The Retirement Café Podcast

As Christmas approached, I started to think about how Christmas changes as we get older so typed 'Christmas and ageing' into Google. I was bombarded with results about loneliness and isolation and how Christmas can exacerbate these very real problems.

It's true that a lot of older people do say that their feelings of loneliness increase during the holidays, which is why campaigns from charities such as Age UK encouraging us to look out for elderly neighbours and helplines like Esther Rantzen's Silverline are so important.

Whilst I appreciate that Christmas can be a very difficult time, I would like to offer a different perspective. If you're not completely looking forward to this Christmas, I hope to help you to see the silver lining in this festive cloud. Could it be that Christmas actually gets better as you get older? I think so.

So here are five ways that Christmas improves with age.

Jennifer is a US lawyer specialising in estates and trusts but what makes her unique is that over the years she has become an expert in Digital Asset Planning.

As an expert in this rapidly growing and increasingly complex area, Jennifer is a sought after speaker on digital assets and blockchain technology. She spends her time advising clients on how to build digital asset planning into their estate plan.

In our conversation Jennifer shares steps you can consider when reviewing your own digital assets, starting with explaining what digital assets are, as it includes everything from emails, texts, photos and videos…to cryptocurrency, Gaming tokens, YouTube royalties & social media accounts.

We also discuss what you can do today to get on the right path of digital asset planning and where to look for guidance. This is an exploding area without a one size fits all approach but I hope that listening to this podcast will get you thinking.

As the 4 year anniversary of the podcast's launch was approaching I got to thinking about what I've learnt from the dozens of wonderful guests I've had the pleasure to chat with, and decided to collate a summary of what - to me - seem to be the things that make for a successful retirement.

Looking back over the conversations I've had there are some clear themes that come up time and again, which I summarise in this episode. I also reference specific episodes where these themes are discussed the most.

The themes can be split into three groups: purpose, planning and looking after yourself and I talk through them in what feels like a chronological order.

They are: Redefining retirement, Having a purpose, It's never too late, The brain and understanding how it ages, Taking control of your health and well-being, The Big D, Planning for a 30-year retirement, Investing, and Navigating the care system & the end of life.

Ben is a neuroscientist, psychology lecturer, speaker and author specialising in how the brain works.

In fact, he's spent 20 years researching the brain and has a special interest is how the brain changes during the perimenopause and menopause stages of life.

Until fairly recently, the menopause has not been discussed widely, but that's certainly changing, thanks to some high-profile celebrities like Davina McCall campaigning for better education and access to HRT.

So my conversation with Ben feels quite timely. Ben explains how – contrary to popular belief - the menopause is a neurological process and how the hormonal changes have a tangible effect on a woman's brain. He also explains why some of the common symptoms occur, the latest thinking on HRT, and why the timing of the menopause seems to be a design fault for women.

Laura Page is an artist, photographer, photojournalist and socially engaged practitioner. That means she uses art and photography as a way to help people to express themselves, have their own voice and share their views within their community.

Liverpudlian Laura's focus is on society and politics, aiming to produce work that leads to positive social change. She has a particular interest in the older age group and has recently completed an important project called 'Hidden Depths', funded by winning the Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award.

Hidden Depths involved Laura photographing and gathering the stories of 31 over-80-year-olds, to show the rich lives many older people live. She wanted to challenge the ageist stereotypes we see too often. Laura saw first-hand how these 80 and 90 year olds were living a third or fourth new lease of life.

Hidden Depths led to further film projects and Laura's beautiful, inspiring photos being used in projects such as the Stop Ageing campaign.

This week we return to our series on the 9 Accelerators for a Successful Retirement for the final time – to discuss the really important topic of Staying on Track.

Scroll down to find links to all previous episodes in this series.

I spend a lot of time with clients helping them work out what they want their retirement to look like, building a financial plan to support that life, then structuring their assets to be as tax efficient as possible. I also work with them to create a legacy plan, combat IHT, plan how to fund care that might be needed in later life, and implement an investment strategy that will give them the best chance of success.

But what then?

To some degree, the most important work starts - helping my clients stay on track for a successful retirement. The plan is in place, but goals move, circumstances change, markets rise and fall (sometimes abruptly), and all the assumptions in our financial plan may have shifted.

So Staying on Track means reviewing and updating the plans to reflect what's new. It also means helping clients to be disciplined and stick with their investment strategy, in spite of the market noise and what's going on around them.

Hello and welcome to this week's episode, where I am excited to be joined by Dr Ben Webb. Ben is a neuroscientist, psychology lecturer, speaker and author specialising in how the brain works.

Ben has spent 20 years researching how the brain works – so he knows his stuff - and now shares this knowledge via his podcast and courses to help us deepen our understanding of how the brain ages. His aim is to allow us to take control of our own brain health. And there's an amazing amount within our control.

In our conversation Ben shares the 6 pillars of a healthy brain in detail, including some interesting statistics about how the food we eat can reduce our mental decline by up to 30%. It's similar when it comes to the impact exercise can have, as well as how we manage stress, the critical role of good sleep and how to build up cognitive reserves.

I've chatted with many guests about what we can do physically to stay healthy into later life, but much less about what we can do to keep our brains healthy. This is a really rich conversation with so much insight.

Now, as you know, in my day job I help people retire successfully, so a major part of the work that I do is helping people to have a successful retirement experience. To that end I have spent many hours researching and developing an investment philosophy that I believe gives my clients the best chance of achieving their financial goals.

A few individuals and companies have had a significant influence on my thinking over the years and few more so, perhaps, than Jack Bogle and the investment giant Vanguard.

So I am delighted to have had the opportunity to chat recently with the author of a new book about the history of Jack Bogle, Eric Balchunas.

Eric is an author and a Senior ETF Analyst and Funds Product Specialist with Bloomberg, the global leader in business and financial data, news and insight. In our conversation he explains what his role involves and why he became so fascinated with Jack Bogle.

We chat about Eric's latest book ' The Bogle Effect', and why Bogle's radical idea to turn Vanguard into an investment company for the people, by the people has had such a wide-reaching impact not only upon the investor community, but upon other completely unrelated industries.

Duncan is an author, speaker and self-confessed Morris dancer. Having spent more than 20 years of his life over-doing it, he now spends his time helping people push over-indulgence out of their lives.

In our conversation Duncan confesses how strictly speaking he's drunk more than his fair share of wine and eaten more than his fair share of cake. He shares his formula for overcoming indulgence and how he has created a programme to help others do the same.

We also chat about his new book, 'Get Over Indulgence: Take control, find your stress-free life', which is a humorous, yet equally serious, depiction of his daily battles with junk food and alcohol, and how he found a way through.

Renowned public health pioneer, Professor Sir Muir Gray, returned to the podcast to discuss his latest book - Increase your Brainability and reduce your risk of dementia.

The evidence is mounting and momentum is building behind the idea that we have a significant amount of control over our risk factors for developing dementia, from protecting our brain tissue to keeping the blood flowing, and Sir Muir shares the latest research with me.

He believes the prevention revolution is finally happening and explains how his new educational programme will be rolled out via the NHS encouraging people to ask for new trainers instead of chocolates on those milestone 60th, 70th or 80th birthdays.

There are a host more golden nuggets about his Optimal Ageing and Living Better Longer initiatives contained in this episode, so I hope you feel inspired and enjoy my conversation with Professor Sir Muir Gray.