More from the HSBC study
the study looks at life expectancy and expected years in retirement. Life expectancy ranges from a low of 71 in India to a high of 84 (tied between the US and France- I guess they do have something in common). Expected years in retirement range from 11, again in India, to 26 in China. (21 in Canada).
So in Canda the retirement age is approximately 61 (life exp. - retirement exp.) So basically the same amount of time it took to learn pretty much everything you would ever need to learn - according to my kids at least.
We all know some very active 61 year olds. infact - most of them are pretty active. But how many of them have a positive outlook for the future? It is that positive mental attitude that will see you through the tough times.
Part of what has been so successful and satisfying about people who have worked through the Best-Half is their sense of possibility in the future. The future after all is here right now. make it count.
Circle September 22 and 23 for a Best-Half Discovery Forum at Cedarbrook Farm in Flamborough.

Happy victoria day

Just returned from 4 days at the cottage. Great! came back to some interesting emails
One in response to a download from the website. This person found me through the Banff Centre online leadership library where I wrote an article. You can read the article by going here:http://www.banffcentre.ca/departments/leadership/library/pdf/new_word_for_retirement_neufeld.pdf
Also got email back from the Tom Peters Company. I have always been a big fan of his and his website offers several opportunities for dialogue. I emailed him to ask about his feelings on the +55 year old group. He can't believe that marketers are still spending all their money on 18 to 34 year olds when we are the ones with all the money. maybe that will change in the near future.
Best wishes for a Best-Half
Gordon

HSBC Study released

Article in the national post this morning announced a major study on the future of retirement in a world of rising life expectancies.
The study was done by Harris and Ken Dykewald who did both the study for AIG in 2001 and the recent Merrill Lynch study that was released 6 weeks ago. Nice gig if you can get it....
The article does look at some interesting comparisons with 9 other countries including Japan and China. What I found interesting was the idea that while many countries have varying methods to cope with retirement planning - generally Banks were not looked upon favourable for their expertise. Of course in Canada where most retirement planning is done through Banks or their wholly owned subsidiaries over 30 percent of the population have gone to the banks for financial advice. In Japan this figure is only about 7% of the retireee population that have looked at determining their needs in retirement vs canada at 46%.
Will be watching for how HSBC starts to refocus their marketing just as Merrill Lynch has done in the US. The market is certainly wide open with not one major financial planning organization providing a tool kit for their customers similar to Best-Half.
Anybody know any decision makers at the big banks?????
Gordon

Toronto Star Article of May 12

An article in yesterday's Toronto Star caught my eye. Entitled Early succession planning is vital, the article talks about small family run businesses and the need to plan succession far in advance.
The couple intereviewd in the article developed a six year succession plan. The article goes on to talk about the latest report by CIBC on Small business. This report, that states that the bank's fastest growing self employed group are the +55 yr. olds, predicts that 500,000 owners of small businesses in Canda will retire in the next 5 years.
What will these people do? surely they will not all retire in the traditional sense of the word. No, they will likely do a host of things including mentoring, coaching and yes, starting a new business. In Best-Half sessions over half of the participants talk about wanting to start their own business. This is what gives them fulfillment and meaning in their lives. I think that their desire to retire is really a desire to generate some excitement and an element of risk in their lives - something they could no longer get from their existing business.
It will be up to the new owners to build in opportunities for fresh thinking, risk taking and fulfillment as a cure against boredom.
Often businesses get into trouble because the owners are bored and looking for something to get them charged up again. So they diversify into the wrong fields, buy companies that don't really fit into their long term plan or any number of other suicidal corporate missions.

Tuesday May 3

I spoke last week to clients of a financial planner. This group of about 25 were from about mid 40s to late 60s. The first speaker talked about medical diagnostic procedures we should all be going through and the second talked about critical illness insurance.
I was obviously the comic relief for the evening.... The presentation was on the Top 10 myths of retirement. People sere very interested in the idea and there was a lot of buy-in from the group as to the need to plan for the future in not just a financial way.
Went quite well and may go to doo a workshop in the near future.