Jim Rush & Lee Anne Davies

Dr. Jim Rush: When we're planning for success in the later years, it's important to remember that as individuals we all have strengths and vulnerabilities in our health and in our finances, and what's really important for people to realize is that those strengths and vulnerabilities are dynamic and they change depending on what stage of life you're at. That means that your plan for dealing with your health and finances also has to be dynamic.

Lee Anne Davies: We know from Canadians that they like to maintain their lifestyle in retirement. But throughout your retirement the years will change how you can handle your priorities, and those priorities for most people are maintaining their social networks. But what could happen is that you need to look after someone whose health has changed or you may even find that your own health has changed, and so using your social networks might become tricky. For example, you may not be comfortable driving at night or in the evening, and we know with Canadians that that does happen, especially in the winter.

That's where a financial plan is very important, and the dynamic nature of it, so that you have the money accessible to you to make those changes that you're still enabling your lifestyle but you're also having a financial plan that'll be there for you in the long run.

Dr. Jim Rush: Well, one important thing for you to realize especially as you enter the retirement years is that aging-related changes and disease are not synonymous. There are some things we can control and some things that we just can't control. The uncontrollable things like genetics and disease that might occur certainly are risks to our health and to our quality of life, but it's really important for people to realize that there are a number of controllable factors such as lifestyle choices, physical activity, making sure to have regular physical health screenings. In very physically active older individuals, the rate of decline of cardiovascular and muscular fitness can be slowed by up to 50%.

When you're trying to figure out how you measure up against other people, it's really important to make a distinction between life expectancy in terms of just the number of years you've lived and another term called healthy life expectancy. In Canada, men will live on average about 77 years, while women live about 82 years.

But the really important distinction to make is that that is not a healthy life expectancy. Healthy life expectancy takes into account the number of healthy or disability-free years that men and women can expect to live. The 77 for men is reduced to around 69 years, and for women it's an even more dramatic change: the 82 for total life expectancy becomes more like 71 for healthy life expectancy. So, the gap narrows between men and women's life expectancy when you consider the healthy living years.

Lee Anne Davies: What happens after you retire is that we find that people are often busy in those early years, but in the later years, they find that there are some things that they actually can't do because of health changes. So we really look at a plan as very dynamic. Your life will change substantially throughout your retirement years, and we want to make sure that financial health follows through with the changes in your health.

Dr. Jim Rush: So, it's important to be aware of the things that you can take control of to offset some of the aging-related health problems that you're going to face, and physical activity and diet are two great examples of lifestyle changes that you could make to delay the age-related changes and to decrease your risk of the onset of various kinds of disease.

Lee Anne Davies: As you move through your retirement there will be many changes to your health and to your financial plan. The risks are that the demands that start to go on your financial plan may be real because of the changes in your health. But, they may also be perceived, and you want to make sure that you understand that. The way to do that is to make sure that you've got a solid financial plan that is dynamic. As the dynamic changes happen in your health, you make those dynamic changes to your plan, and then you have a real picture of what's happening in the long term and you can make those adjustments appropriately.

Dr. Jim Rush: As you're planning for those retirement years, it's always important to remember that you still have control, no matter what age you're at. You have to be aware of the situation you're in in terms of your health and finances, you have to be honest with yourself about what that situation is, and you have to be prepared to make a plan that fits with your goals and expectations.

If you're interested in more detailed information about age-related changes in your health, you can refer to our Research Report in the Self-Assessment Activities on this website, and find out how you measure up.