Valmis😂!?

Thoughts about getting older.

Hello dear ones,

I've been in a euphoria for a while now, where I think....age definitely has its advantages. Of course, I'm getting to a ripe age - things crack here and there. I'm still able to do pretty much everything, but it takes me a bit longer😈😅

The first advantage that I noticed early on: If I forget something (birthdays, shopping list, mixing up the names of loved ones😈...what was "he" there for again😂?), then I can believably blame it on my age.

After all, I'm approaching 70, albeit with more or less distance...

Well. Then there's experience, an undeniable asset compared to younger people.

Oh, there was something else...Yes, maybe the insight or prospect in all the discussions about future financing of retirement, that it will probably be even more secure for me than for the following generations. For this reason alone, you could give me 20 or 30 more years - I wouldn't want to trade places with younger people.

But it's also like with other things. "Everyone is the architect of their own happiness"! If I don't want to live in poverty and dissatisfaction in old age, I have to lay the groundwork early on. Today's youth knows pretty well what's coming for them. There will be no reason to complain later...It will come down to the fact that the welfare state - as we know it - will no longer be able to afford this form. An "average earner" will not be able to save up reserves for retirement with the income from a 40-hour work week. We will have to work more. We will have to work longer. The second job has always existed, it just wasn't always necessary for us.

In our day, Minister Blümchen promised that the pensions would be secure😅. No one really believed him back then. Those who thought about the future back then saved up for a little house, and that was a good thing too! Today, things are different. Our youth has to think differently. Building is almost unaffordable thanks to rising interest rates and as a side effect of the war in Ukraine. Tenants are expecting four-digit additional payments due to the skyrocketing energy costs...Who will pay when more and more people cannot afford to pay and fall into poverty?

Having only real estate in old age is hardly enough anymore, because pension levels will drop massively and where will the money come from to pay the electricity bill & Co? How dissatisfied are current and future retirees when they can no longer afford a car, a vacation, or any kind of commerce?

How long will it take and what will happen when the system collapses?

How will future generations be able to bear a debt burden that has now reached trillions?

At the moment, I'm dealing with smaller problems. I was supposed to retire in August and I wanted to "take off". Now it has to be postponed - my two potential successors have declined. Well, with lots of money and a self-employed position alone, no one can be tempted anymore today. For the next generation, it also matters whether you have to get up a little earlier or drive a little further🙈🔫 - hard to believe: "Burnout at the age of 25 says hello"....Is it stupidity, naivety, or are we still too well off?

I notice that age doesn't prevent me from thinking. I'm afraid I think more than many younger people do😳...

I'll think about Corona, war, and energy prices another time😂