Contemporary Retirement Coaching Blog

El Capitan - Phil Packer's next challenge

I love this guy - he's just so inspirational!  Following his announcement this week that he has achieved his target of £1 million for the Help for Heroes charity, final preparations are now underway for his attempt to pull himself up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park - that's 1800 feet in 3 days. Good luck, Phil!

3 wishes...

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'  'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Poof! he's gone.

'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas, and the love of my life.' Poof! He's gone.

'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.'

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say

9 Great reasons to drink more water

We all know by now that we should be drinking more water and here's a reminder from the Dumb Little Man blog of just WHY we should be doing it -  including a six-year study which found that those who drink more than 5 glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack than those who drank less than two glasses.

Downshifting into Retirement

Would you prefer a phased exit from your work - not so much a ‘one-off event’ but more of a process, whereby you gradually phase out your job and phase in other activities to replace it?  Have you considered downshifting into retirement?

For many people, the word ‘downshifting’ conjures up mental images of hippies, drop-outs and new-age travelers – of vegetarianism, veganism, communal living, weaving your own fabrics and living in teepees with a ratty old dog sleeping at your feet.

I would suggest that downshifting is what you want it to be and that every downshifter's idea of what downshifting looks like will differ from the next.  I would suggest that there are probably as many different visions of what a downshifted life should look like as there are downshifters.

I would suggest that downshifting:

can mean moving to an environment more conducive to your values but does not necessarily mean a change in location at all

can mean taking a cut in pay by changing career or reducing work hours

can mean not working for pay at all in exchange for a better lifestyle

can mean working fewer hours (but then some downshifted retirees are working even more hours, although this time, they’re working at something they love and which inspires them)

can mean adopting an organic/vegetarian/vegan lifestyle

can mean buying fruit and veggies from local sources

can mean buying recycled clothes from thrift shops and charity shops

can mean taking camping trips instead of overseas holidays/vacations

can mean going from two cars to one car or from one car to a bike/public transport

can mean driving an older model car rather than rushing to replace it every 2 or 3 years

can mean adopting a more frugal lifestyle

usually means spending or consuming less

usually means lessening your impact on the environment

often means spending more time with family, friends and the people you want and choose to spend your time with

often means spending more time on activities other than making money

I would suggest that downshifting often means:

· improved quality of life

· a more meaningful life

· taking back control of your life

· more time to devote to personal development

· more time to devote to learning

· increased time for leisure activities

· increased time for voluntary and community work

· consciously rejecting  the trappings of material success

· an increased sense of personal freedom

· the ability to say ‘no’

· redefining the 'good life'

· achieving work/life balance 

· a simplified life

· reduced stress levels

· minimized overheads

· achieving a more environmentally friendly lifestyle

· flexibility - more flexible working hours, work when you choose

· the ability to eliminate constant travel

· the opportunity to becoming more engaged with your community

· the ability to take on caring responsibilities – for children, grandchildren, elderly relatives

· an end to feelings of overwork and discontentment

· an end to conspicuous consumption and competitive acquisition/maintaining appearances/ impressing people/keeping up with the Jones’s

· an end to the frustration caused by the daily commute

· more time spent doing what you value most

· more time spent engaging in activities that you find rewarding

· adopting a more sustainable lifestyle

Does any of that resonate with you?

What would downshifting look like for you at this stage of your life?

How could you go about it?

Cheers, Piers

Oh dear!  Britain's Got Talent judge, Piers Morgan, discussing the Susan Boyle phenomenon, stated: "I think that Susan Boyle has come as the antidote to the recession.  In one little old lady from Scotland we have the cure to all known financial ills."

Susan is 48 years old.  I suddenly feel ancient! 

Guarding your memory

What is the single most important thing people can do to protect their brains and guard their memory? In this article from the Johns Hopkins Memory Bulletin, Sandra Aamodt, Ph.D and Sam Wang, Ph.D answer this important question.

R.I.P. Cookie

Martha Beck, author of Finding Your Own North Star and Steering by Starlight, manages to combine touching and funny as she writes about the death of her beloved beagle, Cookie, and the support she's received from well-wishers.  Read what she wrote in You Human Beagles Are Seriously Mellowing My Harsh.  (Scroll down to the 'R.I.P. Cookie' section if you want to get straight into it.)

Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year

Found this great post from Nora Dunn, a professional world traveller - Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year - which is probably mainly aimed at younger folks but which still has some great advice and resources for those of you with an adventurous streak and not much cash.

Later retirement ‘delays Alzheimer’s onset’

In research funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust, British scientists at The Institute of Psychiatry, have found that keeping the brain active by working longer and retiring later in life reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease at a younger age.

Researchers analysed data from 1,320 people with dementia, looking at education, employment and retirement. The research, which was published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, found no link between education or employment and the risk of dementia, but did find that those people who retire later prolong their mental abilities above the threshold for dementia.

Co-author of the research paper and Scientific Adviser to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, Prof Simon Lovestone, said:

“The intellectual stimulation that older people gain from the workplace may prevent a decline in mental abilities, thus keeping people above the threshold for dementia for longer. Much more research is needed if we are to understand how to effectively delay, or even prevent, dementia.”

Ivy, 103, is Britain's oldest twitterer

I love this!  Ivy Bean, who is 103 years old and living in a care home in Bradford, has become Britain's oldest user of Twitter after she became bored with Facebook.  How cool is that? 

She currently has 11,691 followers (which is about 11,500 more than me!) and she's lovely!  She tweeted this morning to say that she was 'spending the morning reading wont be able to use lap top much today other residents are using it be in touch later'.  Don't you just love the idea of care home residents queueing to use the laptop?  (Well, not the fact that they have to queue - more that they want to use the Internet so much that they're willing to queue.)  Put me down for some of that when I reach 103.

Read more about Ivy here and follow her on Twitter here.