Too many people are retiring not because they can no longer do their job, but because society has decided that somewhere around 65, you should be put out to pasture. These reluctant retirees often end up bored and unhappy. Why do we try to force people to cease work at 65 if they’d like to work longer?

Whilst many Australians enjoy a happy and active retirement, Paul Benson – principal financial planner at Guidance Financial Services – recently started to question whether Australians have got this retirement idea completely wrong.

“Too often I’m coming across people who are retiring, not because they can no longer work, and not because they no longer wish to work, but because they feel that they should retire,” says Mr Benson. “Usually it’s that they hit 65, and either there’s a feeling that it’s time to get out of the way and let the younger ones have their shot, or that they’re entitled to an age pension, and so they would be ‘crazy’ to work on and in effect pass up their ‘entitlement’”.

“Once upon a time,” Paul continues, “we did manual work, and so our bodies wore out; thus in our latter years it was not an option to continue working – today, however, few of the jobs Australians are engage in require hard physical labour anymore.”

Indeed, when the Pension age was originally set at 65, life expectancy for males was 67, so the pension was only intended to support those at the very end of their life. Nowadays, a 65 year old male is expected to live until 83 on average, and a female to almost 87, and every time these figures are revised, the numbers go up.

“Most of us now in the work force should expect to live into our 90s,” Mr Benson points out. “On this basis, perhaps the Age Pension should kick in at 88?”

Guidance Financial Services recently surveyed their clients regarding retirement. When asked “Why do you expect that you will retire?” 55% of respondents selected “to enable me to do the things I can’t do whilst still working, such as extended travel”. When asked how they expect to fill their time in retirement, 91% nominated hobbies and 83% travel.

But why – Benson and Global Financial Services ask – why do we put off things such as travel or pursuing a new hobby until we retire, and then run the risk of health issues preventing us from doing them – or worse; that we really enjoy it and wish we’d started 20 years earlier?

And they may have an answer: employment flexibility seems to be what is lacking. Why do we have to work 5 days a week and have 4 weeks leave a year? Perhaps once the mortgage is under control and the kids off our hands, reducing our hours or days of work, or having 6 or 8 weeks annual leave is what we want. Instead of waiting until retirement to play weekly golf, why not take Wednesday mornings off each week and start playing weekly golf at 50. Instead of waiting until retirement to buy the caravan and travel around Australia, why not take 8 or 12 weeks off and do it at 45? You might even be able to take the kids and have a memorable family experience. Interestingly, often self-employed people do make this choice. What a pity it’s not a possibility for more of our community.

Work is about more than money – it is about social connections, self-worth, mental stimulation and challenge. Somehow we’ve gotten it into our collective psyche that the expectation is (for males at least) to work 40+ hours a week from our early 20s until 65, then cease work altogether (cold turkey?) and enjoy caravanning and playing golf for about 10 years, until health issues slow us down.

According to Paul – “This is dumb!”

Why not work through to 75 if we’re fit and well, but work 3 or 4 days per week? In this regard women seem to have worked things out better. It seems to be far more socially acceptable for a woman to work part time than for a man. This thinking needs to change.

“Our thinking on retirement is outdated,” Paul says. “If you are fit and healthy and want to continue in the work force, then you should be able to do so no matter what your age.”

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CONTACTS 
Mr Paul Benson
Financial Planner – Principal
Guidance Financial Services Pty Ltd
03 9870 6544, 0421 000 704
[email protected]
www.guidancefs.com.au

Yet there are also others – a few select artists who seem to sing almost effortlessly, whose range and facility seem impossible – and throughout the years of their career, they continue to endure, somehow unaffected by the passage of time and thousands of hours of singing. How do they do it?

As unlikely as it seems, these are not super-beings who possess some profound genetic ability over us. They are no different from us at all, in fact, except for one, single, precious possession: the right information. Without fail, these artists have comprehensive access to the most advanced rehabilitative methods ever developed; techniques that employ strategies to correct both physiological and neurological issues under acute as well as chronic circumstances.

“Teaching institutions would often have you believe that singing is some elusive art,” says Torb Pederson, the vocal expeditor, researcher and industry-insider who originally developed many of these studio secrets. “But in truth, singing is just like any other physical endeavour – it requires a series of coordinated actions, where muscles and nerves allow you to perform a specific function, just like your favourite sport or any physical activity – therefore, it can be studied, analysed, and learned.”

