How people think about their golden years – famous sayings about getting old

When our late father turned 80, we asked him how he felt about getting old.

“Well,” he said, “it sure beats the alternative.”

Save with SPP decided to take a look around at what other people are saying about something we all eventually have to face – growing older.

The Grandmawise website offers up a number of great thoughts on the topic.

Let’s start with the late, great British musician David Bowie.

“Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been,” he once said.

Another musician – John Lennon of the Beatles – once stated “count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”

Albert Einstein also had something to say about the prospect of getting older.

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”

Readers’ Digest offers up a collection of positive views about ageing.

“The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles,” the author Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed.

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones once remarked “Getting old is a fascinating thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.”

“We are always the same age inside,” said the writer Gertrude Stein.

The folks at Parade provide us with some additional insights.

 “I think that laughter and smiling are one of the best antidotes to ageing that you could possibly have,” said the actress Demi Moore.

Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt once quipped “Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.”

The actress Cameron Diaz sees ageing as a gift.

“I feel very grateful that I get to turn another year older because not everybody does. Not everybody gets to grow old,” she suggested.

Let’s close with a few from the Deliberate Directions website.

Advice columnist Ann Landers once observed “At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking of us at all.”

Playwright George Bernard Shaw stressed the importance of humour.

“You don’t stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing,” he once said.

Last word goes to the great actress Sophia Loren.

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age,” she once said.

A long life is what we all hope to have. Our friends in New Brunswick recently entered their 30^th year of retirement – so you may experience a very long time enjoying life after work.

If you lack a workplace retirement program and are saving (or not saving) on your own for retirement, consider signing up for the Saskatchewan Pension Plan.

SPP is an ideal retirement savings partner. You provide the savings dollars, SPP invests them in their professionally managed, low-cost, diversified pooled funds.

Any Canadian with registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) room can join; you can contribute any amount you choose up to your RRSP limit. If you have other funds in an unlocked RRSP you can transfer those into SPP as well to consolidate your nest egg.

When it’s time to leave work behind, your SPP retirement income options include the secure choice of a lifetime monthly annuity payment, or the flexible choice of our Variable Benefit.

Check out SPP today!

Join the Wealthcare Revolution – follow SPP on Facebook!