Old age is not what it used to be

Old age is definitely not what it used to be. Not by a long shot. Growing up, most of us were lectured almost daily about the importance of preparing for your retirement.

There were constant debates about the percentage of one’s salary that has to be allocated to a retirement annuity. There were endless opinions published about the pros and cons of using a lump sum to pay off debt at the age of 65 – the magical number when work was supposedly a thing of the past.

Retirement age was sold to the world like the finishing line of the Comrades. Once reached, you could take off your running shoes and bask in the glory. Don’t get me wrong, preparing for old age is vital.

But I always saw it slightly differently. For me, retirement was like a death sentence: you will sit at home and wait for the Grim Reaper to come knocking – and pray to the heavens you can survive until his arrival. Hocus-pocus, mumbo jumbo I say.

Fortunately, I’m not alone. Just yesterday, Moneyweb published an article that turns the whole concept of retirement on its head. The most important investment one can make in your lifetime is in your own health, it says. The reason: so that you are able to earn an income well into your 70s and even 80s.

I’ve been advocating this forever: working and contributing to society until your last breath and in the process, earning your keep. At last, the rest of the world seems to be waking up to the idea that retirement is an obsolete, 20th-century invention.

Imagine a world that forces Donald Trump, 71, Hillary Clinton, 69, Jacob Zuma, 75, Vladimir Putin, 64, Angela Merkel, 63, and Lida Toerien, 70, – to mention a few – to immediately go on pension.

In case you don’t know, Trump is president of the US and Toerien is my mother – and they have a lot in common. Trump went into politics for the first time at about the same time my mother went into business for the first time.

Having been a stay-at-home mom most of her life, it’s wonderful to see her building her empire. I don’t know where Trump will be in four years, but I know my mom will still be in charge.

Danie Toerien