Image: “Art Lovers”, by Rod Cargill, 2021.
The 64Club will explore several themes centred around living longer. 60-something is a pioneering generation – we’re at the forefront of early, tentative steps to change quite fundamentally the way societies, economies and governments deal with us and the implications for younger generations.
My interest lies in how we become active pioneers, crafting that change, instead of letting it just happen to us. A good starting point is understanding the issues, generating ideas and having a voice.
Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton, authors of The New Long Life, comment: “One thing is clear: advances in technology and longevity have not been matched by supporting innovations to our social structures. In our era of unprecedented change, we haven’t yet discovered new ways of living and working and that’s creating a growing tension between our traditional patterns of behaviour and the world in which we live.”
Societal attitudes towards aging have long been misplaced. In most societies, aging is not seen as much of an asset. Rather, the older you get, the more invisible you become. Nothing reflects this quite like the marketing industry. Recent Australian research (Secrets and Lies: Ageless and Booming, 2019) found:
- 27% of Australians are over 50 and 50% of private wealth and 46% of disposable income is in their hands. Yet only 2% of advertising and marketing campaigns are targeted at them.
- Over 50s outspend Millennials in entertainment, cars, health, travel and almost every category, but 94% dislike the way brands, organisations and marketers communicate with them
LIttle question that a significant ageing blindspot exists. What will it take to remove it? That’s a worthy theme for The 64Club?
The other statistic that confounds many is the high proportion of older people who start new businesses, and do better than their younger counterparts. Still in Australia, a third of start-ups are founded by over 55s, who will account for most of the self-employed workforce by 2024.
Here’s something I never knew. The founders of McDonald’s, Coca Cola, and Kentucky Fried Chicken were all over 50 when they established their businesses. So we’re not talking about a new phenomenon rather an ignored one.
I started a new business – the third in my lifetime – at 63. Fortunately, with a cross section of generations among my partners – two millennials (Generation Y) and one Generation X. The diversity of knowledge, experience and networks is invaluable.
Another interesting aspect to working longer is the potential to quickly make up for inadequate retirement savings. US research (The Power of Working Longer, 2018) It found: “The basic result is that delaying retirement by 3-6 months has the same impact on the retirement standard of living as saving an additional one-percentage point of labour earnings for 30 years.” That’s extraordinary – and a relief for those of us who haven’t or can’t save enough for retirement.
On my continent, Africa, we don’t have the problem of a growing ageing population. With rapid population growth, the youth dominate. However, the economies cannot absorb these young people, who rely on older adults much more than elsewhere in the world. With the policy focus on youth employment, the working life of Africa’s older adults is neglected.
Working longer therefore must be a key theme of The 64Club. Many more will emerge as we explore the many ins and outs of living longer. I hope that we will gather contributors on this journey and build a global movement to make our ideas real.