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Loyalty programs may limit competition, and they could be pushing prices up for everyone

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alexandru-nichifor-1342216">Alexandru Nichifor</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-duke-kominers-1494057">Scott Duke Kominers</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/harvard-university-1306">Harvard University</a> Loyalty programs enable firms to offer significantly lower prices to some of their customers. You’d think this would encourage strong competition. But that isn’t always what actually happens. <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4377561">New research</a> shows that paradoxically, by changing the way companies target customers, loyalty programs can sometimes reduce price competition. The research also points to solutions. <h2>A win-win proposition?</h2> Joining a loyalty program is supposed to be a win-win. You – the customer – get to enjoy perks and discounts, while the company gains useful commercial insights and builds brand allegiance. For example, a hotel chain loyalty program might reward travellers for frequent stays, with points redeemable for future bookings, upgrades or other benefits. The hotel chain, in turn, records and analyses how you spend money and encourages you to stay with them again. Such programs are commonplace across many industries – appearing everywhere from travel and accommodation to supermarket or petrol retailing. But they are increasingly coming under scrutiny. In 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/customer-loyalty-schemes-final-report">cautioned</a> consumers about the sheer volume of personal data collected when participating in a loyalty program, and what companies can do with it. Hidden costs – such as having to pay a redemption fee on rewards or losing benefits when points expire – are another way these schemes can harm consumers. But a larger question – how loyalty programs impact consumers overall – remains difficult to settle, because their effect on competitiveness is unclear. As the ACCC’s <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/customer-loyalty-schemes-final-report">final report</a> notes, on the one hand: "Loyalty schemes can have pro-competitive effects and intensify competition between rivals leading to competing loyalty discounts and lower prices for consumers." But on the other hand: "Loyalty schemes can also reduce the flexibility of consumers’ buying patterns and responsiveness to competing offers, which may reduce competition." <h2>How a two-speed price system can hurt everyone</h2> A new economic theory research <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4377561">working paper</a>, coauthored by one of us (Kominers), suggests that on competitive grounds alone, loyalty programs can sometimes harm all consumers – both ordinary shoppers and the program’s own members. It’s easy to see how the ordinary shopper can be worse off. Since a firm’s loyalty program enables it to offer discounted prices to its members, the firm can raise the base prices it offers to everyone else. Those not participating in the program pay more than they otherwise would have, and the firm can respond by saying “join our program!” instead of having to lower its price. But sometimes, even the program’s own members can end up worse off. When a given customer’s loyalty status is not visible to a firm’s competitors – as is the case in many loyalty programs today – it’s hard for those competitors to identify them and entice them to switch. The main way to compete for those customers becomes to lower the base price for everyone, but this means missing out on the high base margins achieved through the existence of your own loyalty program – remember, having a loyalty program means you can charge non-members more. It’s often more profitable for firms to just maintain high base prices. This, in turn, reduces overall price competition for loyal customers, so firms can raise prices for them, too. <h2>What’s the solution?</h2> Despite these effects on competition, loyalty programs still offer benefits for consumers and an opportunity for brands to form closer relationships with them. So, how do we preserve these benefits while enabling price competition? The research suggests an answer: making a customer’s loyalty status verifiable, transparent and portable across firms. This would make it possible for firms to tailor offers for their competitors’ loyal customers. This is already happening in the market for retail electricity. While there aren’t loyalty programs there per se, a consumer’s energy consumption profile, which could be used by a competitor to calibrate a personalised offer, is known only to their current electricity supplier. To address this, in 2015, the Victorian government launched a <a href="https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au">program</a> encouraging households to compare energy offers. This process involved first revealing a customer’s energy consumption profile to the market, and then asking retailers to compete via personalised offers. By opening information that might have otherwise been hidden to the broader market, this approach enabled firms to compete for each other’s top customers, in a way that could be emulated for loyalty programs. Such systems in the private sector could build upon “<a href="https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airline-status-matches-challenges/">status match</a>” policies at airlines. These allow direct transfer of loyalty status, but currently rely on a lengthy, individual-level verification process. For example, a design paradigm known as “<a href="https://hbr.org/2022/05/what-is-web3">Web3</a>” – where customer transactions and loyalty statuses are recorded on public, shared blockchain ledgers – offers a way to make loyalty transparent across the market. This would enable an enhanced, decentralised version of status match: a firm could use blockchain records to verifiably identify who its competitors’ loyal customers are, and directly incentivise them to switch. Both startups and established firms have experimented with building such systems. <h2>What next?</h2> New academic research helps us model and better understand when loyalty programs could be weakening supply side competition and undermining consumer welfare. A neat universal solution may prove elusive. But targeted government or industry interventions – centred on increasing the transparency of a customer’s loyalty status and letting them move it between firms – could help level the playing field between firms and consumers.<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/220669/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/alexandru-nichifor-1342216">Alexandru Nichifor</a>, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-duke-kominers-1494057">Scott Duke Kominers</a>, Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/harvard-university-1306">Harvard University</a> Image credits: Getty Images 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/loyalty-programs-may-limit-competition-and-they-could-be-pushing-prices-up-for-everyone-220669">original article</a>.

