The New Retirementality, Fifth Edition

CHAPTER 10Super-Septs: How 70 Became the New 50

We believe that it is time for aging measurements to account for the new reality of today's old age, including how well the elderly actually function.

—From an article in The Conversation¹

I included the quote from The Conversation to start this chapter even though I've come to loathe our culture's glibness with the terms old and elderly. Even in the simple construct of our conversations, we can detect a pejorative tone with questions of age. Instead of asking, “How many years do you have?” (as the Latin languages do), we ask, “How old are you?” It's subtle, but you can see where it takes the conversation. We can and should be proud of the years we've gathered and survived. Nobody feels good about being viewed as old.

But as Bob Dylan sang, “The times, they are a-changin'.”

People in their 70s and beyond are blowing past stereotypes and age-biased barriers with reckless abandon. They are rewriting what one can do when one doesn't let others tell them what they ought to be doing at their age. These so-called “older” people are healthier and achieving higher scores on cognitive status tests than they did in the past. People in their 80s are climbing mountains, running governments, and entertaining the masses. It's time to tell the truth on the matter: you're not old until you throw in the towel and claim your place on the park bench.

Feeling as Fact

How often have you heard someone say, “You're only as old as you feel,” or ...