How old does someone have to be before you consider them "old?"
We put that question to Joe Coughlin recently and guess what he said? Mid-forties! Yes, one of the leading researchers on aging says that in his lab, mid-forties is the threshold for older age. Thanks goodness he has a sense of humour about it.
Coughlin is the director of the Agelab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Agelab looks at the intersection of aging and technology, culture and public policy.
Nora spoke with Joe Coughlin about why he wants us to rethink our misconceptions around aging, what the baby boomers will expect from their golden years, and how we can make decisions now, so that we get the elder years we deserve. Plus, Joe gives us some longevity planning homework.
A shorter version of this interview will air on an upcoming episode of Spark, but you can hear the full, uncut interview below, or download the MP3 [runs 26:07].
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November 16th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I'm 23 year old recent undergrad, and am experiencing the work world for the first time. I am generally the youngest one by 10 plus years. I am seeing how their lives are similar and different to mine.
One thing is chronic pain, or children who are going thru school. These are things that I have not even began to thing about, yet I am constantly thinking, "how can I prevent my back from giving out at 40" or "how can I ensure satisfaction in my career(s)".
It would be interesting to discover what is going through the minds of the recent college graduates and there experiences that are changing their perspectives on growing up into adulthood.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
An interesting challenge is going to develop as a result of the recent loss of retirement fund value.
People who were planning to retire are realizing that the reduced value of their retirement portfolio requires that they continue working longer. I think that this has the potential to create a shortage of open senior positions for younger people to move into.
I wonder about the dynamics this could create in the workplace as the younger staff wish the old folks would just retire and the old folks resent the fact that they can't leave because they don't have enough money to retire.
I really enjoyed this interview – and am loving Spark in general! Keep up the good work.
….Brian
November 16th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Another dilemma of the aging workforce is that younger managers will be placed into a position of having to evaluate and potentially fire employees that could be 20 years their senior. A complete reversal of the traditional roles!!