Money & Banking

Kate Middleton flexes her competitive side against Prince William

Prince William and Kate Middleton have gone head to head in a seemingly friendly competition as the royal couple attended a spin class in South Wales. The Prince and Princess of Wales took each other on in a 45-second spin class sprint at the Aberavon Leisure and Fitness Centre in Port Talbot, with Kate leaving her husband in the metaphorical dust. Much to her surprise, the princess took out the title in the "Tour de Aberavon" and was handed a little gold cup, which she looked at proudly. Kate's win was made even more impressive as she competed while wearing a black-and-white houndstooth-print skirt, which was paired with Gianvito Rossi suede boots with a 10-centimetre heel. For the competition, Prince William was dressed in a navy suit and suede lace-up shoes for the series of engagements the couple made on the trip ahead of St David's Day – a day celebrating the nation's patron saint. The virtual race was themed to be an uphill ride through the Italian mountains, as Prince William told others in the room, "Sorry for ruining your spin class." As he climbed on the stationary bike, the royal realised his wife's shoes, pointing out, "You have got high heels on". Kate agreed, saying, "Not sure I am dressed for this." However, once on her bike the mum-of-three was seen adjusting the gears, asking as she laughed, "Can I make it harder?" Kate was visibly catching her breath at the end of the race, while Prince William gasped for air. "Talk to you in a minute," he joked to the class. The competitive dad-of-three, who has regularly been spotted cycling with his kids near their Norfolk home, had everyone laughing soon after. "I think I tore my pants!" he said. The couple visited the fitness centre to hear about how the facility was helping the local community with mental health through exercise. Image credits: Getty Images

Beauty & Style

Stunning finalists’ images for photography competition revealed

The phenomenal images from the finalists of the prestigious Weather Photographer of the Year have been revealed. Photographers from 119 countries submitted their stunning images which range from dramatic storms, frozen and frosty vistas, spectacular sunsets, impacts of climate change and curious weather phenomena. The talented professionals and amateur photographers were able to capture spectacular landscapes which are affected differently depending on the weather. Professor Liz Bentley, Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) said the competition is an exciting opportunity to explore never before seen moments. “I am always amazed by something new, something I haven’t seen before, or a new angle that reignites my passion for discussing the weather,” she said. “As the competition has grown over the past seven years, it has allowed us to create a platform where more stories can be told about the majesty and awe of the world’s weather and witness scenes of the impacts of climate change, which can help to prompt action.” Members of the public will be able to vote for their favourite photograph with the winners expected to be announced on October 6. Check out some of the exciting photos below. Images: RMetS

