This is from a report in the Courier Mail from by the Sydney University Workplace Research Centre "But the report also criticised Australia's treatment of retired people as one of the worst systems in the developed world for delivering security from poverty in old age."
I believe that anyone who is "baby boomer" era or older has to take stock of what is happening and take action.
As we age, we are getting more marginalised. There are many people who reaching the ripe "old age" of 50 find it difficult to get jobs. If you are in your 60's it is very hard/impossible to find work, yet many of us will live for another 20 or so years. Many who have been able to save money have lost it in recent years - sometimes because they tried too hard to make a big profit to help them in their latter years. How many seniors have been "ripped off" by so called excellent investment opportunities?
I read newspapers and watch the television news and it is not hard to believe that old people do not exist in the eyes of the media. Pick up the Courier Mail, or the local Quest newspaper (or any newspaper) and count how many photos of young people and then how many photos of older people. Did you find any older people?
Are we the silent majority? Certainly we are silent!! We spend money, we are alive and we vote!!! Let's get active to make the lives of our seniors (yes, it will be us soon) much better.
I read in the last few days that an elderly woman who kept her hard earned savings in a box, was robbed. Someone said something to the effect that old people should get real and use banks. The article suggested that older people do not trust banks and don't like paying bank fees (no one likes paying the high bank fees) and they should "get real" and use banks for their own security.
True - the bank would be safer for their money, but try and put yourself in the body of a 80 year old (or older) and see how it feels. They are not comfortable with plastic cards - they don't remember numbers (so have to carry something with their PIN number - something that the banks tell you NOT to do), and with someone with ageing eyes, how easy is it to read the instructions on an ATM?
Oh, they can go to the bank, you say? I am sure they do - but as older people are not comfortable with using cards (be it a Visa, Mastercard or similar) they tend to hold onto larger amounts of cash. Perhaps in a cardboard box? Would you like to line up in the bank every time you want some money? And it costs each time you do. Older people are marginalised by the modern banking system.
They are vulnerable everywhere. I know of someone (disabled) who was preyed on, assaulted and robbed after taking some money from an ATM. Older people find it difficult to travel to the bank regularly too.
Many seniors do manage the modern banking system - but not all. So what do we do? Just make stupid statements that they should learn how to adjust and embrace modern banking. Some just can not!!
True - the bank would be safer for their money, but try and put yourself in the body of a 80 year old (or older) and see how it feels. They are not comfortable with plastic cards - they don't remember numbers (so have to carry something with their PIN number - something that the banks tell you NOT to do), and with someone with ageing eyes, how easy is it to read the instructions on an ATM?
Oh, they can go to the bank, you say? I am sure they do - but as older people are not comfortable with using cards (be it a Visa, Mastercard or similar) they tend to hold onto larger amounts of cash. Perhaps in a cardboard box? Would you like to line up in the bank every time you want some money? And it costs each time you do. Older people are marginalised by the modern banking system.
They are vulnerable everywhere. I know of someone (disabled) who was preyed on, assaulted and robbed after taking some money from an ATM. Older people find it difficult to travel to the bank regularly too.
Many seniors do manage the modern banking system - but not all. So what do we do? Just make stupid statements that they should learn how to adjust and embrace modern banking. Some just can not!!
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