Blog 2

When do I worry about the future?

I have a feeling that issues involving the elderly will only get better in the future. I imagine more and more universities across the world are offering aging and long term care studies. This means every graduating class is sending students into the working world who are well prepared and educated in the problems facing elderly.

I realize that we are currently facing a myriad of issues concerning the growing population of retired persons, however, I have full faith in the brilliant minds working out the kinks in our system. I can't begin to imagine the type of improvements that will be made by the time I'm retired!

With that in mind, I often wonder how my grandparents never seemed to be apart of the major issues dealing with the elderly that I read about. None of them ever lived in an assisted living facility, or had extreme trouble getting their medication. I've always assumed I'd end up as fortunate as them, but I had no idea how that would happen.

Did my grandparents plan really well? Or, did my parents plan really well for them. My parents are retired, and I haven't even begun to think how I would help them in the future. I wonder if maybe they grew up with the same information about retirement planning, or if we are all learning new information together and I have an advantage learning it at a younger age.

I read a newspaper headline that said, "The time to start planning for retirement is now." Maybe I should start looking into a 401 (k) at work instead of relying on the system to work itself out by the time I retire.