With this in mind, I was interested to read that a Senior Playground was officially opened in Hyde Park on 19th May. It contains six items of equipment to provide gentle forms of exercise for the over-60s. These include a cross-trainer, an exercise bike, a bench for sit-ups, a walking machine and two machines for improving flexibility. Alas, no swings. The hope is that older people will use the facility not only for exercise and a bit of fun, but also to socialise. Although it is intended for retired people, only the under-15s are specifically barred from using it. I suspect that vanity will deter younger adults from doing so.

Although this is the first such facility in London, one opened in Manchester in February 2008. The trend was apparently started in China and Japan. The photograph with this blog is of an outdoor gym for senior citizensa in Beijing.  

There are, in addition, an increasing number of outdoor gyms to be found in public parks in various locations in the UK. There is nothing to stop older people from using those, other than possibly their level of fitness.

Anything that encourages older people to exercise is to be welcomed. There is a growing amount of research that indicates that regular exercise is beneficial not only for one’s physical health and fitness but also for one’s mental health. See also my blog of 22nd January 2008 entitled Physical exercise during retirement.

Subject:  Britain’s population time-bomb?

The challenges and opportunities of an ageing society

Date: 16 June 2009

Venue: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), London SW7 2AR

Tickets: £10 / £7 RGS-IBG members

Book online (www.rgs.org/whatson) or call 0207 591 3100

Panel:  Rosie Winterton MP – Minister of State for Pensions and the Ageing      Society

              George Magnus – author of The Age of Ageing (2009)

Chair:  Samira Ahmed – Channel 4 News presenter

Synopsis:  Britain’s 17 million baby boomers are fast approaching retirement age, with over 65′s now outnumbering under 16′s for the first time. What are the challenges and opportunities that this presents Britain?

Join the expert panel to explore issues such as the changing nature of retirement; the importance of older people in the workforce; the pressures on public services; and how Britain is adapting to an ageing society.

Full details: http://www.21stcenturychallenges.org

A person’s mental capital comprises their cognitive and emotional resources: their ability to think and learn and their social skills and resilience in the face of stress. A person’s mental wellbeing depends, in essence, on them being personally and socially fulfilled.

One of the main problem areas identified by the project is that of the ageing population. It is estimated that, by 2071, the number of people over 65 could double to nearly 21.3 million, and those over 80 could more than treble to 9.5 million. With an ageing population comes an increase in the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Over the next 30 years the number of dementia sufferers could double to 1.4 million and the cost to the economy could treble from £17 billion to £50 billion a year. It is therefore crucial to ensure that older people maintain the best possible mental capital, and thereby preserve their independence and wellbeing.

The report advises that the risk factors of cognitive decline should be addressed before they occur in old age. Examples given include encouraging exercise in middle age to promote a healthy cardiovascular system, and encouraging education and learning throughout a person’s life to promote cognitive reserve.

The report considers that achieving a small change in the average level of wellbeing across the population would produce a large decrease in the number suffering from mental disorder. Based on the evidence before it, the Foresight Project came up with the following five suggestions for achieving mental wellbeing:

1. Connect. – Connect with other people. Develop relationships with your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. These connections will provide support and enrichment.
2. Be active.- Exercise makes you feel good. Find a physical activity that you enjoy and that is appropriate to your level of mobility and fitness.
3. Take notice. – Be observant of beautiful and unusual things around you. Be aware of what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences helps you appreciate what matters to you.
4. Keep learning. – Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.
5. Give. – Do something helpful for others. Linking yourself to the wider community can be very rewarding.

Some of these could be regarded as statements of the bleeding obvious but, bearing in mind the expertise of Foresight, they should be taken seriously. I am pleased to say that several of the suggestions have already been covered by my earlier blogs.

As you get older you may want to move home for one or more of several reasons, including the following:

• Your house or flat is too large for your requirements.
• It’s becoming too expensive to maintain.
• You want to move nearer to your family.
• If you own it, you may want to realise some of the equity.
• You simply fancy a change of scenery.

