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Revealed: How much regular sex each generation is having

<p>While it's often seen as a taboo subject, researchers from Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, have just revealed their report on the sex lives of thousands of people around the world and across different generations. </p> <p>The report, titled<em> The State of Dating: How Gen Z is Redefining Sexuality and Relationships</em> is based on data from over 3,310 people of the dating app, Feeld.</p> <p>The participants, who came from 71 different countries and  between 18-75 years old, were surveyed about their sex lives and results are not what you'd expect. </p> <p>Gen Z is having less sex, fewer partners and fewer relationships than other generations, reporting that on average they had had sex three times in the last month. </p> <p>"Gen Z and Boomers exhibited nearly identical sexual frequencies, suggesting that both the youngest and oldest adults are having the least sex," the researchers, led by Dr Justin Lehmiller, wrote in the report.</p> <p>Millennials and Gen X reported slightly higher figures, with both groups having sex five times in the last month. </p> <p>"Also, nearly half of Gen Z reported that they were single, compared to only one-fifth of Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers." </p> <p>Despite having the least sex, Gen Z appears to be the most adventurous group in the bedroom, with 55 per cent of them saying they'd discovered a new kink since joining the app compared to 49 per cent of Millennials, 39 per cent of Gen X, and 33 per cent of Boomers.</p> <p>Researchers said there are two possible explanations for this. </p> <p>"One is simply that older adults have had more time to learn and discover what they enjoy about sex, so they may have already uncovered their kinks.</p> <p>"However, the other is that it also appears to be the case that younger adults today have a greater overall interest in kink than older adults, which may create greater openness to exploring and learning about one's kinks."</p> <p>The researchers hope that their findings will help shed new light on the evolution of sex, gender, sexuality and relationships. </p> <p>"Despite the longstanding tendency of humans to narrowly categorize sexuality and relationships, they have always existed on a continuum, and that continuum will only evolve and expand further as Gen Z and future generations continue their pursuit of sexual and relational self-discovery," they wrote. </p> <p>"The more that we can understand and embrace this simple fact of human life, the better suited we will all be to pursuing pleasure and happiness." </p> <p><em>Images: Shutterstock</em></p> <p> </p>

Relationships

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Boomers vs millennials? Free yourself from the phoney generation wars

