retire on your own terms
find a goal for retirement that excites you
have activities that go beyond job work and non-work activities and breach the transition into retirement
gain a positive effect by attending a retirement preparation course
find an active social circle in retirement doing things you enjoy
look on money as only part of the retirement satisfaction jigsaw
In retirement planning, always a thorny question to deal with is : what level of income will I require in order to maintain my standard of living when I eventually decide to retire? Financial and pensions advisers call this target income the replacement rate, which is expressed as a percentage of income received immediately prior to retirement.
So won’t I need at least as much income in retirement as before? You can count yourself fortunate if you can retire without taking a drop in income. But that you can probably keep up your level of spending on consumption with less income has been put down to the following:
In retirement most people pay less tax
For many the cost of saving for retirement stops
Most households look to have no mortgage left to pay for, or not for long after retirement
At the RETIRE Project at Georgia State University required replacement rates have been studied and calculated for decades. As at 2008, the project estimated that households with earnings of more than $50,000 needed about 80 percent of pre-retirement earnings to maintain the same level of consumption. The Boston College finds achieving this level of earnings depends on the following factors:
Level of government income support, if any – the higher any supplementary financial support received the lower the retirement income provided by savings needs to be
Rate of return on savings– the higher this is, the lower the amount needed to be put away as savings
Age when savings begin– the earlier the start,the less is required to be saved by way of regular contributions
Age of retirement – the longer this is delayed, the lower the required saving rate needs to be
Adjusting any of these factors can make a great deal of difference to the prospective retiree. Starting to save early, and/or delaying retirement can make a significant difference to the outcomes. When retirement planning appropriate professional advice should be taken.
A number of worrying headlines have appeared in UK daily newspapers recently supporting the often held view that people over the age of 50 are being targeted to receive less favourable treatment than everyone else when it comes to buying goods and services.
Now,according to the Daily Mail, often products aimed at a certain age group, saving accounts for the over 50s for example, do not compare favourably with accounts available to younger people. This age group is often picked-out to receive the worst of the savings deals, and says it found:
‘Overall,… the average interest rate offered by the top 20 financial providers for the over-50s is 2.23 per cent – but it is 3.17 per cent for accounts aimed at all age groups.’
It reported that researchers had looked at all the cash savings accounts available, including instant access accounts, notice accounts and fixed-rate products. Cash Isas were excluded.
This is an outrageous situation, financial experts warned, that older savers are being sold less attractive savings deals than other age groups. For a fuller report you can continue reading at over 50s being offered worst savings deals where you can see details of several of the financial giants currently providing an unfavourable offering based on age. It is important for savers to note the terms of the saving contract being offered, and to be particularly aware of interest rates which hold good only for a short period e.g. 12 months, and then fall back to a very small return henceforward.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday announced sweeping changes to the personal tax allowances given to pensioners over the age of 65.
This has caused great uproar in the media and across the UK that a benefit first introduced in the 1920s by Winston Churchill is to be frozen then phased out altogether. The change in age-related personal allowances – the amount of income that is tax-free – will save the government £1bn by 2015.
The BBC reports:
“To Chancellor George Osborne it is a simplification in a complex tax system. To its critics, it is a “granny tax”. But what exactly does the most controversial measure in Wednesday’s Budget mean for you?”
The Chancellor is saying that no one will actually lose cash because of the changes. But many see that the changes will leave pensioners’ future incomes exposed to more tax in the coming years.Also it is argued the retirement tax planning of people not yet of retirement age will be affected.
You,like me,maybe looking forward to seeing a new exotic film set in India soon to be released in the UK. The idea behind The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I understand ,is that a group of pensioners unhappy with their immediate prospects of life as elderly people in the UK are attracted to an alternative way of life in India.As a piece of light entertainment, this will most probably be a great success with the splendid cast assembled, and hugely enjoyable.
