Understanding Living Longer

Tag Archives: family

Maintaining relationships

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 […]

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Looking beyond the immediate pain….

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 […]

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Keeping busy

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 […]

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A mixed blessing…

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 […]

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Playing the odds

While the focus of EML’s research is understanding living longer it is important to say that, at an individual level, life remains a lottery and there are no guarantees. Most of the change we describe reflect a change of expectation. Be it pension funds ‘expecting’ their members to be around longer, the Health Service expecting […]

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Learning new skills

One of six personal skills needed for making the most of living longer is Embracing Change . It is almost inevitable, the longer we live, the more change we encounter. Yet not all change is good, and embracing change just because it’s there is a fools game. The skill is is retaining an open mind […]

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A different perspective

A client asked me to review a document. In building a portfolio of activities for his second career his love of driving classic cars had led to a role driving wedding cars. What wasn’t anticipate was the very special relationship he built with each bride. Picking them up from home signalled the end of months […]

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One final misery….

My interest in longevity was peeked by a friend, a Chartered Surveyor who looked after large Scottish Estates. He shared a completely different way of thinking about life -where ‘family’ was more important than the individual and every member was ‘expected’ to do what they could for the common good. The Chinese express the same […]

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