International Travel

Men are just more competitive? Science says it’s not that simple

When trying to understand America’s persistent gender wage gap, researchers have in the past decade suggested that women are less competitive than men, and are therefore passed over for higher-ranking roles. But a new study from the University of Arizona shows it’s probably not that simple; in fact, women are just as likely to enter into a competition as men – but only when there’s the option to share their winnings with the losers. The <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111943118" target="_blank">study</a>, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by Mary Rigdon from the University of Arizona’s Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, in cooperation with Alessandra Cassar, a professor of economics at the University of San Francisco. Gender wage gap persists In 2021, women will earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by men, says Rigdon. This means women work nearly three months more to receive the same amount of pay as men. When these results are adjusted to cover age, experience, and level of education, women still earn about 98 cents on the male dollar – in other words, an equally qualified woman is paid 2% less than her male counterparts. Economists have considered a few possible explanations for this, Rigdon says. One theory, known as the “human capital explanation”, suggests that there are gender differences in certain skills, leading women to careers that pay less. Another theory – perhaps the most widely considered – is patent discrimination. The researchers decided to test the other prevailing theory – the competitiveness theory – because they reasoned that if women were so reluctant to compete, they would occupy fewer high-ranking positions at the top of major companies, a trend that is not represented in the growing presence of women in leadership roles. “We thought it must be the case that women are as competitive as men, but they just exhibit it differently, so we wanted to try to get at that story and demonstrate that that is the case,” Rigdon says. “Because that’s then a very different story about the gender wage gap.” Testing a troublesome theory Rigdon and Cassar randomly assigned 238 participants – split nearly evenly by gender – to two different groups for the study. Participants in each of the two groups were then assigned to four-person subgroups. For all participants, the first round of the study was the same: each was asked to look at tables of 12 three-digit numbers with two decimal places and find the two numbers that add to 10. Participants were asked to solve as many tables as possible – up to 20 – in two minutes. Each participant was paid $2 for every table they solved in the first round. In round two, participants were asked to do the same task, but the two groups were incentivized differently. In the first group, the two participants in each four-person team who solved the most tables earned $4 per table solved, while their other two team members were given nothing. In the other group, the top two performers of each four-person team also earned $4 per table, but they had the right to decide how much of the prize money to share with one of the lower performing participants. In the third round, all participants were allowed to choose which payment scheme they preferred from the two previous rounds. For half the study participants, this meant a choice between a guaranteed $2 per correct table, or potentially $4 per correct table if they became one of the top two performers in their four-person subgroup. For the other half of the participants, the choice was $2 per correct table, or $4 per correct table for the top-two performers with the option to share the winnings with one of the losing participants. The number of women who chose the competitive option nearly doubled when given the option to share their winnings; about 60% chose to compete under that option, while only about 35% chose to compete in the winner-take-all version of the tournament. About 51% of men in the study chose the winner-take-all option, and 52.5% chose the format that allowed for sharing with the losers. While the sample size is relatively small, the results deserve attention. Rigdon and Cassar have a few theories about why women might be more inclined to compete when the winnings are shared. One suggests that female participants are interested in controlling the way winnings are divvied up; another, popular among evolutionary psychologists, is that female participants may be inclined to smooth over bad feelings in a group setting. Yet the answer may lie less in biology and more in socialisation, perhaps that women are encouraged from a young age to be “nice=”: at this point, the jury’s still out. “We really have to ask what it is about this social incentive that drives women to compete,” Rigdon says. “We think it’s recognising the different costs and benefits that come from your different biological and cultural constraints. But at the end of the day, I think we still have this question.” Rigdon and Cassar are now designing a study to drive to the heart of that question. “If we’re finally going to close the gender pay gap, then we have to understand the sources of it – and also solutions and remedies for it,” Rigdon says.  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=171365&title=Men+are+just+more+competitive%3F+Science+says+it%E2%80%99s+not+that+simple" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/behaviour/are-men-more-competitive-than-women/" target="_blank">This article</a> was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/amalyah-hart" target="_blank">Amalyah Hart</a>. Amalyah Hart is a science journalist based in Melbourne. Image: Getty Images </div>

Relationships

Nine-year-old competition winner will have her art displayed in the White House

A talented nine-year-old girl has won a coveted prize with her original drawing that holds an aspirational message. Gabrielle Faisal from Detroit entered a White House student art competition with a drawing inspired by African-American history, and won against over 500 competitors. The artwork, titled Enslaved African Americans Built the White House, features two Black hands bound in shackles holding up the White House with an American flag in the background. The young artist explained the meaning behind her artwork to Fox 2 News Detroit, explaining its historical significance. “The white stripes represent the purity of the struggle,” Gabrielle said. “The blue means justice and the white stars represent the unity for all people.” The organisers of the White House History Association’s National Student Art Competition were on the lookout for creativity, depth and historical relevance from the hundred of entrants. Rashid, Gabrielle’s father, said his daughter’s choice of art came naturally as she was inspired by things she had learned about African-American culture and history. “I have a home library which is filled with books on African-American history, Blacks who were part of building the White House.” “So for her, when it came to time to do art, it was just organic for her,” he said. As well as winning first place in her age bracket, Gabrielle also won a $1,000 cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C. Her painting will be displayed in the White House visitor centre until September 22nd. Image credits: Shutterstock/Instagram

