"You're in the golden years!"

Thursday, October 22 2009

"You're in the golden years!" Wisdom shared by an 82 year old patient this week.

When I looked up the definition of golden years, I found "the time of life after retirement from active work."

However, when I hear the term golden years, I see two very young looking old people having a champagne toast at sunset on a private yacht.

The first reason my imagination is off is most Americans can expect to have less money in the golden years. This is simply because you will lose your income.

Secondly, because we are living longer now, the golden years may last 20-40 years. Meaning that at some point in the golden years, we may be hospitalized or institutionalized so that we can be cared for because we can no longer care for ourselves.

Definitely got me thinking. "I'm in the golden years!" How am I spending my golden years? Life is good. I'm healthy. My family is healthy. I spend time everyday doing things that I personally enjoy. I recently went back to school to start a career doing something professionally that I enjoy - helping others.

Are you in the golden years? If so, how are you spending them?