An excellent report launch. Thank you to our panel, Chair, report sponsors & event hosts. And to our guests https://t.co/l3LIXZB4vG @PeoplesPension @SOLLAadvice @dwppressoffice @dwppressoffice @DWP @MoneyPensionsUK @traverssmith @age_uk @WEALTHatwork @tish8515 @mac290964 pic.twitter.com/GFagDp3Ckb

— Pensions Policy Inst (@PPI_Research) July 17, 2019

I am glad that I took some time out to listen to  and discuss with some great women what it means to get old. The occasion was the Pension Policy Institute’s launch of Living Through Later Life which you can read from this link. It was also good to talk with David Yeandle about growing old with MS. The first lesson I learned from the afternoon was that it is best to talk about these things. As the ads affirm, it’s good to talk about money and how it supports us as we become increasingly frail. And it’s good to find the right words to talk about the process that has us move from independent living, through cogitative and physical decline into dependence. We agreed that “Frailty” is a better word than decline.

Stark stats at the “Living through later life” @PPI_Research

Of people BEYOND AGE 65

47% are in the Independent Phase
29% in the Decline phase
24% in the dependent phase

Wealth is a significant factor.

50% of those at age 70 lowest quintile dependent only 10% at highest pic.twitter.com/izwQ9vOXhv

— Robert Cochran (@RobCochran1874) July 17, 2019

Women to the fore

It was over an hour into the seminar/workshop that we heard our first male voice and that only a question to the all female panel.

The event was chaired by Michelle Cracknell and the opening talk was given by Lynn Wilkinson of the PPI and featured the experience of Anna Brain . 

Anna cared for her father who was unexpectedly siezed by a stroke and became immediately dependent and her mother who became frail through Alzheimers. Anna cared for them through to death.

Once we’d digested the account of Anna’s parents final years it became clear that being prepared for what the future brings makes it much easier for those needing care and for the carer(s).

This may sound trite, but it is not discussed and it took the panel session that followed to get us fully involved. By the end almost everyone in the room seemed to have their hands up.

This was largely due to the panellists , Liz Robinson of DWP, Teresa Frietz of MAS and Tish Hanifan of Solas.

As well as the panel, the session featured Jane Voss of Age UK who shared their work

We were left with some things to think about

You’ll need to read the report to get the granularity behind these headlines/

For me, the issue is to get people thinking about their finances in a way that helps them prolong independence but insures against frailty.

Thinking of later life in terms of health makes planning retirement financing a lot easier. As usual, PPI have done us a service by making something obscure and difficult – relatively easy.

If you feel you are getting old, or have clients who feel that way, then you could do a lot worse than read the report and think about what it says.

Thinking about getting old is hard and preparing for it harder still. But it is what retirement planning is about and the more we practice , the better we will get

Thanks PPI