Art

Cartel offences in Australia: The crime of anti-competitive conduct

Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd – also known as K-Line – was fined $34.5 million over cartel conduct in the Federal Court <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/k-line-convicted-of-criminal-cartel-conduct-and-fined-345-million">in August of 2019 </a>. K-Line admitted to engaging in anti-competitive conduct with other shipping companies between July 2009 and September 2012, which amounted to criminal offence under Australian law. A <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Cartel%20conduct%20how%20it%20affects%20your%20business.pdf">cartel exists</a> when two or more businesses illegally agree to work together, instead of competing. Such conduct allows those involved to control and restrict how a market operates, which in turn, drives up profit margins for the companies, whilst maintaining the illusion of competition. The cartel that K-Line was involved in had been operating since <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/k-line-convicted-of-criminal-cartel-conduct-and-fined-345-million">at least February 1997</a>. The companies involved were found to be fixing prices on the transportation of vehicles, such as cars, trucks and buses, being shipped to Australia from the US, Asia and Europe. “Cartel conduct, such as that engaged in by K-Line,” <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/k-line-convicted-of-criminal-cartel-conduct-and-fined-345-million">said</a> Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims, “not only cheats consumers and other businesses through inflated prices and costs, but also restricts healthy economic growth and discourages innovation.” The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) laid the charges <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/criminal-cartel-charges-laid-against-k-line">in November 2016</a>. K-Line ultimately pleaded guilty <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/second-shipping-company-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-cartel-conduct">in April last year</a>. And on <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/k-line-convicted-of-criminal-cartel-conduct-and-fined-345-million">2 August this year</a>, the Federal Court ordered the largest ever criminal fine imposed under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (the CC Act). Federal Court proceedings K-Line was charged with <a href="https://incompetition.com.au/2019/08/heavy-fines-on-the-high-seas-for-criminal-cartel-conduct/">39 counts</a> of giving effect to a cartel provision, contrary to <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/s45ag.html">section 45AG</a> of the CC Act. The Japanese company subsequently agreed to plead guilty to a single merged (or ‘rolled up’) charge under the section. The maximum penalty for the offence is a fine not exceeding the greater of three options. The first is a $10 million fine. The second is the total value of the benefits gained by the conduct. And the third is 10 percent of the firm’s earnings over the 12 months prior to committing the offence. In the case of K-Line, the third option applied. This meant that the maximum penalty was $100 million. The court held that the company should be fined $48 million. However, due to its early guilty plea, a 28 percent discount was allowed, which brought the fine down to $34.5 million. Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/k-line-convicted-of-criminal-cartel-conduct-and-fined-345-million">said that</a> the penalty “should send a powerful message” that “anti-competitive conduct will not be tolerated and will be dealt with harshly”, when it comes before the court. Cartel conduct The ACCC is an independent federal government authority charged with protecting consumer rights, ensuring business obligations and preventing illegal anti-competitive behaviour, which includes investigating cartel activities. The anti-competitive actions of cartels are known as cartel conduct. This includes price fixing, dividing up markets so each participant is shielded from competition, rigging bids and controlling output of or limiting the goods and services available to consumers. The commission states <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/business/anti-competitive-behaviour/cartels#report-a-cartel-apply-for-immunity">on its website</a> that cartels are not only “illegal and immoral” because they “cheat consumers”, but as