The Golden Years Developing Some Tarnish

Walk into any big box store and count the number of seniors....they can't all be working because they were just looking for something to do. The reality is it is getting expensive to grow older and maintain your independence.

Longevity is going to be expensive
March 05, 2007

Seniors are springing from their rocking chairs and redefining what it means to be old. Statistics Canada says the population of over-65s is expected to double in the next 20 years – growing to one-fifth of the population.

While people are living longer and healthier lives, the good news carries a double-edged sword.

Between all their marathon running, parasailing and mountain climbing, the new breed of seniors is going to have to think about postponing full retirement and keeping some type of work interest going.

Unless this generation is salting a lot of money away for retirement, they're going to have to work longer to fatten the pensions they'll need to tap into when they finally do retire. Whether the workplace pensions they've paid into will be enough to sustain this unprecedented size demographic ought to be a cause for real concern.

Health care poses another worry. Seniors may live longer, but they're still going to require ongoing care.

As Mark Kastner, director of media and government relations for the Calgary Health Region, points out, although the greatest chunk of health-care money is spent on an individual in the year or so before death, general costs will continue to rise.

A senior who has undergone one hip or knee replacement is likely to live long enough to require another.

And technology will continue to offer seniors an expensive full battery of tests to maintain their health – that means more money spent on colonoscopies and the other things that go with getting older.

The baby boomers are set to redefine their senior years. But while they're having fun skating on Golden Pond, they'll just have to keep alert for new areas of thin ice.

This is an edited version of an editorial in Friday's Calgary Herald.