Middle and Later Life

 Emerging adults define who they want to be for the rest of their lives.  The period between the start of adulthood until old age will be the definition of who they are…  Emerging adults define their dream. THE TYPE OF LIFE THEY WANT!  When they hit old age, they look back and evaluate.

 Defining terms: Adulthood: the period of life that follows childhood and adolescence and lasts until death. Midlife (middle age): between 45 to 64 years old, or the transitional years when individuals are sandwiched between adult children becoming independent and parents becoming dependent. Old age: traditionally after age 65, or when an individual retired.

 Groups of three.  Imagine who you will be and what you will do in the following stages of life:  Each Group Member will be responsible for the answers to the questions for one of the steps. Emerging Adulthood, Mid-Life, Old Age.  The Group will work together to create a cohesive life story.

Stage 1- Emerging Adulthood: What post secondary school did you go to? What field did you study? Who did you fall in love with, how did you meet? Where do you live? What work will you seek?

Stage 2 - Midlife:  What career did you develop?  What does your house look like?  Who did you marry?  How many kids do you have?  What challenges did you overcome?  What experiences did you live?  What did you give up, sacrifice?  What were your pass-times, entertainments?

Stage 3 - Old age – you still have some time to do what you have not completed yet.  Write your bucket list of things to do, see, experience before it’s too late!  Look back on your life, was it good?  What are you proud of?  What do you regret?

 Adulthood 1. emerging adulthood 2. Mid-life 3. Old age  In this chapter we will focus on mid-life and old age.

2.1 Preparing retirement  Preparing for retirement must begin early on in adulthood.  Planning and preparing will need to happen throughout Early, Middle and Late adulthood in order to have the resources necessary to enjoy old age.  Consequences of not preparing properly include poor health and poverty.  58 % of adult Canadians are not financially prepared for retirement.  Only 33 % of adult Canadians have a plan that will meet their goals. 

 Some people even retire with debt!  33% of Canadians retire with debt.  Of those with debt:

 Being prepared for the future is very important.  Preparing and respecting your budget is the best way to avoid poverty in your old age.  Unfortunately, some parents in their middle age spend a lot of money on their adult children.  Adult children draining their parents’ resources is a reason for debt carrying over to retirement.  They are called boomerang kids.

 neration-boomerang.html neration-boomerang.html

 Preparing a budget that will meet yours and your family’s needs is very important.  Show: ‘Til Debt do us part.

Type of earnerAverage Income (2010) Non Elderly Family76,600 Elderly Family56,200 Non Elderly Single Person32250 Elderly Single Person

 Before preparing a budget, list the things that are important to you and describe the lifestyle you want to live.  Using the data provided prepare a monthly and a yearly budget for the average family.  Complete the package…

 Average cost of House in Ottawa is $350,000. Mortgage of 25 years = $1, per month (4% interest = $202, )  Average groceries bill for a family of four is $ per month.  Average transportation for one car costs $ per year. (fuel, insurance, maintenance, car payments)  Average cost of entertainment is $ per year.  Average education savings of 200 per child per month.  Average retirement savings per month $ (if you save 500 per month from the age of 25 to 60 you will retire with 1.5 million dollars!)  Gifts, incidentals, etc…

 There are different types of savings plans available to families.  Some are specifically for retirement, investment savings or educational savings.  They function on compound interest.  This means the longer the money stays in an investment account, the more it grows!

A) RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Program): An RRSP is a retirement savings plan that you establish, that the government registers, and to which you or your spouse or common-law partner contribute. Deductible RRSP contributions can be used to reduce your tax. Any income you earn in the RRSP is usually exempt from tax as long as the funds remain in the plan; you generally have to pay tax when you receive payments from the plan.

b) TFSA: The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) allows Canadians, age 18 and over, to set money aside tax-free throughout their lifetime. Each calendar year, you can contribute up to $5,000, any unused TFSA contribution room from the previous year, and the amount you withdrew the year before. All income earned and withdrawals from a TFSA are generally tax-free. Plus, having a TFSA does not impact federal benefits and credits. It's a great way to save for short and long-term goals.

c) Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) A registered education savings plan (RESP) is a contract between an individual (the subscriber) and a person or organization (the promoter). Under the contract, the subscriber names one or more beneficiaries and agrees to make contributions for them, and the promoter agrees to pay educational assistance payments (EAPs) to the beneficiaries.

 For more information see:

 Male and Female roles in the family have changed.  Read pages and answer the following questions. 1. If the division of labour used to be based on gender, what is it based on today? 2. Why did that shift happen? 3. How many hours of labour does a family need to provide to support itself? 4. What is a dual-earner family? 5. What changes to the family did it create? 6. What is involved fatherhood? 7. Who becomes an involved father? 8. What is the interesting side effect of involved fatherhood?

 Read pages and answer the following questions: 1. Why is the Monday to Friday hour work week gone? 2. How does shift work affect the family? 3. Define work-family conflict. 4. How is it caused and what are the consequences? 5. Define family-work conflict. 6. How is it caused and what are the consequences? 7. Why do women make less money than men? 8. Look at figure and answer questions 1 to Read pages and answer questions 1 to 8.

 Read the text Aboriginal Families Valued Experience on pages  How are the elderly treated in that society?  What values does this reflect? 

 Pages 464 to 491  In your group, chose a topic to study and present to class.  Define the issue, list related topics, provide solutions. Remarriage (p ) Unemployment and Early Retirement (p ) Elder Abuse (p ) Death and Mourning (p ) The Myth of the Dependency Crisis (p )