well, they “restrict healthy economic growth” through outcomes, such as artificially increasing prices, reducing innovation, increasing taxes and destroying other businesses. Under its investigative powers, the ACCC can compel individuals and companies to provide information regarding any suspect behaviour, it can seek warrants from a magistrate, which can be executed at a company’s premises, and it can notify the AFP about any cartel conduct. On 15 August 2014, the ACCC and the CDPP signed a memorandum of understanding regarding cartel conduct, which sees the commission in charge of investigating serious misconduct and referring it onto to the CDPP for prosecution considerations. Further cartel offences Under the CC Act, along with section 45AG, there’s another criminal cartel offence contained in <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/s45af.html">section 45AF</a>, which involves a corporation making a contract or agreement that contains a cartel provision as part of it. The same penalties apply as under 45AG. <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/s45aj.html">Section 45AJ</a> of the CC Act makes it a civil offence for a corporation to make a contract containing a cartel provision, while <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/s45ak.html">section 45AK</a> makes is a civil offence for a corporation to give effect to a cartel provision. <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/caca2010265/s79.html">Section 79</a> of the CC Act provides that an individual who contravenes, or attempts to contravene, the <a href="https://nswcourts.com.au/articles/proving-criminal-charges-main-and-alternative-charges/">criminal offences</a>under sections 45AF and 45AG has committed a crime. And such a person can be sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment or fined $420,000. The ACCC makes clear that it’s “illegal for a corporation to indemnify its officers against legal costs and any financial penalties”. The Harper reforms The K-Line conviction follows that of another corporation involved in the same cartel. On 3 August 2017, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/nyk-convicted-of-criminal-cartel-conduct-and-fined-25-million">was convicted</a> and fined $25 million over its cartel conduct. And there are investigations continuing into other alleged cartel members. The NYK conviction marked the first successful prosecution under the new cartel criminal provisions of the CC Act, which came in as part of the <a href="https://www.australiancompetitionlaw.org/hottopics/harperreforms.html">2017 Harper reforms</a>. These were recommended in the <a href="http://competitionpolicyreview.gov.au/files/2015/03/Competition-policy-review-report_online.pdf">March 2015 Competition Policy Review report</a>. Two pieces of legislation were passed in parliament in late 2017, which amended the CC Act. The reforms simplified local cartel laws in ways that included narrowing jurisdictional reach, extending the provisions to apply to acquisitions of goods and services and increasing the standard of proof. Ongoing prosecutions And the third prosecution under the new laws is now underway. On 23 August, the CDPP <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/global-shipping-company-wallenius-wilhelmsen-charged-with-criminal-cartel-conduct">laid charges</a> related to alleged cartel conduct in the NSW District Registry of the Federal Court against Norwegian-based global shipping company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean. The charges relate to the shipping of vehicles to Australia over the period June 2011 to July 2012. This matter has already been investigated and prosecuted in a number of other jurisdictions around the globe, including the United States. ACCC chair Sims <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/global-shipping-company-wallenius-wilhelmsen-charged-with-criminal-cartel-conduct">explained in a recent statement</a> that “this is the third prosecution involving an international shipping company engaging in alleged cartel conduct where criminal charges have been laid under the Competition and Consumer Act”. The commission declined to comment further on the case, as it is currently before the courts. And the first mention of the matter was set to be made last Thursday. Written by Paul Gregoire. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/cartel-offences-in-australia-the-crime-of-anti-competitive-conduct/">Sydney Criminal Lawyers.</a>