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bobby-duffy-98570">Bobby Duffy</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/kings-college-london-1196">King's College London</a></em></p> <p>Generational thinking is a big idea that’s been horribly corrupted and devalued by endless myths and stereotypes. These clichés have fuelled fake battles between “snowflake” millennials and “selfish” baby boomers, with younger generations facing a “war on woke” and older generations accused of “stealing” the future from the young.</p> <p>As I argue in my book, <a href="https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/generations/">Generations</a>, this is a real shame. A more careful understanding of what’s really different between generations is one of the best tools we have to understand change – and predict the future.</p> <p>Some of the great names in sociology and philosophy saw understanding generational change as central to understanding society overall. <a href="http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Comte/Philosophy2.pdf">Auguste Comte</a>, for example, identified the generation as a key factor in “the basic speed of human development”.</p> <p>He argued that “we should not hide the fact that our social progress rests essentially upon death; which is to say that the successive steps of humanity necessarily require a continuous renovation … from one generation to the next”. We humans get set in our ways once we’re past our formative years, and we need the constant injection of new participants to keep society moving forward.</p> <p>Understanding whether, and how, generations are different is vital to understanding society. The balance between generations is constantly shifting, as older cohorts die out and are replaced by new entrants. If younger generations truly do have different attitudes or behaviours to older generations, this will reshape society, and we can, to some extent, predict how it will develop if we can identify those differences.</p> <p>But in place of this big thinking, today we get clickbait headlines and bad research on millennials “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-hate-napkins-2016-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">killing the napkin industry</a>” or on how baby boomers have “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/boomers-are-blame-aging-america/592336/">ruined everything</a>”. We’ve fallen a long way.</p> <h2>Myth busting</h2> <p>To see the true value of generational thinking, we need to identify and discard the many myths. For example, as I outline in the book, gen Z and millennials are not lazy at work or disloyal to their employers. They’re also no more materialistic than previous generations of young: a focus on being rich is something we tend to grow out of.</p> <p>Old people are not uncaring or unwilling to act on climate change: in fact, they are more likely than young people to boycott products for social purpose reasons.</p> <p>And our current generation of young are not a particularly unusual group of “culture warriors”. Young people are always at the leading edge of change in cultural norms, around race, immigration, sexuality and gender equality. The issues have changed, but the gap between young and old is not greater now than in the past.</p> <p>Meanwhile, there are real, and vitally important, generational differences hidden in this mess. To see them, we need to separate the three effects that explain all change in societies. Some patterns are simple “lifecycle effects”, where attitudes and behaviours are to do with our age, not which generation we are born into. Some are “period effects” – where everyone is affected, such as in a war, economic crisis or a pandemic.</p> <p>And finally, there are “cohort effects”, which is where a new generation is different from others at the same age, and they stay different. It’s impossible to entirely separate these distinct forces, but we can often get some way towards it – and when we do, we can predict the future in a much more meaningful way.</p> <p>There are many real generational differences, in vitally important areas of life. For example, the probability of you owning your own home is hugely affected by when you were born. Millennials are around half as likely to be a homeowner than generations born only a couple of decades earlier.</p> <p>There is also a real cohort effect in experience of mental health disorders, particularly among recent generations of young women. Our relationship with alcohol and likelihood of smoking is also tied to our cohort, with huge generational declines in very regular drinking and smoking. Each of these point to different futures, from increased strain on mental health services to declining alcohol sales.</p> <p>But lifecycle and period effects are vitally important too. For example, there is truth in the idea that we grow more conservative as we age. One analysis suggests that this ageing effect is worth around <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379413000875">0.35% to the Conservatives each year</a>, which may not sound like a lot, but is very valuable over the course of a political lifetime.</p> <p>And, of course, the pandemic provides a very powerful example of how period effects can dramatically change things for us all.</p> <h2>Reaching beyond the avocado</h2> <p>When there is such richness in the realities, why are there so many myths? It’s partly down to bad marketing and workplace research – that is, people jumping on the generation bandwagon to get media coverage for their products or to sell consultancy to businesses on how to engage young employees.</p> <p>This has become its own mini-industry. In 2015, US companies spent up to US$70 million (£51 million) on this sort of “advice” <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/helping-bosses-decode-millennialsfor-20-000-an-hour-1463505666">according to the Wall Street Journal</a>, with some experts making as much as US$20,000 an hour. Over 400 LinkedIn users now describe themselves solely as a “millennial expert” or “millennial consultant”.</p> <p>Campaigners and politicians also play to these imagined differences. Our increasing focus on “<a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/culture-wars-in-the-uk.pdf">culture wars</a>” often involves picking out particular incidents in universities, such as the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-45717841">banning of clapping</a> at events or the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-57409743">removal of a portrait of the Queen</a> to exaggerate how culturally different young people today are.</p> <p>Maybe less obviously, politicians such as former US President Barack Obama repeatedly lionise coming generations as more focused on equality, when the evidence shows they’re often not that different. These assertions are not only wrong, but create false expectations and divides.</p> <p>Some have had enough, calling on the Pew Research Center in the US, which has been a champion of generational groups, to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/07/generation-labels-mean-nothing-retire-them/&amp;data=04%257C01%257C">stop conducting this type of analysis</a>. I think that misses the point: it’s how it’s applied rather than the idea of generations that’s wrong.</p> <p>We should defend the big idea and call out the myths, not abandon the field to the “millennial consultants”.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167138/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bobby-duffy-98570">Bobby Duffy</a>, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/kings-college-london-1196">King's College London</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/boomers-vs-millennials-free-yourself-from-the-phoney-generation-wars-167138">original article</a>.</em></p>

Mind

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Passive-aggressive shop sign sparks furious debate online 

<p>Furious debate has erupted after a shop owner took aim at Gen Z workers in a brutal sign blaming them for their business having to close.</p> <p>The obviously frustrated owner shared in great detail why a pair of young former employees were the reason the doors had to close.</p> <p>“I apologise for us closing AGAIN,” the sign, erected on the front window of a store in Indiana, USA, on April the 20th, read.</p> <p>“My two new cashiers quit because I said their boyfriends couldn’t stand here for their entire shift.”</p> <p>They went further to include some questionable hiring advice for other business owners, telling them: “Don’t hire Gen Zs, they don’t know what work actually means”.</p> <p>Underneath, they announced the store was “now hiring”, but specified it would be employing “Baby Boomers only thanks”.</p> <p>The sign sparked backlash online, after it had been shared around online.</p> <p>With Hundreds of people responding in comments to the post, after it had attracted over 5000 reactions and had been shared over 300 times, some agreed Boomers made better workers than their younger counterparts, but others argued it was unfair to age discriminate.</p> <p>“A lot of the older people I’ve worked with refuse to do anything physically demanding due to having a ‘bad this’ and ‘my this hurts’ and if asked to do so they will whine and complain,” one wrote.</p> <p>“That's a pretty awful and ageist sign. I’m pretty young and I work 48 hours a week and never sit once while I’m on the clock. There are people who are young and hard working,” another said.</p> <p>Most respondents agreed that regardless of whether a certain generation had better workers, openly discriminating against Gen Zs was the wrong way to go.</p> <p>“I’m a boomer and I wouldn’t want to work at a place that excludes people because of their youth. Good workers can offer service with vitality and enthusiasm at any age,” one person wrote.</p> <p>Others agree the sign hadn’t done the store owner any publicity favours.</p> <p><em>Image: Facebook</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Boomers are thrifty shoppers and Aussies throw out more than we think

