Retired Persons Urged To Break Saving Habit

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 2

Retired Persons Urged To Break Saving Habit

“The richest man in the cemetery has net er been much use to himself and the elderly person who saves every penny for a relative, sometimes very distant, is his own worst enemy,” Mr J. Sandeman Allen told a course on the creative use of retirement at Darlington Hall, Devon, recently.

Mr Sandeman Allen, an authority on the financial aspects of retirement, took as his theme: “You can’t take it with you.”

Essentials for the older person were reasonable accommodation based on physical ability and finance, greater need for heat, proper food, and recreation.

He implored people to try to break the habit of saving. "I feel that the individual who has worked hard over the years should in retirement achieve some comfort from that work,” he said. Vitally concerned with this major problem of retirement is the Pre-Retirement Association of the National Council of Social Service in London.

Those officials responsible for the recent course in Devon hope the students will be “missionaries” and that they will share with others the thoughts and knowledge which were engendered by the nine specialist speakers. They hope, too, that the students will feel the way has been opened to many opportunities, practical, mental, and physical, in their retirement years.

“Preparation for retirement,” a phychologist told the students, “involves a deep understanding of oneself, and we must know ourselves well before we decide what to do.” A need for the positive was imperative, she added. Just to stop work was negative. A complete change of living was a positive thing. There

was the absorbing task of starting a new home together —especially one in which all manner of exciting laboursaving devices could be fitted —of planning a new garden, of making new friendships and of repairing old ones. Elasticity of Mind

Elasticity of mind and body could stave off senility, and unfortunate on the whole were those anxious persons who made rules for themselves and had set days for certain housework and so on. As people neared retirement they should keep in touch with outside activities and young people, and avoid limitation. The lively older person whose mind was attuned to the present day could be to teen-agers a most valuable guide, philosopher, and friend. The virtues in retirement of service to the community were mentioned by Miss Monica Crossley, one of the organisers of the Dartington Hall gathering; and house purchasing, the buying of annuities, investments, and methods of obtaining satisfactory income were explained at length by Mr Sandeman Allen. Other speakers, urged increased interest in the arts, domestic crafts, hobbies such as photography, tape recorders, languages, and liberal studies in general and physical activities through local education centres, residential centres, and private organisations. Radio and TV Radio and television, though often maligned and misused, could well be valuable instruments in adjusting to a new way of life, said Professor W. W. Merchant, head of the English department at Exeter University. For persons in retirement the right use of radio and telesion coud encourage new conversation out of which friendships could flower in a miraculous way.

“I am convinced,” he said, “that one can learn from television in one year more than a full university could give tn the same time. “The creative use of the television screen is to make it a focus of sheer talk, sb you establish bridges between two minds—something terribly important.” Viewing Panels

The professor saw particular merit in the formation amongst friends of their own listening and viewing panels. A physical-training expert surrounded by gardening equipment and gadgets outlined reasonable and moderate activities in gardening

and exercising to combat inactivity, “greatest enemy of the aging." All students felt the threeday course had been of the right length, and arising from it a number of the students have undertaken to serve the community in some voluntary capacity. Others took away literature, ordered publications, and asked to be kept in touch with developments.

Value of Course Significantly, in the view of the organisers, the students got on very well together and found much to discuss one with the other. They felt there was distinct value in their coming together in a relaxed atmosphere with others similarly situated to air their feelings about retirement.

The obvious virtues of the course prompted plans for another, again of three days, in November. The course, fully residential, will cost £3 a head, and again will be entitled “The Creative Use of Retirement.”

There are hopes, also, of having a special experimental course, solely for those not yet retired and drawn from factories dr works in the south-west of England.

This is the second of two articles from the London correspondent of “The Press” on problems associated with retirement and how England is seeking the 1 solution to them.