General advice

• Moving can be very stressful and expensive, so don’t rush into it.
• Think well ahead. How many times do you want to move? You may be fit and active now but will the place you have in mind be suitable in 10 or 15 years’ time? If not, are you prepared to move again then?

• It can be a big mistake to move to a completely new area where you know nobody. It may not be easy to make new friends.
• Moving usually involves quite a lot of hard work, so it’s probably sensible to move while you still have a lot of energy.
• If you are renting your home from a local authority or housing association, it might be worthwhile enquiring whether there are any current incentives available for moving to a smaller property.
• If you own your own home, you might consider asking the local authority if there are any grants available for carrying out essential home improvements. 

A helpful website

The following Internet document is helpful in outlining the types of accommodation available for older people and the factors to be borne in mind: http://www.careandrepair-england.org.uk/pdf/stayputormovehome.doc.

Realising equity in your home

There are 2 ways of doing this:

• Downsizing. – Selling your home and moving to a smaller property.
• An equity release scheme. – This is a means of getting cash from the value of your home without moving out of it. You can either get a cash lump sum or a regular income. There are various schemes available, although they basically boil down to 2 types:
  • You create a lifetime mortgage on your home but you do not pay any interest until your home is sold. The downside to this is that the interest is rolling up and if the value of your home falls or does not grow sufficiently, you could be left with little or no equity in your property.
  • You sell all or part of your property to a home reversion company but continue to live there. The downside is that you will be paid substantially less than the full value of the property and any increase in value is going to benefit the company and not you. Moreover, there may come a time when the property is no longer suitable and you have to move somewhere else. You will no longer have the capital available you would have had if you hadn’t entered into the equity release scheme.

If you are contemplating an equity release scheme it is essential that you take proper professional advice because there are clearly significant risks involved. If you want to know more, you can obtain a free booklet from the FSA entitled Equity release schemes – raising money from your home. It can be ordered by telephone on 0845 456 1555 or from their website http://www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk/tools/publications/publications.html.

Need for exercise

It is generally accepted that regular exercise is necessary for health and fitness.  In its Coronary Heart Disease Statistics, published in July 2007, the British Heart Foundation reported that cardiovascular disease (i.e. heart disease and stroke) is the principal cause of death in the UK, with more than one in three dying from it each year. The BHF says that people who are physically active have a lower risk of coronary heart disease. It cites a 2002 report from the World Health Organization which estimated that over 20% of coronary heart disease and 10% of stroke in developed countries was due to physical inactivity.

Even slim people need to exercise. A press release from Brunel University on 6th March 2006 referred to a study which compared heart disease risk factors in 37 lean exercisers, 46 lean non-exercisers and 28 obese non-exercisers. Lean exercisers were fit and demonstrated near-optimal levels of LDL-cholesterol (the harmful type that clogs up the arteries). In contrast, lean non-exercisers were unfit and demonstrated borderline-high levels of cholesterol at only 40 years of age. Even more surprising was the finding that LDL-cholesterol levels were almost identical in lean non-exercisers and in obese non-exercisers.

On 7th December 2007, The Times reported on a study by the University of Bristol which found that physical activity was associated with a 30-40% reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The same news report also mentioned separate evidence presented to the British Nutrition Foundation conference which linked a lack of exercise to depression and dementia. However, it was reported that only 35% of men and 24% of women reach the recommended weekly amount of physical activity.

Other benefits of regular exercise are said to include reducing your risk of developing some cancers, diabetes and osteoporosis. In addition, it can improve your strength, stamina, flexibility and even your mood (because it can release serotonin, a brain chemical).

How much exercise should I take?

This will depend on your age and level of fitness.

The Department of Health, in a report published in 2004, advised that adults, including older people, should do at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five days a week. This level of activity should cause your heart to beat faster, make you slightly out of breath and, possibly, a bit sweaty. The 30 minutes can be done in one session or split up into several sessions of at least 10 minutes each. An example of moderate exercise is a brisk walk.