<p dir="ltr">Fast fashion has become the subject of much criticism lately, mostly because of its reliance on cruel (and often illegal) conditions for workers, and its enormous toll on the environment – including increases in clothing heading to landfill.</p> <p dir="ltr">A new report from Vanish has found that the average Australian buys 27kg of new clothes and discards 23kg every year, with the nation throwing away a whopping $6 billion worth in this past financial year.</p> <p dir="ltr">The report, called <em>Stain on the Nation</em>, asked Aussies about their clothing habits and their opinions on everything from whether you should throw clothes in the red bin or donate to charity, to how much waste they think they throw out each year.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6aeb0c8e-7fff-232b-0a92-b80ffc2b9a9b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">It found that 6,000kg of clothing enters landfill every ten minutes, which is a serious issue considering clothing takes years to break down and releases carbon emissions in the process.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb_UWlUPzX3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb_UWlUPzX3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by UPPAREL (@upparelofficial)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Much of the country (40 percent) also believe that Australia ranks 6th and 12th place in the world for textile consumption per person, when in actual fact we are in second place, behind the US.</p> <p dir="ltr">Surprisingly, the report also found that those aged over 55 were the thriftiest of the different generations, with 76 percent spending less than $50 a month on new clothes. </p> <p dir="ltr">In comparison, 71 percent of 18-25-year-olds spend more than $50 a month on clothing.</p> <p dir="ltr">But the difference in spending could be attributed in part to the gap between the old age pension and the cost of living, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealing that living costs have increased by 3.4 percent for age pension households, versus 2.6 percent for working households, according to the <em><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-03/what-the-rising-cost-of-living-means-on-australian-age-pension/100947258" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABC</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Following the report, Vanish announced a new campaign, with texticle upcycler Upparel, to divert one million clothing items from landfill over the next two years, starting with an installation of 3,000kg of clothing at Sydney’s Bondi Beach and in St Kilda, Melbourne.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-1ef36b88-7fff-3c73-f0b8-059c6c872baf"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">With 6,000kg across both cities, the installations are meant to represent the amount of clothing thrown away every 10 minutes.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Beauty & Style

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68% of millennials earn more than their parents, but boomers had it better

<p>A lot of us are pessimistic about our children’s future. According to the most recent data from the Pew Global Attitudes Survey (in 2019), just 29% of Australians believe today’s children will be <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/global/question-search/?qid=1625&amp;cntIDs=&amp;stdIDs=">better off financially</a> than their parents.</p> <p>Such pessimism is common in many developed nations. In Japan, just 13% believe children will be better off, in France 16%, in Britain 22%. Australians are still marginally less optimistic than Canadians (30%) and Americans (31%), and significantly less optimistic than Swedes (40%) and Germans (48%).</p> <p><a href="https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/research/journal-articles/working-paper-series/are-we-richer-than-our-parents-were-absolute-income-mobility-in-australia/">Our research shows</a> things aren’t as bad as many fear, with 68% of millennials (those born between 1981 and 1987 for our research) earning more income than their parents did at the same age. This is close to the highest percentage <a href="https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13456/trends-in-absolute-income-mobility-in-north-america-and-europe">among countries</a> for which estimates are available. The experience of gen-Xers (born from the early 1960s to late 1970s) has been similar.</p> <p>But it’s not all good news. That percentage is lower than the upward mobility enjoyed by baby boomers (born from 1946 to the early 1960s). For those born around 1950, 84% earned more at age 30-34 than their own parents did at the same age.</p> <p>There are two prime reasons for this decline in absolute mobility since the 1980s. Lower economic growth leading to average incomes growing more slowly; and growing income inequality.</p> <p><strong>How we did our research</strong></p> <p>The share of people whose income is higher than their parents at the same age is known as “absolute income mobility”. It is an appealing indicator of economic progress because it captures aspirations for our children. It reflects economic growth, inequality and opportunity.</p> <p>Estimating absolute mobility, though, is quite hard. The data we need to measure it directly – information about what people earned at a particular age compared to their own parents – does not exist for Australia.</p> <p>To do this exercise, therefore, we’ve applied <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6336/398">new statistical methods</a> that have been developed in recent years to estimate absolute mobility without linked parent-child data. These methods, using separate generational data on income distribution, have been verified in research published <a href="https://4a2bc32e-a967-44a4-9e23-f2b3b9cf578e.usrfiles.com/ugd/4a2bc3_10d644c7d36c42eba03136cca93e56fc.pdf">in 2018</a> and <a href="https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/13456/trends-in-absolute-income-mobility-in-north-america-and-europe">in 2020</a>.</p> <p>Our own approach closely follows leading international studies. We used sources of data including the Melbourne Institute’s Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, data from Australian Bureau of Statistics surveys and income tax records.</p> <p><strong>What our research shows</strong></p> <p>The main results are below. Of people born in 1950, 84% had higher household incomes than their parents. This fell to about 68% for those born since the early 1960s. It has stayed roughly constant for gen-Xers and millennials.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="CxoOP" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/CxoOP/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>The main driver of this change is slower economic growth. Boomers’ incomes were much higher than their parents particularly due to decades of uninterrupted economic growth from World War II to the mid-1970s.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="qjHQt" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qjHQt/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>The other driver has been rising income inequality over the past 40 years, after falling in earlier decades, as the next chart shows. The relationship between inequality and mobility is complicated, because high inequality for either generation lowers the rate of mobility.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="8bQEW" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8bQEW/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none;" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>Absolute mobility would be higher if income was adjusted for family size – 78% for millennials, because the younger generation have smaller families than their parents did at the same age.</p> <p><strong>Complicating factors</strong></p> <p>Our results are for income earned in a single year (at about age 32). We have also found similar results when looking at income at around age 37.</p> <p>Ideally, we’d like to calculate absolute mobility of lifetime income. But methods to do this have not yet been developed. So we don’t know what mobility in lifetime income is. The same could be said for indicators of income inequality, which mostly use single-year income measures as well.</p> <p>You also might be wondering about how the cost of housing fits in – an important issue given the escalating cost of a home compared to the median wage.</p> <p>In all the results shown, income is adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. Housing is a big part of the index though costs such as the price of land and mortgage interest payments are <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/6467.0Feature+Article1Mar+2017">not included</a>.</p> <p>The ABS does factor mortgage debts into its “Selected Living Cost Indices”, but these only go back to 1998, so couldn’t be used in these calculations. However, the changes in the CPI and the SLCI over the past 20 years are similar, which gives us some assurance our estimates account for the cost of housing. Further work could explore this in more detail.</p> <p><strong>Valid concerns</strong></p> <p>Australia has achieved high levels of absolute income mobility for all generations since at least the 1950s. This is still the case. But the pessimism about our children’s financial future is rooted in some valid concerns.</p> <p>Wage growth has been <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2017/mar/2.html">slow for years</a>. Income inequality has been <a href="https://wid.world/country/australia/">increasing for decades</a>. So has the gap <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/generation-gap/">between young and old</a>.</p> <p>So there are clear threats for the prosperity of today’s children – even without factoring in concerns such as climate change.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161647/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-siminski-250958">Peter Siminski</a>, Professor of Economics, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/68-of-millennials-earn-more-than-their-parents-but-boomers-had-it-better-161647" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>

