When Bismark created the world’s first state pension scheme in the 1880s he never expected to pay out – it was simply a creative (and seemingly popular) tax raising exercise. Life expectancy in Germany at the time was 48, so 65 was selected for benefit payments to start, thus ensuring there were few, if any, […]
During our coaching programme I will ask the client what they want from various aspects of life. Many find the exercise challenging, not because they don’t know, but because their list is too long – it is an impossible ‘wish-list’. Capturing their thoughts without interrupting the ‘flow’ has made me a fast scribbler! I ask […]
One client recently visited by someone from the strategic planning team who was trying to look beyond the many immediate challenges and determine where they should be in 20 – 30 years. I was delighted, 25 years ago the inspirational leader of the financial services organisation I worked with did the same thing and the […]
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 […]
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 […]
I’ve just taken on the role of executor which involves dealing with the administration teams of some of this countries leading financial institutions. Experiences to date has been mixed, ranging from the absolutely dreadful to the simply brilliant – all within a single brand! ‘Seeing’ the actual death certificate use to be the norm and […]
As we all live longer this advice has never been so important…
Living longer affects us all in different ways – here are some surprising common themes
Baby ‘gloomers’ are reaching retirement age and many think they have a problem. Often they do, but not necessarily the problem they imagined. Baby ‘gloomers’ are the younger siblings that hang off the coattails of the Baby Boomer – they lack the brash confidence of their swinging sixties elders. For them ‘Free Love’ was replaced […]
Did you see the recent press report saying that young UK people (aged 16 – 24) are spending an average of 7 hours a day on their smart phones. The article included the normal backlash from so called ‘behavioural experts’ saying how bad this is for those involved and that their world is going down […]