Rinkli Funstaz

Exposing and exploring the commercial and cultural vitality of this generation of over-65s (and the one following hard behind).

Blog

Nov212018 by James MurphyNo Comments
Re-Assigning the Kilo : or kneading the malleable science of life measurement

Re-Assigning the Kilo : or kneading the malleable science of life measurement

Philosophy
The Victor Is Mature In 2018, a Dutch man aged (?) 69 invites a court of law to affirm his right to re-assign himself as (?) 49. His application is made on the basis that his life-chances (in business and in love) are depleted by the official information that he is 69 when/since he actually feels in himself that - such are his health, wellbeing and confidence - he is much less than that. So, his wannabe writ would run, he should have the right to declare himself to be 20 years younger than his birth certificate would indicate - just as a man of whatever lifestage might wish to re-identify as a woman. If gender is a fluid scale then why not age? I am healthy, virile, competent and…
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Sep72018 by James MurphyNo Comments
Take the silver from the surf : why older citizens should travel less.

Take the silver from the surf : why older citizens should travel less.

Topicality
OK. You and your delightful spouse are each 70 years of age. Of an evening, you love to pull out your respective bucket-lists (travel section) and discuss which foreign adventure should come next. Among many other outings over the recent years, you have already been once to Machu Picchu; twice to Iceland; five times to NYC; eighteen times (sic) to Paris. You have seen the Alhambra, the Mona Lisa, Petra, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and the Monaco Grand Prix. You tried the Oktoberfest at the age of 65 but had to acknowledge that you could not keep pace with the younger drinkers. Today, you have a notion to give Kenya a try as your next destination and plan to buy the latest guidebook in Stanfords for a gander. In the…
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Aug92018 by James MurphyNo Comments
Aging : not for kids and not for hippies

Aging : not for kids and not for hippies

Scholarship
Our new 21st century Third Age is calling forth so many semi-scholarly books which cannot decide whether their goal is to achieve dispassionate social analysis or to offer superior self-help guidance. So it is with The Happiness Curve. From whatever perspective, this is not good karma. But firstly a thought experiment... Imagine you are 75 years of age this very day. Coincidentally contacted by a respectable research agency, you are invited to rate your general level of personal happiness / life satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 (where 10 would equal totally blissed-out). You agree to participate. But a silent inhibition tugs at your guts. “If I say that I am, in fact, dreadfully unhappy, will the whole world know that my whole life has ipso facto been a failure?…
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Aug182017 by James MurphyNo Comments
The Mega-Dilemma of this Third Age : Save or Spend

The Mega-Dilemma of this Third Age : Save or Spend

Topicality
In the Summer of 2017, the Office for National Statistics in the UK produced fresh and compelling data on the finances of retired households. In brief: From the late 1970s, just as Mrs. Thatcher was about to ride into Downing Street to the opening of the tenure of Mrs. May in 2016, the disposable income of those retired households grew at an annual average real-terms rate of 2.8%. The mean gross income of this segment (including benefits) had thus swollen by a factor of 3 across this generation of time. Whereas just less than 50% of retired households enjoyed the benefit of a private pension in 1997 this had risen to 80% by 2016. Average disposable income for those with one of those private pension plans is now (2017) ca…
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