Cruising

What happens to competitive people in retirement

<a href="http://www.megangiles.com/" target="_blank">Megan Giles</a>, Retirement Transition Consultant, supports those approaching retirement to successfully transition and create a retirement they will love to live! Hands up. Are you someone who thrives on the pressures and challenges of work? Is work something that has you jumping out of bed in the morning, excited to sign that next client, hit that target or solve that supposedly unsolvable problem? Regardless of the profession or industry you work in, you are driven by success in the workplace. You are highly respected by your colleagues and clients because you consistently deliver high quality work. They know that you’ll get the job done and you’re capable of making the tough decisions. You’re great at what you do, and that is a fabulous attribute to possess. Your organisation is privileged to have you. The challenge, however, is that research has found that people who are naturally competitive and assertive during their career can experience greater difficulty in adjusting to the workplace (Delmontagne, 2011)*. The very attributes that made them successful during their career are the same ones that can work against them in retirement Naturally competitive people thrive on difficult and challenging goals in the workplace and this singlemindedness often meant that they had few interests outside of work (Delmontagne, 2011). They didn’t allow space for friendships to be cultivated or hobbies to develop. As such when they do finally retire they find life quite empty. Without work as the binding force, acquaintances drift away, and without an interest to focus their energy and ideas the days seem endless. In essence, their self-worth reduces because they don’t feel that they are achieving anything important. If this sounds like you, I bet there is another fear niggling away at the back of your mind – the fear of failure. Success and being the best is a strong part of your identity and you dread being seen as someone who has ‘failed’ at retirement. At work there was always a way to ensure success - you would work harder or longer to deliver on time or stay ahead of the competition. When it comes to retirement, however, success is not a tangible outcome, there is no single objective way to say that you’ve ‘made it’ and that can be disheartening. So what you can do as someone competitive by nature to create a retirement that challenges you, connect you to others and ensures a sense of fulfilment? Consider the four 1. Plan and set yourself goals Don’t leave it until day one of retirement to start taking action. Make time now to focus on you. Create that list of things you want to do and achieve when you have more flexibility with your time (call it a bucket list if you will) and then attach goals to those items. For example, if you’d like to take up cycling why not sign up for a road race and then start training for it. Take it a step further, set a time you’d like to achieve. Or perhaps there’s a book to write - the one that people have been telling you for 10+ years you should write. What is a reasonable timeframe to have a first draft completed in? Importantly, consider both what you enjoy and what brings you a sense of and purpose, and involve your significant other in the planning process. Retirement provides a wonderful opportunity to spend more time with your loved ones so ensure that your plans are aligned and that you’re clear on what you do together and what you do independently in retirement. 2. Establish a hobby or interest before you retire Life is busy and work can be all consuming, but make time to develop an interest outside of work before you retire. Not only will this help to create a sense of continuity when work no longer fills your waking hours but will ensure you have an established network of people to spend time with and to draw on for support if you need it. Typical retirement activities such as golf, fishing and art classes may not appeal to you so think outside the box in terms of how you may like to spend your time. It might be mentoring young professionals in your sector, contributing your accounting, marketing or governance expertise to a not-for profit board, or training to summit the highest peaks around the world. 3. Consider a step-down approach Rather than go ‘cold turkey’ and launch straight from full-time work to retirement, explore the options available to reduce the number of days you work per week. Is it possible to work only two or three days per week and balance the structure of work with time to focus on developing new interests and establish a social network outside of your job? 4. Reconnect with friends. Make that call. Who is that one friend that you have been meaning to catch-up with for ages? What can you do to connect with them today? You don’t need to suddenly spend all of your time together, but it is refreshing to reminisce about old times and then know that you can count on them when you need them. Set yourself up for success in retirement by recognising the challenges you are likely to encounter and take action now to prevent them from arising. *Delmontagne, R. (2011). The Retiring Mind: How to Make the Psychological Transition into Retirement. Synergy Books: Austin, Texas.

Retirement Life

Grandmas strut their stuff in China’s senior swimsuit competition

Meet the 2017 Grandbikini contestants. They’ve got bodies that would cause envy in women decades younger, and definitely know how to rock a bikini. Recently, at a water park in Tianjin, China, more than 400 women over the age of 55 donned their best togs and strut their stuff during the fun-filled, colourful day. Organised by the Hetong Elderly Welfare Association, the contest (which is now in its third year) aims to empower older people and promote positive attitudes towards ageing and body image. The oldest participant was 78-year-old cancer survivor Ma Jing (pictured), who told Reuters she was “very honoured” to be able to compete. “If I can take part in a bikini contest at this age, for me it means I’m mentally happy and healthy.” It wasn’t all about bikinis, however. Contestants were welcome to come as covered-up as they wanted, with some donning traditional dresses, gowns and suits for the eveningwear portion of the competition. Take a look at all the incredible photos from the event in the gallery above – trust us, they’ll make your day! Image credit: Damir Sagolj/Reuters.

Beauty & Style

105-year-old man becomes world’s oldest competitive sprinter

A 105-year-old Japanese man has become the world record holder for oldest competitive sprinter after he finished a 100-metre sprint in 42.22 seconds on Wednesday. The father of four, and grandfather of 10, also competed in the shot put event, making 3.25 meters. The man’s daughter says the doctor told her father that track and field was too much for someone his age, but the 105-year-old refused to listen. And good thing, he just set a world record!

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