And now, for the first time, Mr Pederson is coming to Australia. He will be partnering with Brisbane-based recording studio Tall Poppy Productions to teach his techniques to a small, hand-selected group of independent Australian artists.

He is passionate about helping struggling singers who are in danger of losing their voices to vocal complications, and in making this information available, and affordable, to those not supported by the big studios.

“I have allocated only a small block of time from my worldwide schedule to provide this training,” explains Torb. “So, this will be a very small, carefully-selected group.”

To apply to join the exclusive group workshop, visit http://tallpoppyproductions.com/torb/

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MEDIA CONTACT
Torb Pedersen Institute (TPI)
C: +1 978 866 1414
M: +61 432 880 134
S: Skype name: torbpedersen
E: [email protected]
W: http://www.torbpedersen.com

Tall Poppy Productions / Gareth David
C: (07) 3275 2176
M: 0433 954 181
E: [email protected]
W: http://www.tallpoppyproductions.com

Showcasing national and international speakers, the conference will discuss innovations in service delivery, clinical education and health research. Educate, Motivate, Innovate, Celebrate promises to be engaging and informative and will be of interest to allied health clinicians, researchers, educators and managers.

We would like to welcome Dr Chris Davis, MP, Assistant Minister for Health and Member for Stafford who will now be opening the conference on behalf of the Honourable Lawrence Springborg, MP, Minister for Health and Member for Southern Downs. Dr Davis was formally employed at The Prince Charles Hospital where he was the Director of Geriatric Medicine. He is a recent past President of the Australian Medical Association Queensland and has a Masters degree in Business Administration.

Other Keynote Speakers include:

Mr David Butt – Deputy Secretary, Head of Rural and Regional Health Australia, Chief Allied Health Officer, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing

Dr Geoff Garrett AO – Queensland Chief Scientist

Dr Dianne Watson – Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Performance Authority

Ms Tania Major – acclaimed Indigenous advocate and former Young Australian of the Year

And many more. See www.nahc.com.au for the full listed of keynote and invited speakers.

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For More Information:
Visit – www.nahc.com.au

Among the legal fraternity January is known as divorce month. Following the holiday festivities practitioners have often noted an influx of clients seeking divorce.

This increase can be attributed to the festive season being a stressful time and if your relationship is already fragile the increased time spent together with additional pressures can become the straw that breaks the camel’s back. For others the holidays allows time for reflection and New Year resolutions and they simply decide they are not happy and cannot contend with another year in their relationship.

If this resonates with you and you find yourself unhappy in your relationship or marriage fear not, there’s an app to help with the overwhelming, stressful and daunting task of dealing with a divorce or break up.

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Family Law Network Australia (FLNA) and myFamilyLaw have teamed up to develop the “myFamilyLaw app” for those experiencing a break up or family law issues.

Founder of Family Law Network Australia Julie Dye knows all too well the reality and destruction caused by the breakdown of a relationship. Having survived the unpredictable force and behaviours typical to domestic violence, Julie has found the courage and determination to help others and streamline the often traumatic experience associated with family law matters.

Julie’s personal understanding of family law issues provides her with a unique perspective to contribute to the creation of what the myFamilyLaw app provides.

The app is packed full of useful information about divorce and property settlement, child support and parenting arrangements. You can support your friends and family by sharing the inspiring image quotes found on the motivationals app page. You can even save and email notes within the app which is very handy to keep records related to your family law issue.

The standout helpful feature is the ability to Ask a Lawyer a question to provide you with direction. The myFamilyLaw app is available to download for free from the App Store for iPhone and Google play for android devices.

— Ends —

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Family Law Network Australia

1300 664 968

www.familylawmattersaustralia.com.au

Julie Dye [email protected]

Consumers of family law services frequently require a team of professionals from a range of professions to assist them with complex issues resulting from relationship breakdowns. Our aim is to take a holistic approach to family law matters by building a network of collaborative professionals to assist clients through the minefield that often accompanies family law matters, as well as simplifying an often overwhelming and emotional journey.