Super Agers – why do some folks thrive well into their 100s?

We always hear stories – from family, perhaps, or on the news – about a little old person who is not only alive and well past age 100, but thriving, with a sharp mind, fit body, and glowing health.

What’s behind the fact that some of us do so well at aging? Save with SPP decided to take a look around to find out.

A recent article by The Canadian Press tells the story of Angeline Charlebois of Levack, Ont., who at 105 “spends Tuesday afternoons in town playing cards with her friends at the golden age club, often bringing home-baked treats to share with her friends. Charlebois is an avid reader and loves to sew. She makes hats for babies at the nearby hospital — having picked up knitting as a new hobby when she was 100 years old.”

“She’s extremely social, and says she likes to have a drink on the weekends with her family. She’s partial to beer or rye and water, and she puts Irish cream in her coffee after mass every Sunday,” the article continues.

“She’s used to people who are astounded by her energy and good health at 105 years old,” CP reports. “I don’t really have a secret, it’s just good, plain living,” she tells CP.

Researcher Angela Roberts describes Charlebois as a “super ager,” or someone “80 and older that has the memory of someone 20 to 30 years younger.”

Roberts, the article says, is involved in a study on the topic of super agers involving Western University and four U.S. colleges. The research has found a few factors that seem to help people thrive into their 100s and beyond.

“Human connection, seeing and being with other people face-to-face, feeding off the emotional exchange is really important,” she said.

“We see this depth of social connection as perhaps being a defining piece of exceptional cognitive aging, and indeed that aligns with research that shows that social isolation is harmful in aging and can lead to dementia and contribute to cognitive decline,” she tells CP.

A story posted on the U.S. government’s National Institute on Aging website says research in the States has shown that super agers have more resilient brains than many of us.

“Physically, the brains of cognitive super agers seem to defy wear and tear better than the average brain,” the article notes, citing research from Chicago’s Northwestern University.

“Comparisons revealed that the cingulate cortex, a brain region considered important for the integration of information related to memory, attention, cognitive control, and motivation was thicker in super agers than in their same-age peers and showed no atrophy compared with the same brain region of the middle agers. In fact, a specific region of the anterior cingulate cortex was significantly thicker in the brains of cognitive super agers than in middle agers’ brains,” the article adds.

A flurry of research studies are trying to find out why some brains age better than others, the article continues.

Is there anything we can do in the here and now to boost the strength of our brains? Or the rest of us?

An article from Harvard Health Publishing suggests there are also physical “super agers” whose bodies “have an aerobic capacity of people 30 years younger.”

“Some studies have indicated that people in their 80s who exercised at high intensity for 20 to 45 minutes a day have an aerobic capacity of people 30 years younger,” Harvard’s Dr. J. Andrew Taylor states in the article.

The article suggests a number of steps we can all take to boost our brainpower and physical fitness as we age:

• Embrace mental challenges, such as puzzles and math games. Volunteer with a goal of trying and learning new things, the article adds, or leisure activities you haven’t done before.
• Increase your exercise capacity, and try to work out at a higher level for 20 to 40 minutes, three to five days a week, the article suggests.
• Prepare to be frustrated as you learn new activities – that’s OK, the article tells us.
• Don’t let you age deter you: some famous painters like Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses did not start painting until their late 70s, the article notes.
• Get going with a group, since taking part in new activities with a group of other people builds social connections as well as putting you in a group of like-minded beginners, the article concludes.

If you’re planning to be around for the long haul, you’ll need to make sure you have adequate retirement savings.

The Saskatchewan Pension Plan is a great resource to help you build and grow your retirement savings. SPP invests your hard-saved coins in a professionally managed, low-cost pooled fund. When it’s time to turn savings into income, your options include the possibility of a lifetime monthly annuity payment, or SPP’s flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Number of Canadians over age 85 set to triple: Statistics Canada

The number of Canadians over the age of 85 is expected to hit 4.3 million by 2073, which is triple the current number, reports The Canadian Press.

And in that future, about 50 years from now, there will be 63 million Canadians compared to just over 40 million today, the article notes.

Interestingly, the article says, Canada’s low birthrate means that most of the increase will be due to migration, which “will be the key driver of Canada’s growth for the foreseeable future,” the article adds.