Retirement Income

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New research shows baby boomers are less threatened by technology in the workplace

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">New research commissioned by technology leader </span><a href="http://links.erelease.com.au/wf/click?upn=5eYQ-2B9hvLjY4F2EakWBi1ZLO7jaULuWnZBmbjF1-2FN2Awx-2F-2FA9sj0-2BQL-2BinGrP-2BrI_hfIqhjxrH5PXl2rHT1sLDTWyF1R6hGp8veDS2OqJRfJ2gqdnaHEljBkVvra9aGlx4VjSVUbKFpLRdZf3fB2LscCpfNHBZj472Ly9XaNbOKGSrO9w0nJWn8lTtojc5Iz41jlOpJCekIRYEVTulwB977Q2DlfgspDP1rDMixltb-2FDHmXx8SrNCmjiIToeB0EoXDNalY9E7KRn64YmdzVzUef-2B6t6bZP3-2FzMJbnfRI54eK0ZKR120HaEiYqQz5nWbnR"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Genesys</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> has shown that older generations are significantly more positive towards artificial technology in Australia and New Zealand.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The new research also suggested that older generations are more comfortable with the implementation of modern workforce tools as opposed to younger respondents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">70 per cent of respondents aged 18-38 years believe there should be a minimum requirement of human employees over AI/bots compared to 59 per cent of respondents aged 55-73 years. The younger respondents appear to be more cautious of the implementation of this technology compared to more senior respondents.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">All age demographics have reported seeing the benefit of advanced technology in the workplace, with an average of 87 per cent stating that it has a positive impact.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, 23 per cent of respondents aged 18 – 38 reported feeling threatened by new technology in the workplace. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gwilym Funnell, Vice President of Sales and Managing Director for Genesys in Australia and New Zealand said, “Older generations are valuable members of our workplace, and these results dispel the myth that they are averse to technology. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The evolution of business is calling for greater adaptability; this is when experience can be leveraged for greater success.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The survey also uncovered another key difference between the generations, which was the perception of the impact of technology on social interactions.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">44% of respondents aged 55-73 years report technology does not inhibit social interactions at all, while those aged 18-38 years report it does – 7% more than their older peers.</span></p>

Technology

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Meet the baby boomer backpackers seeing the world on a shoestring budget

