I don't think 50 is old at all!

It depends on what sort of disability you have, but I know many quite disabled older people who are working.

I'm a great believer in the old markets that many towns and cities have on weekends and public holidays, as great places to sell goods or services that can at least supplement a disability pension, if not take over from it.

We have an older guy in our city centre (a quadriplegic) who sings in the malls most days. He always seems to have plenty of money in his hat!

I realise not everyone has his singing talent, but my point is not to give up!

my point is not to give up!
suzeonline,
I wonder if you'd still think that way after you've had 3 major robberies & no authority shows any inclination to help you. Or when your State Government with the stroke of a pen wrecks all your plans for your retirement & even forces you to resign & up & move at close to retirement because Public Service housing has driven local housing way beyond reach for a normal worker to afford.

Suzeonline:>> We have an older guy in our city centre (a quadriplegic) who sings in the malls most days. He always seems to have plenty of money in his hat!
I realise not everyone has his singing talent, but my point is not to give up!<<

Suze I realize your comment was meant as to be positive reinforcement for our mate 50startingagain, but my dear it is simply patronizing and displays a total lack of empathy re the effect on personal esteem and an individuals assumptions of their worth to those reliant on them and the society as a whole.

The solution you suggest will see DSP recipients become one armed jugglers, ageing warblers, or wheelchair bound galargaphone impresario vying for our pocket change at every public venue. Let them eat cake comes to mind.

The issue is one of perception; traditionally a cross culture comparison between the East and West finds the seniors in the East as revered figures both within the family unit and broader society, useful to the society as a whole to the very end. Be they captains of industry or train guards just the fact that they have survived and experienced life gives them a station above those who have experienced less.

TBC

When I entered the workforce a junior clerk was 30, a senior clerk was 40 and the manager was 60. Today the manager is 30 the senior clerk has gone via technology and the head clerk is 21, the term junior has expired with “trainee” being the new descriptive for bottom of the pile.

I am not suggesting that our young are not capable but some of the largest corporate bungles in modern history would not have occurred if management was more seasoned and the longer term outcomes of their decisions canvassed, but you cannot canvass what is not in your experience or in the experience of those advising you. A look at the average age of our politicians over the past 60 years is an example in point, IMO the younger the mean age of the parliament, the poorer the governance. We have the youngest parliament in our history and indisputably the worst. Formal education alone is worthless when a situation requires the finesse of a holistic view or understanding; the longer we are around the more competent we are regarding judgment on outcomes.

We have government funded campaigns to protect everything, except the validity of the worth of life experience. 50starting again, I know the struggle, the mental anguish and uncertainty of future that you and so many other baby boomer Aussies face, but the game has moved on, and the X’s and Y’s today, like we when we were their age do not understand the value of tenure, but the difference is that when we were young the decision makers were old not young, so experience carried a value.

The most recent generation of adults, having grown up through the Great Recession, are mostly worried over the time of their retirement at which point they haven’t saved enough to be able to spend a decent life at their old age and rather have to cling to whatever menial work they can still find to support themselves. Millennials, Generation Y, 20-somethings, call them what you will, are found to be generally pessimistic about their future security and are less confident of finding a way to prepare for their old age.

Many adults nowadays are worried about their old age, but I don’t think age matters when it comes to office work that make use of computers. Aging is not an excuse to stop learning new things and develop some skills for things that you’re interested in, which in turn can help you have some income while you’re having fun. There are also several works that are home-based in case there are difficulty on the part of the person to go out and head for work, I’m sure there are few of those projects for old people in the community. It helps to do a little research and look-around to find something rewarding to do. Best of luck!