The increase in numbers of older Canadians may have numerous impacts, the article reports.

Demographer Doug Norris tells CP that the growing senior population “will put double the pressure on the labour market because people are not only aging out of the work they provide but also aging into needing services provided by others.”

“We’ve heard a lot recently about long-term care, about the need for support for people to perhaps age in place, live in their residence for as long as they can, that help with that is needed,” he tells CP.

He predicts more people working in healthcare and long-term care facilities, “because the demand for those kinds of services are going to increase tremendously,” the article notes.

The growth, the article reports, should be seen the most in Western Canada with B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan “expected to take up more of Canada’s overall population in 50 years.” Eastern provinces, such as Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec are expected to see “a population decrease,” the report tells us.

Norris concludes by saying that addressing this growth in older seniors is something governments are going to have to address – for instance, more growth is expected in urban centres than in rural areas.

“We really are a very diverse country, and we need to understand the diversity not only in terms of aging and population, but in many other ways as well,” he tells CP.

So, let’s unpack this. Population is growing, more in some provinces than others, and more in cities than rural areas. The numbers of folks over 85 is going to triple over time, and there will need to be more long-term care or aging-in-place options for this group.

The future sounds pretty expensive. If you have a retirement program at work, be sure you are contributing to the max.

If you are saving on your own for retirement, a way to kick-start the process is to sign up for the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. Any Canadian with unused registered retirement savings plan room can join. SPP takes the heavy lifting of investment off your shoulders – they’ll merge your savings into SPP’s professionally managed, pooled fund which operates at a low cost.

And when it’s time to retire, you’ll have money to augment anything you’re getting from other sources – SPP retirement options include lifetime annuity payments, or the flexible Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

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Among the many strange aspects of life during the recent pandemic was the “work from home” boom. Office buildings stood empty, nearby convenience stores and food courts closed, and there was no “rush hour” traffic update on the morning news. Everyone was at home.

But that may be changing.

A recent CTV News report sums up how different things were during the pandemic.

COVID-19 caused “a mass exodus to remote work that had never been seen before,” the broadcaster reports. In 2016, “only seven per cent of workers in Canada said they `usually’ worked from home,” the article notes. As recently as early 2022, that number had soared to 24.3 per cent, or nearly one quarter of all workers.

But people are starting to “trickle” back to the office, CTV reports. The “working exclusively at home” number dropped to 20.1 per cent in May of last year, although there were still 11.7 per cent of workers in “hybrid” work arrangements (some hours at home, some at the workplace) as recently as November.

There are a couple of issues that have arisen due to remote work, reports Global News.

First, there seems to be a disconnect between what employers want – a return to work in the office – and what employees want – to be able to continue to work from home.

“A quarter of Canadians who usually work from home would like to work from home more, while one in eight would like to work from home less — which the report says is a challenge for employers,” Global reports, citing information from Statistics Canada.

“A mismatch between employees’ preferences for telework and the hours they work from home may negatively affect employee retention,” reports Global, again citing the Statistics Canada report.

The second issue is that offices in downtown centres, such as Toronto, are experiencing record vacancy rates.

According to the Financial Post, “the vacancy rate for downtown Toronto office buildings reached a record high at the end of last year as a flood of largely empty space from newly completed projects hit the market.”

“The downtown office vacancy rate in Canada’s financial capital rose to 17.4 per cent as nearly 58,100 square metres of new space came to market during the fourth quarter, according to data released Tuesday by brokerage CBRE Group Inc.,” the Post reports.

“The poor performance of the Toronto market helped push Canada’s national downtown vacancy rate to its own record last quarter, hitting 19.4 per cent, the data show,” the article notes.

COVID-19 is cited as the chief reason for the vacancies, as well as the fact that major office construction projects can take years, the article adds.

Because office towers take many years to construct, Toronto’s still working through office projects that began before the pandemic.

“With the city accounting for nearly half of all new office construction nationwide, Canada’s net-absorption rate, or the pace that office space gets leased when it becomes available, would have been positive without the impact from Toronto’s new supply, the data show. Instead, that rate was negative in the period,” the article concludes.

Some observers fear that the business of building and leasing office space may have been permanently damaged due to the COVID-related work-from-home trend.

