Have you ever noticed that television, and billboard ads speak to every generation - teens, 20's, 30's, 40's, even 50's - but not our generation - 60+???
After doing just a little research, I quickly found out that the 60+ retired generations spend $3.00 out of every $10.00. And this is in every market; kids's clothing, cars, electronics, appliances, home shopping, and clothing, and typical consumer goods such as food, shelter.
So, what is going on? Are we buying into (excuse the pun) the myth that we are all pensioners living on restrictive budgets? I actually think that most of us education retirees are those who grew up on the so-called "Cadillac" health plans, with a spending budget where we hardly ever had to say, "No," to ourselves. We planned how our kids would afford to graduate from college and we have these wonderful pensions - thanks to the "Defined Benefit" pensions we have.
One way to myth-bust: Let's throw our spending power around! We need to be spending some of our pension money on supporting candidates this year, who have the same values and goals we spent our public education years working so hard to gain. I won't list all of those candidates here - we are lucky there are many here in Arizona whose names will be on the ballot. But, no matter in what legislative district in which you live, a statewide candidate for whom I suggest you donate at least $20.00 to is the State Supt. of Public Instruction Candidate, Penny Kotterman. Let that be your starting point - put someone in a statewide office who can have a positive impact on that which we hold near and dear; public education. http://www.pennykotterman.com.
I am bothered by the way my friends are defined by others. The biggest misinformation that I often hear is that retired people lose interest in learning, and the ability to learn. Just a quick check to find out who is the 2nd largest group of community college students will dispel that myth. As a matter of fact, think about the stress you had while attending college the first time: fitting into a group, finding a boyfriend/girlfriend, keeping late hours and getting up early, working a part time job, then, getting married, having a child - it seemed that learning while stressing was almost impossible - but I did it, as did all of you! Now that we have far less stress, the ability to concentrate means more ability to focus and learn the topic(s) you choose. Here is just a beginning of a list that is often used to prove that a person's IQ never has to stop increasing - rather, it is the constant learning and growth that causes IQ to continue to rise, rather than plateau or decline.
- Harry Bernstein, author who published his first book, The Invisible Wall, at 96 in 2007
- Ann Nixon Cooper, who at age 106 made national news during the 2008 US presidential election for voting for Barack Obama. She was mentioned in Obama's victory speech.
- Granny D, political activist who ran for public office at the age of 94
- James Fisher, blacksmith who returned from retirement to become the first person over the age of 100 to achieve the ACA qualification.
- Enrico Dandolo, who led the infamous Fourth Crusade in his 80s
- Sadie and Bessie Delany, civil rights activists
- Ruth Ellis, 101-year-old African-American LGBT activist
- Florence Holway, rape survivor and activist
- Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Irish-American labor organizer
- Maggie Kuhn, activist and founder of the Gray Panthers
- Mae Laborde, actress who began acting in her 90s
- Buster Martin, said to be the oldest worker in the UK at age 103
- Grandma Moses, American folk artist
- Narses, who became a successful general at 74
- Peter Oakley, aka geriatric1927, British senior famous for his YouTube videos
- Clara Peller, Wendy's spokeswoman, famous for her "Where's the Beef?" catch-phrase
- Emily Perry, actress who played the role of Madge Allsop
- Mary Jane Rathbun, nurse and activist who was arrested for serving marijuana brownies to AIDS patients
- Malvina Reynolds, folk singer and political activist
- Olive Riley, blogger who started blogging at 107
- Arthur Winston, who at age 100 retired from his job working for the Los Angeles Metro after 72 years missing only one day, that being for his wife's funeral in 1988.