<p>Travelling through Turkey in an old VW in the 1980s, Wendy Clark, her husband David and their two travel buddies were treated to an impromptu concert by a woman they had no idea at the time would inspire their future travels.  </p> <p>The couple were in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, the ruins of which lie near the modern village of Selcuk in western Turkey, when a solo traveller they had recently met - a widowed Australian in her seventies - took centre stage at the 25,000-seater amphitheatre which had once hosted gladiator fights and philosophical debates and began to sing.</p> <p>"She had a beautiful singing voice and she stood and gave us a concert," Wendy, who now lives in Queenstown, says. "I've never forgotten that. I just always thought what a fantastic attitude that was. She was completely at large, she was doing all these wonderful things and she wasn't letting age stop her."</p> <p>Wendy and David, in their early twenties at the time, were on an OE typical of Kiwis at the time: working "black" [illegally] for six months at a time in London to save for jaunts through Europe. Back then, Turkey was far from the tourist magnet it is today. Oscar-winning film Midnight Express - a 1978 prison epic about a young American tourist tortured in an Istanbul prison after being discovered with hash at the airport - had virtually killed the Turkish tourism industry overnight. The Australian widow aside, Wendy and David, originally from Invercargill, had seen few other tourists in their time there. But adventurous travel on the cheap was their jam.</p> <p>"I remember a Contiki bus coming into the campground one day," Wendy says. "We looked completely down our noses at that. What we were doing was very spontaneous."</p> <p>More than three decades on their travel ethos remains largely unchanged. With their children now grown, Wendy and David, aged 56 and 62 respectively, are relishing being able to travel overseas again. And, like a growing number of baby boomers and older travellers, are choosing to stay in budget accommodation such as backpackers and homestays and use cheaper forms of transport.</p> <p>A 2018 study by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://booking.com/" target="_blank">Booking.com</a></strong></span> of 20,000 travellers around the globe, including 500 New Zealanders, found that 20 per cent of baby boomers - often defined as those born between 1946 and 1964 - are planning a trip involving backpacking. While 35 per cent of baby boomer respondents said they regretted not having travelled more when they were younger, others, such as Wendy and David, think that spending less on accommodation will enable them to spend more time overseas and see more. Just as baby boomers made backpacking through Europe a rite of passage, they are now rewriting the rules of mature travel and retirement.</p> <p>Joshua Nu'u-Steele, Booking.com's New Zealand area manager, said many baby boomer backpackers are making up for lost time, while realising there's only so much time left.</p> <p>"A lot of that age group haven't had the opportunity to travel yet and want to do it while they still can."</p> <p>Like younger travellers, Joshua says they are seeking unique experiences and, while often more affluent than younger backpackers, are open to "alternative accommodation".</p> <p>Charli Bateson, product and marketing manager with Jucy Group, which runs hostels in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch as well as hires out vehicles, thinks the relative ease and affordability of international travel these days is prompting more baby boomers to give backpacking a go. Millennials, she says, are also "re-educating" them about what modern backpacking entails.</p> <p>"Most hostels now have en-suite rooms as well as dorms, just not all the five-star facilities. With the more adventurous older travellers especially, they would rather spend their money on travelling and activities than a room they'll probably only spend a few hours in."   </p> <p>Wendy and David returned to New Zealand in the mid 80s after three years in Europe to find Queenstown in the midst of a building boom.  </p> <p>"We got swept up in it and never left," Wendy says. "We built a house and then another house and had a family so there was no money for travelling. There's a conception that baby boomers have had it all handed to them but we did work incredibly hard - six to seven days a week. Everything we did, we did ourselves."</p> <p>They both still work - Wendy as a creative writing teacher and David as a museum director - and, when they do get time to travel, prefer to spend their money on activities and food than accommodation.</p> <p>"I always think it's a complete waste spending money on accommodation," Wendy says. "I could sleep under a tree but the husband is not so keen."</p> <p>On a five-week trip to Cambodia and Vietnam four years ago, which Wendy describes as "just astounding", they slept in some very basic accommodation.</p> <p>"In Cambodia, we stayed on an island in little huts. Most of the other people there were way younger but it didn't matter. I just love talking to people about their lives."</p> <p>In Vietnam, the couple took a train to Sapa which Wendy says was like something out of the Cold War, sharing a compartment with a young couple on their honeymoon ("poor folks"), before joining a guided trek, staying with members of local hill tribes.</p> <p>"It was muddy, dirty, wet and hot," Wendy says. "The oven was a hole in the floor - it was incredibly basic. I can't imagine a lot of people my age would want to do it but I loved every minute of it."</p> <p>The couple spent their money on visiting attractions such as Angkor Wat, museums and eating everything they had been told not to at street food stalls. Invited out to dinner one night by fellow westerners, they were disappointed to discover the menu was Europeanised.</p> <p>"We asked if they had tried street food and they said "oh no, you'll get sick". I kind of felt a bit sad for them."</p> <p>The couple are now planning a four-month trip to Europe, intending to stay at backpacker accommodation and "call on a few favours" with friends who have stayed with them in Queenstown to keep costs down. They will be travelling with backpacks small enough to take as carry-on luggage on the plane and cooking at their hostels so they can eat as the locals do.</p> <p>At this stage, they think they will begin in Belgium in France, where they will visit WWI and II battlefields, and then travel to Scotland (Wendy has become more interested in exploring her Scottish heritage as she gets older), England, Ireland and perhaps Croatia and Poland.  </p> <p>In some ways, backpacking is less risque than it was back in the 80s, Wendy says.</p> <p>"We use websites to see what's popular and, with reviews, there's a lot less chance of ending up somewhere with bed bugs. In New York [in the 80s], we stayed in a youth hostel that turned out to be the most horrifying place - the rooms were smaller than cells and it was full of prostitutes."</p> <p>As frequent caravanners, Wendy says she and David have no qualms about backpacking.</p> <p>"I just enjoy the energy of young people. If we're in a hostel or backpackers, being among younger people I find it fantastic."</p> <p>Barbara Iverson, a 79-year-old Aucklander, is another whose fond memories of staying in hostels in her younger years prompted her to reconsider it as a more mature traveller.</p> <p>A keen rower for about 50 years, Barbara had always wanted to visit Lake Bled in Slovenia which, in rowing circles is just as renowned for its international regattas as its photogenic church on an islet.</p> <p>Barbara was in town for the World Rowing Masters Regatta last December, an event she has competed in herself in the past, and decided the local hostel "was the best way to go" because of its reasonable prices and close proximity to the lake.</p> <p>Arriving to find she was staying on the top floor, Barbara says she "had to bribe a young rower" to carry up her suitcase, but other than that, had a "very comfortable" experience.</p> <p>"There was a little alcove that looked over the castle. The view was just magical."</p> <p>Barbara says there was a variety of people staying at the hostel, of a variety of ages, and that everyone was "very helpful". While a few of the rower guests liked to party, she said most were keen to get to bed early after a long day on the lake.</p> <p>"It was easy to make your meals and the bathroom was good. You just had to be respectful of other people."</p> <p>Barbara says she would recommend staying at hostels and using cheaper forms of transport to "more relaxed" older travellers, provided they're prepared to "expect the unexpected".</p> <p>"But if things are not right or you need a favour, don't hesitate to ask," she advises.</p> <p>With an aging global population and technology making international travel easier and cheaper than ever before, the baby boomer backpacking trend looks set to continue.</p> <p>To Wendy, this comes as little surprise.</p> <p>"I think they grey tsunami are very fit and active and they've worked hard and now they want to play hard," she says.</p> <p><em>Written by Lorna Thornber. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz.</span></strong></a></em></p>

