What sort of planning have you done for old age?

i read the article and it makes sense, but planning for a future is hard when there's little sense of there actually being one and getting to tomorrow is hard enough.

LJ

I completely agree @Former-Member And I think that was sort of the point. For anyone struggling to get through today, and feeling hopeless about tomorrow, thinking and planning for old age isn't going to be any sort of a priority. But what happens when we get there anyway?

Aging and planning for it is VERY IMPORTANT..

We can all get very caught up living in the moment ( mindfullness exercises aside)..

The 2 fastest growing employmnet fields are Aged care and Disabilty Services.

There are a lot and also a growing number of support agencies to help people stay out of aged care. Local HACC's have been around for a long time . Be careful what services are out there a lot of very good ones and a lot not so good . Its your right to shop around. If your unsure check with your Mental health services or look up PIR ( Partners in Recovery) . The government will chop and change the funding but most times another " new named service will fill the gap" its a changing and complex landscape of care options and support options..But there is a lot out there ..

Happy gery hair day everyone..

🙂

Good tips @Tight-Control. Knowing about those services can help people stay in their home longer which seems to be a key part of living well in old age.

I actually googled 'national grey hair day' to see if that really existed! Google said 'nah'. But there seems to be an international curly hair day. Who'd have thought it.

I often wonder what age I'll be when I stop hiding the grey. I'm looking forward to liberation from the dye bottle. But I'm not quite brave enough yet 🙂

The biggest area of concern for me as I'm aging is housing. I'm on a Disability Support Pension with little savings and a tiny superranuation that is not likely to grow. The rent where I live (Gold Coast) will only become more expensive over time (it's one of the highest population growth areas in Australia). I have a partner who works part-time but his financial situation is roughly the same as mine. In any case, our finances are completely separate. It's a very independent relationship, could be described more as a committed friendship, but neither of us is looking for another relationship. When work is no longer an option for either of us (I seem to have already reached that point at 52) - we could consider moving to a more rural area where the rents are cheaper. I already moved here from Melbourne 13 years ago partly because I was priced out of living in the bigger city. Aside from moving to find more affordable rents, I can't get my head around the other variables and don't even really know what sort of options might be available or where to look for them really. Generally I feel insecure anyway about the future of pensions. At times I'm afraid I will end up homeless. I'm also terrified of being admitted to live-in healthcare facilities (I'm phobic about hospitals). The longer term future is a fairly nerve-wracking thing for me to contemplate but it's interesting to have the issue raised here and to have the chance to put some of my previously private thoughts into words. Thanks.

I have to say i agree with @Mazarita, their is proably no future for people with MI, with the political system in dissarray and the welfare sector faultering through mis-management i find it hard to see any future for people with any disability. just last month i heard on the news they were considering taking away the DSP from people with anxiety and depression.

speaking for myself i have made specific plans to take my own life after my mother dies and if we become homless before then i have plans to do it early. I read somewere that 80% of homeless have MI problems, seeing the bleak future i have in store, their is no point planning for anything.

For people in a better financial situation i suppose they will manage, but for people that are not in a financially secure situation things do not look good.

I know from experiance that the poor seem to get further and further behind, i went 7 years without a single cent of income and seeing how far behind i am now is so frightning, being on welfare you are always going to be punished by politicans for having physical or mental problems and are constantly told you are a drain on society.

i appologise for being so blunt, but i do not possess the skills to sugar-coat the truth.

Jacques

Jacques, sorry if my words painted a bleak picture for you. I don't see my situation as necessarily turning out all bad and feel there might be some better ways to view your situation too. Although it's easy to get very bleak about the political situation, especially with the current government, in Australia we still have a much better welfare system than, say, the USA where many more people fall into homelessness. I also sometimes like to remember that what we see in the media is always the most extreme and sensational way of viewing things. I know that lot of people with mental illness do not end up homeless. With our vulnerabilities, it seems natural for us to get very scared about the future but, for me, there is some consolation in knowing I have made it this far despite big inner problems. That shows some degree of relience at least and it seems reasonable to hope that this resilience will continue even despite feeling despairing at times. Of course, having bipolar, I have a tendency to swing up and down in my feelings about all this. Mazarita

Hi @Mazarita,

i appologize if you got the impression it was what you said that made me see things so bleak, it was not i was just agreeing with what you wrote.

I gave up on looking forward to life when i was 21, i knew i would have nothing and no one, i own nothing, have not even held a girls hand, let alone anything else, i have to get my mother to do everything, and i am still too frightened to be away from home overnight. i have had no friends in 14 years, and one thing i have learned over that time is things can and usually will get worse for me.

I have been thinking about the future for quite some years now, knowing i don't have one and planning for what to do about it, luckily for me i am really looking forward to death, to be at peace and to allow family not to worry about me any more.

I understand that Australia has a better welfare system than other countries, but the Australian government as i see it are slowly trying to make australias welfare system like america's, slowly people are getting further behind and slowly they have no future, i watched Insight on tuesday night about people on welfare and most of them have the same outlook on the future.

my intention was not to infer that all people with MI will be homeless i was just stating the latest study on homeless people where they found 80% of the current homeless have MI.

Dear Jacques

You raised a few valid points regarding MI and the Australian welfare system, and you have expressed a view very articulately that I am sure a lot of people out there share. I recall somebody saying when someone knows better they do better and there are people within the MH system who see the issues surrounding MI and are working very hard to make a difference even though they have difficulty having their voice heard. Thank you for expressing what must have been some difficult thoughts. It sounds like you have a very supportive family who care deeply for you and value having you in their lives. Your voice in your post is valuable for others who have a similar story and it raises an issue that often is not heard. So what seems to be a bleak outlook may offer hope for others. Thank you.

Archie