Retirement
Elizabeth knows that she has had a retirement like the one she dreamed of, but much of that is due to the careful planning and saving that she and her husband did while they were working. Instead of living beyond their means, or up to their means, they put money away throughout their working years, no matter how difficult it seemed at the time. Instead, by living a lifestyle that also enabled them to save money for their retirement has made their golden years much more enjoyable. Now, they see some of their friends that made very different decisions years ago struggling, downsizing, and not having the freedoms and choices to live as Elizabeth and Harold are now because the money is not there. Elizabeth does not regret her choices now, although at times she doubted them when she was making them.
This conscious decision making is aligned with the cognitive theory. People realize that they need to save to have an enjoyable retirement, but for one reason or another, many people do not save enough. It is one of many reasons that up to 75% of people are still working when they turn 65. Social security was never meant to be a sole support of income when one retired. It was developed during a time when people often worked for their entire career for one employer, who provided a pension upon retirement. Together, social security and a pension were supposed to provide for retirement. Additionally, life-expectance has increased, so that income and savings now needs to last over a longer period of time.
In decades past, retirement was a time spent with one’s spouse and other family members, in a more carefree lifestyle, sometimes caring for young grandchildren, baking, sewing, fishing, volunteering, and pursuing one’s other hobbies. As one continued to age, there might need to be some adjustments made, accommodations might need to be had, but life would continue to be as fulfilling as possible for as long as it could be so. These were looked forward to be years of leisure times.
Retirement was a goal to work towards. It was a milestone to be earned after years of hard work. It was a time in which comrades and cohorts would celebrate with the retiree because he or she had “made it.” Now the golden years, a rite of passage, had begun. It was a tie that an employee was proud to reach, proud to celebrate the beginning of, and proud to join, as if it were a club. Now one could get up when one wanted to get up and do what one wanted to do all day. It was dreamed to be a time of no worries. It was almost as if nirvana had been reached.
Relationships
Elizabeth also knows that she finds importance in mixing her friends for social pleasure, time with her husband, and some time alone. It is healthy for seniors to have diverse, inter-personal relationships, as is demonstrated by the Trait Theory of Personality. To encourage such relationships, senior centers have become an important part of the landscape across the United States. To help with access, in most areas, community transit services help seniors get to the centers if they do not have their own transportation. The centers often provide lunch to ensure that members receive at least one hot and nutritious meal each day. The activities at the center are quite diverse as well. Not only do they include such things as checking blood pressures and blood sugars and doing education seminars on diabetes, hypertension, and medication management, but usually provide at least a daily exercise program, card games for brain simulation, Wii sports activities, and outings to local events such as local museums and other tourist spots, the Philharmonic, the theatre group, and the ballet theatre. It is important for seniors to have diversity in their social lives. It is important for their physical, emotional, and mental health.
The delicate balance of having enough interaction with others and not being too isolated is one that too many seniors struggle with, especially after they retire. Often, seniors become withdrawn after they retire, and more so after the death of their spouse. Elizabeth has a strong support group in her social circle, and it is likely to continue should her husband pass. This is something that too many seniors do not have set in place. It is not clear if Elizabeth has established this naturally due to her personality or intentionally due to her work in the geriatric field, but either way, it is important to help maintain her mental health throughout her old age (Harris, 2010).
Work
Like many of her peers, Elizabeth decided to work in her retirement years. At 85, she has worked as recently as four months ago, teaching a two weekend gerontology course for continuing education credits with another nurse educator. She teaches these courses for enjoyment, not for the need of the money. She says that the money helps to fund her pleasure expenses with her friends, but since she always saved for retirement when she was working, maxing out what her employers matched and saving more when her children were out of college, she would still be able to maintain her lifestyle if she did not teach. She works for the enjoyment of it. Her husband also worked into his seventies full-time because he enjoyed his career and then did consulting work until recently. They were lucky, she said, that they both had careers that they loved (Allen & Klein, 2011).
As part of the social psychology theory, too often, people over the age of 50 find age discrimination when seeking work or when they are in the workplace. When looking for work, people over 50 are often passed over by younger people because they are thought to be too expensive to hire, not up on the latest technology, or will retire sooner than the younger person, so it is not worth the investment and the training in hiring the older person. The values of their experiences are overlooked and the assumptions that they will not be working long are often misconstrued.
