Everybody dreams about retirement from the time you are 35 until right up to when it finally happens. Visions of travelling to Europe, free concerts in the park and lectures on ancient Roman architecture at the local university fill your mind. Very few think about the aches and pains that will inevitably come with age. Certainly, the increasing physical and emotional burdens of becoming a caregiver for your aging parents aren’t in the idyllic picture you have created.
As a new survey from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health indicates, those approaching retirement need to reset their expectations on what it would be like. In particular, their is a wide gap between expectations and reality as it relates to your health.
- 13% of pre-retirees believe their health will be worse than it is today
- 39% of retirees believe their health is worse than it was in the five years before retirement
Pre-retirees and recent retirees should be realistic about what is likely to happen so that they can prepare for changes. Understanding the latest technology advances in senior health including medical alarms is a good way to start.