The Canadian Press reports that “the COVID-induced work-from-home shift has ravaged the office market as many employers re-evaluated their office footprint. Firms have also looked at reducing their real estate holdings as a way to rein in expenses to help cope with the current weaker economy.”

“It is likely that 10 to 15 per cent of demand has been permanently destroyed with (work-from-home) trends,” Maria Benavente, vice-president and real estate-focused portfolio manager at Dynamic Funds, tells The Canadian Press.

This strange, once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) situation may take a while to play out. It will be interesting to see if the trickle of “in-office” workers begins to become more of a river, correcting the problem of office vacancy and breathing life into downtown businesses that are supported by office workers. Or, will people fight for the right to work from their dining rooms? Stay tuned!

Wherever you work, saving for retirement is important. If you are lucky enough to have a workplace savings program, be sure you are taking part to the maximum. If you don’t, and are saving on your own for retirement, you may want to consider joining the Saskatchewan Pension Plan.

Open to any Canadian with registered retirement savings room, SPP’s voluntary defined contribution plan delivers expert investment management at a low cost, using a pooled fund. SPP will grow your savings, and when it’s time to put work behind you, you can choose between a lifetime annuity payment each month, or SPP’s Variable Benefit program. Find out why SPP has been helping Canadians build secure retirements since 1986 – check them out today!

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How to hang on to any “pandemic cash” that may be pilling up

While some of us have had to struggle to make ends meet during the pandemic, others have – somewhat ironically – seen their personal savings shoot to new heights.

A report by CTV News looks at how some of us may have to adjust our budgets as COVID-19 restrictions begin to taper off.

The article notes that by the second quarter of 2021, Canada’s savings rate rocketed up to 13.1 per cent, more than double the previous year’s savings rate.

“Even Canadians’ credit card debts have been dropping, with rates hitting a six-year-low in June due to reduced spending,” the article informs us, citing data from Equifax.

You read that right. Credit card debt is dropping.

“Across the board in all age groups, we’re starting to see people pay more than they actually spend on a credit card, which is a real positive behaviour change in terms of consumers,” Rebecca Oakes of Equifax tells The Canadian Press in the article.

That’s great, but when things return to “normal,” will we still be saving and paying off debt?

CTV suggests a few things to do with any extra cash you may have accumulated as normality begins – and there are more tempting things to spend your money on than during the locked-down pandemic.

Finance expert David Lester is quoted in the article as suggesting one destination for extra bucks would be an emergency fund, which should be enough to cover “six to nine months of expenses.”

Next, Lester tells CTV that your retirement piggy bank should not be neglected in the rush to spend, spend, spend.

“It could go into your tax-free savings account (TFSA) or registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), but we should just get used to saving 10 to 15 per cent” for retirement, he states.

If you spend with a credit card, Lester says it’s important to pay off the card each month, and to avoid letting a credit balance begin to grow.

He recommends that you pay off credit card balances first, as soon as you get paid, “and then going to zero (balance).”

If you are setting a budget for the world after the pandemic, be realistic, adds Lester.

There were a lot of things we couldn’t do – many of them expensive – that we may not want to spend as much on post pandemic, he explains. We lived without them for a long period of time, Lester tells CTV.

“Maybe it was travel, maybe it was movies, maybe it was having coffee at home, or not buying expensive clothing,” he says in the article. “So see what you really don’t miss and go back through that budget line-by-line and see what you don’t have to add back on now that things are opening up. We don’t want to go back to that bad spending that we were doing before.”

Our late Uncle Joe frequently would pull us aside and recommend the 10 per cent rule – bank 10 per cent of your money off the top, and live on the remaining 90 per cent. “You will never have any problems,” he said. It’s very sensible advice.

Pay yourself first, the old adage goes. And if you are putting away that cash in a retirement account, you are paying your future self first. You’ll be making life easier down the road, because you’ll be entering retirement with money in the bank and at the ready. A great way to pay your future self first is to set up an account with the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. They’ll invest your savings, at a low cost and a historically strong rate of return, and at the appropriate time, will help you convert those savings into retirement income. After all, they’ve been delivering retirement security for an impressive 35 years!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!