In physically demanding jobs, such as nursing, as workers get older, the job can become increasingly difficult to perform. Legally, if there is a disability situation, reasonable accommodations need to be provided. But, if it is just difficulties due to age progressions, it is often the employee who suffers and finds they are requesting reassignment or a decrease in hours. Often, this decreases their satisfaction with a career that they enjoyed, but no longer can physically manage. Two of the most common complaints of older nurses include back pain and arthritis discomfort (Taqi, 2002). Elizabeth viewed hew work as a nurse as one of her loves of life.
When workplaces have a diverse staff, including a diversely aged staff, it is often that they find it to be beneficial to employees at all levels of the organization as well as mutually beneficial to all age groups in the company. It is noteworthy as well that the cognitive theory is also applicable in this circumstance because having an older median aged workforce also carried with it a parallel, in most circumstances, a better educated workforce as well, except in industries where most employees are in blue-collar positions. This mutually beneficial position of being able to share the talents and experiences of the older workers along with their educational expertise helps to train the next generation of workers as the older ones do move closer to retirement, at whatever time they chose for that to be.
In these studies, it was demonstrated that in almost all circumstances, the younger employees did not feel threatened at all by the older workers, found their insight to be helpful, and appreciated the sharing of the knowledge and expertise that the older workers had in the field. At the same time, there were instances when the older workers asked the younger employees for assistance as well, usually in reference in learning technological skills. The younger employees reported that this made them feel respected, valued, and did not mind sharing their knowledge and expertise with the older workers. Seldom was it reported that there was any resentment on the part of the younger employees when asked by the older staff for assistance in learning new skills (Ilmakunnas & Ilmakunnas, 2011).
Physiology
Elizabeth is well aware of her fortune in both her and her husband being in such good health for their age. Even though she has arthritis and uses a cane when she is not at home to help make sure that she is safe on her feet, Elizabeth makes sure that she remains active. She states, “I’m pretty self-sufficient for an old lady.” Part of this is a result of her nursing background and part is due to her specialty in geriatrics. She watched her patients and knew that those that were more active maintained both their mobility and independence for a longer period of time. Additionally, studies show that exercise is important for seniors. Humanist theories correlate with the importance of exercise and seniors knowing that movement is beneficial, even though they do not always act on this knowledge. One of the most important exercises that seniors can do is walk. This simple act can help seniors maintain joint flexibility and movement for years compared to if they are immobile and leads a sedentary lifestyle.
Too many seniors do not walk or participate in any exercise at all. To try and counteract this, many insurance programs offer free gym memberships. Just using the treadmill can help. If seniors add in some free weights, that is even more beneficial. Weight resistance training, even at a low level of weight, is also beneficial for seniors. Arthritis is common among the elderly and movement therapy and weight resistance training are two of the best ways to counteract the effects of this disease. Encouraging participation in these programs by touting the benefits has increased the numbers, but not to the amount that insurance companies or health professionals had hoped (Kerr, Rosenberger, & Frank, 2012).
Another common issue that plagues the families of seniors is having to care for aging parents. Many middle-aged adults are raising their children while caring for their parents. Known as being “sandwiched” by both older and younger people in need of care, this stress, physical burden, and financial strain makes it hard for these families to save for their own retirement and survive day to day. Elizabeth mentioned that she did not want to be a burden to her children, and she was able to plan for this financially as well as prepare for it by taking out long-term care insurance for her and her husband so that they could be physically cared for if the need were to ever arise. Many Americans do not plan this well or are financially unable to prepare to ensure that they can ease the burdens of their families. Without meaning to do so, their families do end up suffering physically, emotionally, financially, or all three (Hauser & Weir, 2010).
Although it is hard to see loved ones age, it should also be a joyous time to see them retire and enjoy life as Elizabeth has been able to do. Unfortunately, too few people are as well off in their golden years as she is. Her foresight helped, as does her good health. She knows that she prepared and planned which accounts for some of her fortune, and has been blessed as well. Combining the humanist theory as discussed with the cognitive theory in the knowledge that human life expectancy continues to grow, all generations in the United States need to do their part in planning for the old age. Social Security cannot provide all of the needed income for all people. It has yet to be determined what the fate of Medicare will be for the medical insurance needs of future Americans. It is more important than ever for people to be advocates for themselves to plan for their financial and their physiological futures. It is also important that, as people age, they have a plan as to what they want to do as far as their work and retirement plans, knowing that they might need to change, as well as have strong social networks for their emotional and psychological well-being. All of these are important for happiness in one’s old age.
References
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