You should aim to do a mixture of
•    aerobic exercise, such as walking, cycling or swimming, to benefit your heart and lungs;
•     strength exercises, such as weight training, to counter the loss of muscle tissue which occurs as people get older; and
•    exercises, such as stretching, to improve your flexibility.

Health warning
If you are not physically fit or are unaccustomed to physical exercise, you should consult with your GP before starting a new sport or other form of physical activity. It is also important to break yourself in gently.  If, for example, you decide to take up walking, it might be sensible to start off with gentle strolls before moving on to brisk walking.

I suggest a spreadsheet with 4 columns headed respectively:
Category of expense
Amount spent
Annual budget
Percentage of budget

The first column will comprise your list of expenditure items (see blog entitled Preparing for Retirement). Next, under Annual Budget, type the annual total for each item of expense, adding the total at the bottom. Then after, say, 3 months type in the Amount Spent column the total expenditure for each individual item. Using the calculation facility in the spreadsheet will enable you to ascertain the percentage of the budget you have incurred so far. For example, in the first column you may have an item reading Telephones, mobile & Internet. Your annual budget for that may be £780. That figure will appear in the third column. After 3 months, you may have spent £190 on this category and you would type that in the second column. Then using the calculation function, the percentage of the budget used, being 24.3589, will be produced in column 4.

I use Internet banking and, about once a week, I get my current account up on screen and post the items of income and expenditure into Money. Then I get a report from Money every quarter and enter the amount for each category of expenditure into my spreadsheet to see whether I am keeping to budget.

If this all sounds too difficult, you can always keep written records of your expenses and then carry out periodic checks. Alternatively, you could use the budget calculator on the Financial Services Authority’s website, which looks user-friendly.

Finally, your budget should be reviewed annually in view of the fact that, unfortunately, one’s expenses tend to rise.

Income

Identify your sources of income and note the amount which is due from each. These might include some of the following:

• An occupational pension.
• Any pension from previous employment.
• A personal pension.
• The State Pension.
• Investment income.
• State benefits.

Expenditure

1. Make a list from your bank and credit card statements of all items of expenditure over the past 12 months and put these into categories such as the following:

• Mortgage (or rent & service charge)
• Council Tax
• Electricity
• Gas
• Water
• Household shopping
• Property repairs & decoration
• Telephone, mobile & Internet
• TV licence & Sky
• Buildings & contents insurance
• Motor insurance
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance
• Miscellaneous insurance
• Motoring expenses (other than insurance)
• Healthcare, including dentist & optician
• Clothes
• Garden
• Holidays
• Leisure & entertainment
• Wine, beer & spirits
• Newspapers & magazines
• Charitable donations
• Gifts
• Cash & sundries

2. Remove any items which will not be incurred after retirement such as fares in travelling to and from work and premiums on life assurance policies which may be about to mature.

3. Adjust any items which are about to increase or decrease after retirement. It may be, for example, that your last holiday was less expensive than usual or that you envisage spending less on clothes when you no longer have to go to work.

4. Allow for repairs and decoration of your home.

5. Provide a sensible sum for cash and sundries.

6. You may consider it prudent to establish a sinking fund for the replacement of your car.

7. Remember to allow for inflation and to bear in mind that your pension will be subject to income tax.

8. Finally, if necessary, adjust your budgeted expenditure to keep it within the bounds of your projected income.

It can take time to adjust to being with your spouse or partner for much of the day seven days a week and it is important to avoid getting under one another’s feet. Everyone needs their own space at times. How you achieve this is likely to depend on the size and layout of your home and whether there are more than two of you living there.

On a more positive note, retirement gives you more opportunity to see your family and friends. In this regard, I would like to stress the importance of having friends locally, even if you have a spouse or partner. It is not unusual for people who do not work near to where they live, to retire and not have real friends living nearby. If you are in that situation, you should take part in activities where you meet other people.