One of the stars, Dame Judi Dench, when recently promoting the film, took the opportunity of lambasting ‘inhumane’ care homes. Furthermore, she said families should take-in their elderly relatives when they can longer care for themselves, as she did. Well, maybe her circumstances were such that this well intentioned and loving action was a practical possibility. For many others, faced with the dilemma of how to provide the most appropriate care, a care home may be the only option.
Can we ever do enough for the elderly? Maybe we can all agree that spending ones final days in an old peoples’ home is not an ideal,much less preferred, option but it maybe the best available option.Although here,it must be said that many homes up and down the country do a wonderful job in difficult circumstances.
Many 60-lifers find themselves in the growing ‘the sandwich generation’, reasonably fit and at a time when they might expect to have some time to themselves they are having to consider both the the care and welfare of a parent or elder relative ,and the care of children and grandchildren.We will revisit this issue in future posts.
Circumstances may dictate the best course of care : state of physical and mental health, financial resources available,access to the services of family and friends. Unlike Dame Judi Dench, who took her parent(s) into her home when they were unable to care for themselves, many people may find this is just an impossibility.
As we do not fully know the circumstances in which Judi Dench was able to look after her parents and continue a very busy and successful acting career, we do not know the range of the many and varied range of circumstances in which people with relatives who need care find themselves.From my own experience, the brevity of a headline message to the effect : “look after your own”, is both hurtful and unhelpful, and only goes to reinforce the heavy guilt that many people already feel who want to do the very best by their relatives in need.
That we should be reminded of the great benefits to us all of regular safe leisure swimming exercise is important. Swimming is safe and easy on the body.It allows full movement of the body without bearing weight and ,therefore, there is far less stress placed on joints and bones while exercising. Consequently,aging does not need to mean substantially decreased mobility as swimming can lengthen the number of years we can pursue vibrant lives with enthusiasm.
Water-based exercise can help reduce stress,improve cardiovascular quality and posture,tone muscle,and help in weight and diet control. For a full list of the 10 main benefits of swimming read on..
I have discovered this great forum. Couldn’t wait to tell you. Try it see and what you think. At worst ,you can just turn it off. At the least it may provide you with regular and useful information over a wide rage of matters ,for example : Hobbies,Books,writing,jokes, getting older, and so on. There is Health and Fitness and other subjects which could be of concern to you. You may find this provides a community in which you can contribute with your information and views.
If you haven’t yet taken advantage of your entitlement this tax year (ends 5th April 2011) to a tax free allowance through an Individual Savings Account (ISA) , time is fast running-out.
ISAs are accounts which you hold within a ‘tax wrapper’.This means you do not have to declare any income from them.They are tax free, and you can save cash,or invest in stocks and shares.
On the direct.gov site , you will see that you can switch money out of a cash ISA into a stocks and shares ISA without losing the tax-free benefit of the ‘wrapper’. So, if you , like me, have been suffering from the low,almost non-existant, interest returns offered by many banks and building societies who are providers of financial products for ISAs, this option may be for you. But this is not to say this is right for your particular circumstances and, as I said above ,you need to take appropriate financial advice. Using stocks and shares ,as an alternative investment to increase return on investment ,should perhaps only be considered with the caveat that the value of these go up as well as down. It maybe advisable that you chose this option only if you are investing over a minimum period of (say ) 3 to 5 years. Check-out direct.gov now while there is still some time left. Of course, if you miss out this tax year, the allowance has gone for good. You will, however, be able to consider using the allowance for the new tax year from 6th April ( in 2011/2012)
This story was brought to my attention recently by a successful internet marketer,Perry Marshall. It’s a good read, and ends as a kind of cautionary tale about not neglecting things like our relationships, which might otherwise wither like a plant that is deprived of attention. I thought I would share it with you today.
I have an asparagus fern named Lazarus, writes Tom Hoobyar
Why did I name him Lazarus? I’ll tell you why.
I named him Lazarus because when I first got him for my batchelor apartment I was sometimes a neglectful caretaker.
I got the plant so there would be something alive in my apartment besides me. It came in a small green plastic pot about the size of a coffee mug and cost two dollars. It was a little green living thing and it kept me a kind of quiet company… to read more
