Financial Aging

Being a finance major, I have been exposed to just how important saving for retirement is. It is an intimidating topic though.  Seeing the calculations on approximately how much I will need to save for retirement is depressing, especially when I don't even have a steady income yet.  In all my finance classes we learn how important it is to start saving now rather than later, because of the potential interest you can gain on money you invest or save.  This concept makes complete sense, but it is hard to follow because you have the money to invest when you are older and in a steady secure job.  However, it is hard to find all the money to put away each month when you are just starting off.
Seeing the actual number I have to save for retirement is a huge wake up call.  I always think of retirement as such a long ways off, but I already have to start planning for it.  It is interesting to learn about all the different aspects of aging, and how financial aging is a part of that as well.

Georgia Centenarians

I was able to take away a lot of new information through watching the videos of the Georgia Centenarian study. It was interesting to hear the views of people who do live to be 100 years old. 

It was fascinating to learn about the similarities and differences between all the Centenarians that were involved in the study.  What interested me most was finding out their lifestyles and common foods that they ate.  It was surprised with the difference of what we today find to be healthy foods and what the common foods in their diets were.  Other factors I found interesting were how most of them were still active people who had positive out looks on life.  Religion seemed to be a big part of these particular Centenarians lifestyle, which explains why they may have more of a positive perspective.  The part that would be hardest about living to such an old age like these Centenarians would be seeing all your close friends and family leave before you.  It would be hard living it somewhat of your own age cohort and being surrounded by much younger people, I could see how it would get lonely.  The information about the genes linked to Alzheimer’s was also interesting and could be applied to information we previously learned about how some individuals are more likely to get certain genetic diseases because of certain influences.

This information applied to me because, everyone ages and has to deal with the effects of aging.  So it was a beneficial experience to see that people who live to be older than most can still function and be happy in society.  This gives aging more of a positive outlook and me more hope for healthy aging.  Even if these are just a few of the cases of people who live to be this age, it is enjoyable to see that age doesn’t have to limit what you are capable of or be a measure of happiness.

Anyone could benefit from the information learned in the Georgia Centenarian study.  Most people will experience growing to an extremely old age or knowing someone who does.  It is important to know what they are going through and how they feel about aging so we can understand them.  If we are more aware of their views then assisting them in their later years will be more successful for both the elder and the caretaker.