The R-word has no truck among me and my friends. We are experienced and competent and capable and refuse to be assigned to the R-box by anyone, least of all ourselves. We are mad because retirement is an artificial invention. Age 59 and 364 days and you are recognised as a productive member of society:… [Read More]
My aim is to get you into a job as quickly as possible! How does two weeks sound? That is how quickly one of my clients did it! You know that sending gazillions of CVs into cyberspace does not work. And you know that all the things you remember about job-hunting are not working, either. In short, this a different planet for… [Read More]
The jobs are there, but the truth is that 99% of your efforts may be misdirected. This used to be the success rate of job hunting methods (roughly): 10% sending CVs to advertised jobs or through employment agencies 25% approaching employers directly 50% networking 15% a combination of the above No one has done research… [Read More]
In going for the gold of youth, are you missing out on the silver of age? It is easy for any HR practitioner to be focused youth; it is almost a no-brainer: they cost less, they can be molded and trained in your ways, they are digitally smart and inexpensive. Besides, they are better looking…. [Read More]
It is easy to construct a whole wall out of reasons not to job-hunt. Once we start looking for negatives, we become masters in the craft of obscuring the future. We can find reason after reason, laying each one like a brick on top the first, as though we have never heard of windows or doors. That is not… [Read More]
Q: When a home loan is fully repaid, is it financially of any benefit to transfer into home owner’s name or should the deeds be held by the Bank until the death of the home owner? On death it would presumably go into the estate and then onto the spouse, if the will was set… [Read More]
Q: I have a retrenchment package and would like to invest some into a new business and some for retirement.Can you give me some general pointers? (I live in South Africa.) A: Firstly there may be some tax implications on your retrenchment package but there are special tax rates applicable to severance benefits. From 1 March 2014… [Read More]
Review: BECOME YOUR OWN FINANCIAL ADVISOR by Warren Ingram Confession: I spent 67 years of my life shying away from anything financial. No amount of rational thinking and advice got through to me and I have paid the price. Even when I ran my own business I often let my heart overrule my head: I… [Read More]
Finding yourself at the age of 50, 60 or 70 without a retirement fund, is not a happy discovery. Whatever the reason, there will be feelings of despair. The first thing to do is realize that this is a loss like any other, and may follow a typical psychological pattern after loss: denial anger bargaining… [Read More]
A common and inexpensive drug holds the promise of an old age which stretches to 120 years. Metformin used by diabetics, has had such good results in experiments that new studies are in the works to see if it fulfils the promise. At Silver Mettle we promote a productive old age, but sometimes when the future hurries up to… [Read More]
An extended working life creates more need for relaxation and stress relief. Many older individuals would not think of beginning a yoga practice as they equate yoga with youth and twisting into pretzel shapes. However, with the right teacher who can help you adapt postures and suggest props suited to your ability, a satisfying yoga… [Read More]
We all know the Heimlich manoeuvre (you know! that force applied to the solar plexus to dislodge food in the windpipe), but the man who bears its name, only applied it for first time at 96! Dr Henry Heimlich was staying in a retirement home but was clearly not retired in his mind, because when a… [Read More]
Bettee de Groote is in her mid seventies but nothing daunts her, including tackling digital challenges head on. Here is her story. ‘After a high-powered job in Johannesburg with all the trimmings such as international travel, a personal assistant, vehicle, the lot, I, together with my husband, moved to the Cape, basically to get away… [Read More]
Mary Myrdal lives in Cape Town, South Africa; but now in her 70’s, she is still going regularly to Mexico to source beautiful silver jewellery. She always brings back new, exciting pieces which she sells in her home town. At the same time she brings stories of new adventures. This is the story of how she found a… [Read More]
(aka Tannie Evita) Happy birthday to Pieter who turned 70 on the 28th of September 2015. And to Tannie Evita who turned 80! Tannie says ‘Liewe aarde! 80 must be the new 60!’ ‘Pieter-Dirk Uys was born in Cape Town in 1945 and has been in the theatre since the mid-1960s. Closely associated with both the… [Read More]
Anna Botha is the coach behind the performance the recent 400m world champion Wayde van Niekerk at the IAAF Championships in Beijing. She is 73. Originally from Namibia, she is now head coach at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Interviewed in the South African newspaper City Press, she said, “This [Beijing], was… [Read More]
If you are a mature techie, a recent survey which found that ‘Tech employees over age 55 are actually less stressed using technology in the workplace, and better at using multiple devices than their younger peers’ will come as no surprise to unappreciated you! “It’s dangerous for companies to assume that if you’re under 35, you’re… [Read More]
The division of the ages is unnatural and surely not good for us. In Seattle, USA, is an example which shows the way: 4-year-olds and 90-year-olds happily side by side in a care community. ‘The Mount’ is a full-time care facility for 400 older adults, but is also home to a preschool for more than 100 children. The… [Read More]
According to the 2013 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity the age group 55-64 experienced a rising share of all new entrepreneurs in USA. And in Great Britain in 2014, the New Enterprise Allowance, a government scheme providing startup support, proved particularly popular with the over-50s. In this age group 14,000 people set up businesses through them, compared… [Read More]
33% of Japan’s population is above the age 60, 25.9% are 65 or above, 12.5% aged 75 or above. This is due to many interesting factors (see links below) but it means that Japan needs to raise its retirement age to 77! The percentage of seniors in Japan who want to work past age 60 exceeds… [Read More]
‘Almost half of full-time workers aged 50-64 plan to retire between ages 65-69’ According to a 2015 AARP survey of full-time workers aged 50-64, “the most popular age for [projected] retirement falls between 65-69 (45%). The balance of respondents are split between retiring early, before the age of 65 (23%), or late, at 70+ (26%). Very… [Read More]
A common and inexpensive drug holds the promise of an old age which stretches to 120 years. Metformin used by diabetics, has had such good results in experiments that new studies are in the works to see if it fulfils the promise. At Silver Mettle we promote a productive old age, but sometimes when the future hurries up to… [Read More]
51% of consumer spending done by people over 50. 10% of marketing activity is directed towards people over 50. – U.S. Bureau of Labor, September 2015 When organisations do not employ +50 year olds (who may I remind you, make 51% of the consumer decisions), what kind of decisions are made? If the population of a company… [Read More]
‘More and more workers in Britain are delaying their retirement, which has employers worried. New research released by professional services firm Towers Watson shows that almost half of all businesses in the UK are scared that workers cannot afford to retire at the right age. The Fit for Retirement report, which surveyed more than 100… [Read More]
