STAYING HAPPY IN 2011

May I take this opportunity to thank all my friends and blog buddies who have helped make 2010 a great year for Seniorsaloud. You know who you are. Thank you for sharing your views and updating me with all your emails and links. You have kept Seniorsaloud thriving with your support.

In appreciation, I would like to share with you this video. May we take to heart the advice and make 2011 a truly HAPPY NEW YEAR for us and our loved ones.

DO YOU LOOK AND FEEL YOUR AGE?

With all the anti-ageing products on the market today, it's becoming increasingly difficult to tell a person's age. We have often heard (or received) comments like "Oh, you look so young for your age!" or "Is that your mother / father? Looks more like your elder sister / brother!" Are these real compliments or mere flattery?

For me personally, I go by how my body feels when I get out of bed in the morning, and how I look in the mirror before I wash my face. There are days when I feel great, and there are days when I wish I were 30 years younger.

For a more reliable age indicator, you might want to take this series of tests published in The Daily Mail on 28 Dec. They are easy and fun to do. Here are the first three tests. Go to the website for the rest.

TEST ONE: BRAIN

WHAT TO DO: Count backwards in sevens from 100. If you are under 40, it should take no longer than 20 seconds. If you are between 40 and 60, it should take no longer than 40 seconds.
WORK OUT YOUR SCORE: Take off two years if you’re quicker than these times. Add two years if you’re slower than these times.

TEST TWO: SKIN
WHAT TO DO: Place your hand flat on a table and pinch the skin on the back of the hand, grabbing as much as you can. Hold it for one minute, then let go. Watch how long it takes to regain its normal appearance.
WORK OUT YOUR SCORE: Less than one second: take three years off your age. 1-2 seconds: stay the same. 3-4 seconds: add one year. 5-10 seconds: add two. 11-30 seconds: add three years.

TEST THREE: MUSCLES
WHAT TO DO: Stand on one leg and hold on to the other by bending it at the knee back towards your buttocks. Place your hands on your hips and close your eyes. Time how long it takes you to lose your balance.
WORK OUT YOUR SCORE: If you last one minute, take off four years. For 30 seconds: take off two years. Less than a few seconds: add three years.

Or you could try this one at Real Age, designed by Dr Mike Roizen and Dr Mehmet Oz, authors of the best-selling series of health and wellness books YOU. The test is rather detailed. Working through the questions was a wake-up call for me to pay more heed to certain areas of my health. I will turn 63 next year, but my real age as determined by my answers in the test came as a shock to me.

Would you have the curiosity and courage to find out how old or young your body really is??

THE 8 TRAITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL RETIREES

With a little help from the Retirement Docs' Quiz you can rate yourself and find out whether you have the traits that are prerequisites for achieving retirement happiness. If you don't, it's not too late to make adjustments or changes for a new YOU in 2011.

I took the quiz and my score put me in the top 40 percent, indicating that I still need some "fine-tuning in specific traits". Do take the quiz and find out how you fared.

The quiz is a condensed version of the much larger Retirement Docs' Survey conducted by medical doctors F.T. Fraunfelder and J.H.Gilbaugh. More than 1500 of their patients, all retirees, participated in the survey. The data collected forms the backbone of their book "RETIRE RIGHT".

From the survey results the doctors discovered that the top 20% of the respondents shared the same traits. The conclusion - if we possess these traits, the authors guarantee that we too will have a highly successful (=happy+fulfilling) retirement.

HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL RETIREES have

• the ability to plan ahead
• a positive attitude
• an acceptance of change (learn to adapt and adjust)
• a support network of family and friends (even pets!)
• a healthy lifestyle
• a sense of purpose
• a variety of enjoyable leisure activities
• a belief in God, religion or spirituality

For more details on each of these traits, you will have to read the book. It's available on Amazon. I managed to borrow a copy from the National Library of Singapore.

I intend to start working on improving my score right away. That's my retirement investment plan for 2011. Much more meaningful than making new year resolutions.

SIMULATING BEING OLD

Source: Straits Times

Would caregivers for the elderly do a better job if they could experience the daily challenges that their patients or loved ones go through?

The Tsao Foundation of Singapore believes so. The voluntary welfare organization has been running workshops to train staff of the SingHealth group to better understand the daily challenges faced by the elderly in carrying out simple tasks. So far 400 of the 20,000 employees have attended the workshops in batches.

My mom's daily calendar on the left, and my wallet-size 2010 calendar on the right. As we age, we need larger text to enhance readability.

Given that about one in 11 Singaporeans today is aged 65 and above, and one in five by 2030, this initiative is timely.

Workshop participants don partially blurred glasses to experience what it is like to perform tasks like reading labels on medicine bottles, or buttoning up a shirt with their fingers bandaged and unable to bend.

If you have missed this year's programme, make sure you sign up for it in 2011. 

Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society conducts a comprehensive training programme for caregivers for the elderly. If you are looking after an elderly parent or relative, you will find the 2-day programme extremely helpful.

CREDIT CARD DISCRIMINATON AGAINST RETIREES

Source: Straits Times

Over the past weeks disgruntled readers, mostly senior citizens, have written to the Straits Times complaining about being discriminated against when applying for credit cards. I can empathize with them as it too happened to me several years ago when my credit card application was rejected by Public Bank. It was my first encounter with age discrimination, and my first bitter taste of a loss of self-esteem. I was left with no choice but to apply for a supplementary card under my daughter's name in Singapore and my other daughter's name in Malaysia.

Once you hit retirement age, banks assume you are no longer credit-worthy. Overnight you become persona non grata and considered a credit risk, never mind that you may have an impressive share portfolio or healthy FDs with the banks. What is of paramount concern to them is that applicants must have a steady monthly income.

Younger people have hardly any savings and habitually run up credit card debts. Yet they are able to apply for multiple credit cards just because they have a regular job, whereas retirees with sizeable savings and investments are considered a financial security risk. How absolutely ridiculous!

The media focus on this issue has put banks on the defensive. DBS, OCBC, UOB, HSBC and Standard Chartered have reiterated that they do not discriminate against elderly credit card applicants. Maybank says elderly applicants are eligible for a 'secured credit card' provided they have at least S$10,000 in fixed deposits to cover any credit card debts incurred.

The banks can say all they want about welcoming eligible applicants regardless of age, but rejected applicants tell a different story on the Straits Times online forum. Banks need to work on their credibility quotient as much as they expect their older customers to be credit-worthy.

It's high time banks re-looked their eligibility criteria for older credit card applicants. With Singapore's ageing population on the rise, banks will stand to lose out if they continue to practise discriminatory policies against the elderly.

NO MORE EXCUSES TO REMAIN TECH-ILLITERATE

In this day and age, I am often amazed at the number of older people I meet who confess to being computer-illiterate. They tell me they regret not picking up pc-skills in their younger days, yet refuse to entertain any suggestions to learn. Their stock response: "Oh, I'm too old. Technology is for young people." They probably don't see the benefits of being tech-savvy at their age.

It's all to do with attitude and interest, and nothing to do with age. Lillian Lowe is proof of this. She turns 104 in two months, and is probably the world's oldest Facebook user. She regularly accesses her Facebook account from her grandson's iPad. She signed up only a few weeks ago to keep track of what her seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren are up to, and is now a huge fan of the social networking site.

Some of the students I teach at the open university are in their 50s and 60s. They come to my Learning Skills class with zero knowledge of pc basics. But after just one hands-on session at the computer lab, they are ready to do their research and assignments using their new pc-skills. It is that easy to learn the basics these days, unlike the 1980s when we had to learn all the DOS commands to perform simple computer functions.

Do forward the website at http://www.teachparentstech.org/ to your friends.

Google has come up with a 'TECH SUPPORT' care package that you can send to your parents (or grandparents, grandaunts and granduncles). The package consists of short videos with simple step-by-step instructions on how to perform basics e.g. how to copy and paste (a favourite with students!) and how to make text bigger (a favourite with older folks!).

There are other categories as well, including how to access the world wide web and use online communication tools for social networking. I discovered this technical care package on Eldergadget, a must-visit website if you are interested in elder-friendly gadgets and gizmos. Or if you are looking for the top 10 pick of Christmas gifts for your friends.

No more excuses to remain pc-illiterate. And welcome to a whole new world of knowledge, fun-learning and social networking.

AGE-DEFYING MARRIAGES

In 2006, centenarian granny Wook Kundor married her 23rd husband. She was 104 at the time, and he was 34. Recently, an under-aged 14-year school girl married her 23-year old teacher. The public furor hasn't even died down yet, and now we have another marriage that's making headline news around the world. I am referring to the marriage of Chief Minister of Sarawak, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, 74, to a 28-year old former Lebanese flight attendant.

Is Malaysia becoming a land of age-defying marriages?

 Grandma Wook is a picture of joy in the arms of her husband. She claims she has a secret recipe to keep her husband happy.

 

Abdul Manan and his student-bride 14-year old Siti Maryam. Their marriage was approved by the Syariah Court. Can a young man of 23 remain faithful to his wife for the rest of his life? For a Muslim man, this isn't a problem as he can have four wives. Or he can choose to divorce his current wife and marry again. All it takes is for the man to 'utter the divorce declaration' to his wife, and if the Syariah Court approves it, the divorce becomes valid. 

 

No small feat for a 74-year old grandpa with 15 grandchildren to win the heart of a beautiful 28-year old woman. He must be the envy of men everywhere. If age is not on your side, being immensely wealthy helps.