Young at heart: Over 50s feel 10 years younger than their actual age
Nowadays when someone tells you they’re 50, old doesn’t spring to mind like it might have done 20 years ago. People used to dread turning 30, but suddenly reaching this milestone doesn’t seem that bad after all. It’s as if we have gained 10 years on the ageometer, and 40 could be the new 30. Lucky us!
This stretching age scale, (as I like to call it) also rings true for 50 year olds today, with 71% of them feeling younger than their age, 10 years younger in fact. The study by the British Seniors Insurance Agency also revealed that the over 50s are smashing stereotypes by joining gyms, starting businesses, and learning new languages. For this youthful population of over 50s, retirement no longer means retiring to the sofa to, well, age, it means living an active lifestyle!
Society is yet to catch up with these changing perceptions and the BSIA study found that 38% of over 50s feel misrepresented and are often still labelled as “over the hill” or “out of touch”. Being described as computer illiterate is ironic when the over 50s are the most active online daters, ticking the 50 shades of age box. Since turning 50, 6% of adults have remarried, showing it’s never too late to find love.
The lengthening life expectancy has contributed to our ageing population and the rise of perpetual parenting. That’s right; who do we turn to when we’re a little out of pocket? Guilty. We’ve all borrowed money from our parents or grandparents from time to time; and especially in London, generous contributions from family is one of the only ways to get on the ladder.
It’s estimated that over 50s spend £380 million a month on treating their children. Not each obviously, that would be generous! Broken down they spend nearly £40 a month on their children, and a little less on their grand children. And this figure is just on little treats, it doesn’t account for the amount spent helping family with day – to – day finances, this reaches over £100 a month on average.
Dave Sutherland, Managing Director of British Seniors Insurance Agency says:
“Everyone loves being able to treat family members, and the over 50s are no different. We want to encourage people to make sure that they have some form of life insurance or cover in place to provide peace of mind so that when the inevitable happens they can continue helping their loved ones financially.”
Quite shockingly, after hearing all of these facts, 79% of adults in the UK do not have life insurance or funeral cover in place. This seems like a huge amount of people when family expenditure is amongst one of the highest monthly expenses within this age group. However, it isn’t that surprising when you consider the increasingly youthful over 50s as perhaps not viewing life insurance as a priority when they feel young at heart. We’re redefining old age and actually the point in which we reach it is becoming more and more blurred. But one thing remains the same, life insurance in the long run, could be one of the cheapest ways to help out our families financially.