International Travel

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Four myths about baby boomers that just aren’t true

<p>After reading some of the comments recently about the young generation's perception of baby boomers I feel I have to state my case.</p> <p><strong>Myth 1: Baby boomers were able to manage to live on one wage</strong></p> <p>Baby boomers, of which I am certainly one, did not stay home en-masse like some believe. I spent the 70s and 80s working with hundreds of other young mums out there working to get by.</p> <p><strong>Myth 2: Education was free</strong></p> <p>Unless my parents lied to me, sorry, but I had to leave school at 15 simply because my parents could not afford to keep me at school. University was a dream and back then you actually had to pass your university entrance exam to get in.</p> <p><strong>Myth 3: Housing was cheaper and there was government assistance to get your own home</strong></p> <p>There was a scheme available that enabled families to cash in their Family Benefit (the princely sum of $3 per week per child) if they built a new home. This was stopped just before baby boomers were able to access it. Baby boomers' parents were the generation to get this, as well as a 3 per cent loan for life.</p> <p>Housing was and still is extremely expensive relative to income. There was no easy ride for baby boomers. If they didn't qualify for state advances loans they had to save with a bank for three years with a special housing account to prove they could afford to buy a home.</p> <p>That home would be a modest three-bedroom, one-bathroom house with no garage, no fence, no drive, carpet, vinyl or drapes, and would be lucky to be 100 square metres. That would have been considered a huge home.</p> <p><strong>Myth 4: Goods and food were much cheaper</strong></p> <p>Rubbish. Food was expensive. Mince and sausages were the staple diet of many baby-boomer families.</p> <p>A new car? Most could only afford a secondhand car. You had to have a 50 per cent deposit to buy what were pretty rubbish cars, costing a fortune in repair bills.</p> <p>Televisions, clothing, furniture, all goods that we now can access for relatively little money, cost a small fortune back then.</p> <p>I would love to read a post from the few baby boomers out there that actually did get all the advantages the younger people seem to think we all had.</p> <p>I know there are a few, but most baby boomers did nothing wrong. They went to work, they supported their families, they lived through the oil shocks of the 70s, and the restructuring and many redundancies of the 80s and 90s.</p> <p>Yet the younger generation seems to think we had it all. I wish.</p> <p>We had to work, we had no subsidised childcare, maternity leave (paid or otherwise), no Working for Families, no interest-free student loans and we certainly did not have low interest rates on our mortgages.</p> <p>Now that we are reaching our sunset years, once again the younger generation seems to think we should work even longer, whether we can physically cope or not.</p> <p>Why is the younger generation so selfish? They seem to think that they are entitled to as much government/taxpayer money as possible.</p> <p>If we work, we're taking jobs off the young. If we don't work, we're a drain on society. We just can't win.</p> <p>I am sick to death of having to justify my existence to a generation that is under the impression that they are so hard done by.</p> <p>Do you agree that the younger generation has an attitude problem? Let us know in the comments below.</p> <p><em>Written by Sue O’Neill. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>. </em></p>

Retirement Income

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New modelling agency for baby boomers

