A life skill for many people over 50 is being able, both physically and emotionally, to contain their ‘stuff’. Wartime austerity nurtured a caution against parting with anything ‘just in case’ which then extended into and beyond the ‘throwaway’ society of the 60s and 70s. Is there anyone over 70 who doesn’t have at least […]
Not everyone referred to EML is ready to face the reality of their changing prospects for later life. While fees are sometimes cited as being the issue, they are nothing more than a convenient excuse along with, ‘I’m too young’, ‘I’m too busy’ etc etc. The real message is ‘I don’t want to acknowledge my […]
Give yourself a little bounce….! When the family was younger we had a trampoline – complete with a safety net that made it look like an old fashioned gas tower. For many years it gave immense enjoyment, for bouncing on, camping under and even as a playground for the cats. As our young children grew […]
One simple tool for maintaining relationships is your address book. In addition to contact information I try to include a birthday (if known) or better a date of birth (the latter containing a year – useful for those special birthdays). Birthdays show in my calendar and, for a few quid annually, I subscribe to an […]
With a ‘drains up’ review of your finances complete you might well find yourself considering IGWT. For many this is one of the hardest transitions of their life. Up to this point their whole mantra has been wealth accumulation – making money, saving money and wealth accumulation activity. In a beat this all changes – […]
Long before I ran the world’s largest survey into changing attitudes towards later life I was already aware of the divide between ‘Old money’ and the rest of us. A good friend worked as a land agent advising ‘old money’ on running their estates and through him I gleaned an insight into a totally different […]
October is a busy time of year in our social calendar – the long summer is over and people we know are ‘back at work’ (whatever that might be!) so it’s a good time to catch up. What I’m really enjoying is the number and sheer diversity of these gatherings. It might be post Covid […]
Like many others I’m quietly horrified at the fourfold increase in my energy costs and pondering what I can do. Our wood burner, which until now has been for occasional use, may well be pressed into regular service as a major source of heat, particularly during cold snaps. I may also open up an old […]
I recently saw a TED Talk where the speaker was encouraging his audience to keep working as, he claimed, retirement would kill you! His suggestion seemed, at first sight, diametrically opposed to the EML philosophy of transition, as soon as possible, to your post-employment ‘ second career’. On reflection however, I concluded that we were […]
As a family we’ve arrived at one of life’s ‘transition points’ The last of the previous generation is still ‘hanging in there’ but offers the prospect of a house full of everything amassed over the last century and held on to ‘just in case it might be useful’. At the other end of the spectrum […]