<p>Gone are the days where the only people you’d expect to see on the catwalk are 20-something stick figures. Silverfox Management is the new modelling agency that is changing the face of fashion, representing senior models and promoting age positive fashion.</p> <p>Headed up by former model Brigitte Warne, Silverfox Management exclusively represents models with grey hair, wrinkles and a strong sense of individual style.</p> <p>Warne told Fairfax Media, “When consumers are presented with models or people they see as similar to them it increases their intent to purchase 170 per cent. There's a seemingly insatiable appetite for retailers to grow millennial appeal, while older consumers are largely ignored. Baby Boomers are 25 per cent of our population here in Australia, and these older consumers are now more style aware and have more spending power than ever before.”</p> <p>Silverfox Management officially launched last week and now represents 55 models. The only requirement is being between older than 30 and having confidence.</p> <p>Warne added, “We've seen the body positive movement become mainstream, the age positive movement is next.”</p> <p>What do you think of this development? Could you see yourself giving modelling a go? Let us know in the comments section below, we’d love to hear from you.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Facebook / SAINT Magazine</em></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/08/helpless-dogs-that-had-their-bed-stolen-by-the-cat/"><em>12 helpless dogs that had their bed stolen by the cat</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/news/news/2016/05/10-puppies-who-look-adorable-sleeping/"><em>10 puppies who look adorable sleeping</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/03/top-10-favourite-cat-sleeping-positions/"><em>Top 10 favourite cat sleeping positions</em></a></strong></span></p>

News

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I went from an empty nest to a home that was packed to the rafters

<p class="default"><em><strong>Johanna Castro is a food and wine loving baby boomer who likes to keep fit and healthy. She loves sharing conversations with women over 50 and writes <a href="http://www.lifestylefifty.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Lifestyle Fifty</span></a> to empower women to live the good life as they get older.</strong></em> </p> <p class="default">It’s the day every mother grows to dread. The one where her last child ups and offs to their respective independent lives and worldly freedom.Of course it’s the day we’ve been preparing them for since they popped into the world, but the day of reckoning brings with it immense change.</p> <p class="default">Not so long ago I was writing heart-wrenching posts about our nest being empty and how awful it felt; at worst, like the end of the world had come, or at best it felt as if I was missing a vital part, like a limb. I’d wander in and out of empty rooms which echoed with the ghost like sounds of ghastly music, and pathetically I’d longingly touch and smell any garments still hanging in the wardrobes.</p> <p class="default">What I didn't expect was for either of them to return, nor did I think about how that would be, and at the end of this piece are my few words of (hopeful) wisdom if it happens to you too.</p> <p class="default"><strong>My story</strong></p> <p class="default">We have two children, 24 and 26 years old and their various leavings have been spread over quite some years.I'm pretty sure that a wrinkle or two on my husband’s forehead magically disappeared as the second child pulled her overstuffed suitcase out of the door and into the car to head off for uni, while the first one was happily in a loving relationship and living in a house of his own.</p> <p class="default">They were happy. They loved, they were loved, they worked, they travelled, and then one came back seeking sanctuary.</p> <p class="default">Was it a doomed love affair? Was it bankruptcy? Refugee status? Financial crisis? Noooo. Not a serious crisis, nothing radical – thank goodness.And no reasonable parent can refuse their child shelter from the storm, can they?</p> <p class="default"><strong>The not-so empty nest</strong></p> <p class="default">As one who enjoys my grown-up children as much as the feisty five year olds they once were, it was an easy decision.So of course the overstuffed rucksack found its way back up the stairs.</p> <p class="default">I think back to my own childhood, when Dad made it very clear that at 18 I was meant to be out of the house and earning my own crust of bread. I took off with gay abandon heading for the shores of Belgium to work as a groom, misguidedly assuming that within a few weeks my employers would see what a truly great rider I was and I’d be whisked off to international events jockeying their Grade A show jumpers.</p> <p class="default">From there on I was going to be rich and famous. I was never-ever going to return to the clutches of parental economies or sanction.</p> <p class="default">Little did I know.</p> <p class="default">I brushed and walked horses from daylight to sundown until my arms were lean and my legs were taut but much to my chagrin I barely got to ride the horses.</p> <p class="default">I didn’t exactly beg for sanctuary but I packaged up my tearful diaries (which probably included fabricated tales of being whipped and chivvied and made to muck out for at least 10 hours a day) into brown paper envelopes which were posted back to Mum and Dad for the book I would write one day (never happened). </p> <p class="default">Doing this was of course more as salve for my beating soul, to get it off my chest, and I’m a dramatist at heart let’s face it. Let no morsel of truth get in the way of a good story and all that.</p> <p class="default">Within a fairly quick space of time my parents jettisoned their planned itinerary of an extended trip through France and one dark starry night knocked on the door of my digs in Belgium and urged me to pack. Into the back of the car I went, muddy jodhpur boots and all. I was taken back to Mum and Dad's newly childless flat, and child numero uno with its lingering smell of horse, and unmistakable aura of misery and failure, suddenly bolstered-up their empty nest and packed their small living space to the rafters - bringing with it lashings of young adult misunderstanding and clouds of woe.</p> <p class="default">So that was it. Fame as a world renowned equine star had eluded me, and truth be known I was granted a reprieve in the game of life because this step would be the first on my journey to meet the love of my life (who didn't live in Belgium).</p> <p class="default"><strong>Hold your horses!</strong></p> <p class="default">I think if you suffer from empty-nest syndrome you shouldn’t turn to filling your time with amateur dramatics, learning to ride, or learning French in preparation for a move to France, for instance. Certainly don’t be too quick to turn the spare room into a study, because those children who have flown from parental clucking - and who for the time being have their own postcode – may well, in the not too distant future, be flying back to yours.</p> <p class="default">So don't be too startled if one day you hear the sound of a grown-up child’s footsteps marching towards your front door, and try not to smile with too much glee at the prodigal's return.</p> <p class="default"><strong>How to cope with boomerang kids</strong></p> <p class="default">1. Offer empathy, not pity – they are probably not feeling triumphant about returning home, so don't fuel their feelings of failure, but rather empathise and talk about their future.</p> <p class="default">2. Discuss what the ground rules for co-habitation will be – will they pay a small rent, what household tasks might they be expected to help with?</p> <p class="default">3. Don't nag and don't offer unsolicited advice. Remember they are young adults with their own tastes and outlook.</p> <p class="default">4. Do offer advice if asked – but don't lecture.</p> <p class="default">5. Enjoy the energy and new perspectives they bring back into the home. Think new music, new opinions, new fashion sense, and new friends.</p> <p class="default">6. I believe your children are only lent to you for a little while – take every advantage of having them to yourself again.</p> <p><em>This article first appeared on <strong><a href="http://www.lifestylefifty.com/" target="_blank">J<span style="text-decoration: underline;">ohanna Castro’s blog Lifestyle Fifty</span></a>.</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>If you have a story to share please get in touch with melody@oversixty.com.au </strong></em></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/04/are-the-lives-of-children-today-too-hectic/"><em>Are the lives of children today too hectic?</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/04/dont-praise-clever-kids-and-celebrating-effort/"><em>Why we shouldn’t praise clever kids and start celebrating effort</em></a></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/03/kids-getting-meaner/"><em>Are our kids getting meaner?</em></a></strong></span></p>

Family & Pets

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60% of grandparents say life is better now

<p>It seems the age old saying “back in the good days” is no longer ringing true for the older generation. A new survey shows that baby boomers are no longer nostalgic about the past, with six in 10 grandparents saying their quality of life was better than their parents’ generation, and that the benefits of modern life has improved their lives overall.  </p> <p>The survey of 1,200 British grandparents by Retirement Move found the internet, cheap travel, cars, television and healthcare are among the modern development that make life better. Nearly 80 per cent said that online shopping, online banking, and the many ways of online communication with friends and family had greatly benefited their lives. The top technologies grandparents said they were glad to have these days included email, digital cameras and Google.</p> <p>However, while the majority of boomers say life has improved since their youth there are a few things that were still better in the “good old days”. Things like telemarketing calls, junk mail and bad manners have gone downhill in modern times.</p> <p>Richard Drew, CEO of Retirement Move, said, “Grandparents don't seem to want to turn back time. The results suggest there's never been a greater time to be retired.</p> <p>“They also show the perception older people think everything used to be better isn't true. Retirement may have been approached with a little trepidation in the past, but now it's rightfully something to look forward to thanks in part to advances in technology, healthcare and more.”</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/12/life-lessons-from-grandparents/">Top 10 life lessons kids learn from grandparents</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/grandparents-make-grandchildren-happy-study/"><strong>Why the grandparent grandchild relationship is important for happiness</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/dogs-with-no-concept-of-personal-space/"><strong>These dogs have no concept of personal space</strong></a></em></span></p> <p> </p>

Family & Pets

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Baby boomers are delaying retirement

<p>Whether you’re counting down the days till retirement or still on the fence as to when the big day will be, chances are good you’ve spent plenty of time thinking about how you’ll manage financially once you’re no longer clocking up the weekly hours. With the rising cost of living, more and more baby boomers are choosing to extend their working life with a 10 per cent jump from 2008 (45 per cent) to 2015 (55 per cent) of 60 to 64 years olds remaining in full and part time employment. The over-65s still in employment has also grown.</p> <p>While cost of living is one factor, the other is thought to be the surprisingly big impact remaining in the work force for a couple of extra years has on retirement income, even for those working part time or in a job share situation.</p> <p>Working for longer boosts retirement income in two ways:</p> <ul> <li>It allows you to save a larger overall sum of money i.e. by giving you the capability to contribute more to your super.</li> <li>It spreads the spending of your savings over lesser years in total.</li> </ul> <p>A hypothetical example compares someone retiring at 60 versus the same person retiring at 62. With average super savings, retiring at 60 would lead to an income stream of about $32,000 a year. Working two extra years increases this to around $34,600.</p> <p>While not everyone wants to or physically can work longer, it’s something worth considering if you’re still enjoying your work and are capable of continuing, even on a part time basis, for a little while longer.</p>

Money & Banking