Sign in to wowOwow

Enter the email address that you used when registering at wowOwow.
The password field is case sensitive. Click here if you have forgotten your password.

Please register for wowOwow

Newsletter subscriptions
Sign up to receive wowOwow's weekly newsletter and get our best picks delivered right to your inbox. Our newsletter content is hand-picked by the wowOwow editorial team and provides the top features, news, and commentary from our site. Subscribing to our newsletter is free and safe. We will never share your email or other information with a third-party without your direct consent.
By registering, you indicate that you have read and agree
with our privacy policy and terms of service.

Conversation | 06/27/2008 12:00 am

The New Catch-22 for Women

© iStock

Retirement: Will the money run out before we die, now that we live longer? Who will take care of us? Who will take care of anyone? Who do you have to take care of? And what do we think about money and retirement? These were some of the questions posed to the wOw women. Read on for the resulting conversation.

LIZ: The only way to retire is to have money; or to get old, or to get sick. I don’t think anybody can retire without money anymore, and it’s going to be proven now, in spades, with all of these people
retiring.

JANE: And I’m working on some information about going to Germany for stem cells for all of us. So when that happens, we’ll live close to forever. Stem cells are already being … being put into cosmetics and all kinds of things now. And we’ll be using them on the surface of our skin, and also taking injections.

LIZ: You’re quite right. They’re using them in all kinds of operations now, even though they haven’t been approved.

JANE: No, I know it. So I really think … that there is something out there that will make us live longer and we’ve got to get into it right now, and then worry about the money later. But if the stem cells really work, maybe we’ll be rejuvenated to the point where we’ll be able to work.

If I'm lucky, I'll probably go bankrupt one of these days. So I hope I do. I hope I live long enough to not have any more money.

LIZ: The stem cell argument, an ethical argument, is still going on in lawmaking and in the United States and so forth. And yet people are already going around the world to have stem-cell operations. I have a friend who has cancer of the bladder and he’s given up on the usual
treatment and he’s gone to have stem cell … some kind of stem cell thing, at a place that he won’t tell where he went.

JANE: I’ve already had neuropeptides injections, which is the closest thing to stem cells, for the brain. And I can’t tell any difference, but hopefully it’s done something.

LIZ: Oh, I think you’re a lot smarter now than you used to be.

MARY: Did you do that in the United States?

JANE: No. The doctor was from Germany and came to a holistic doctor’s office here.

MARY: Well Germany does a lot of that, yes.

JANE: It was almost like a placebo effect, because I felt better doing something, you know? And I know he’s very respected in, I think it’s Frankfurt or Hamburg. And this is a place where, I think I’ve talked about it with you, Mary. Siegfried and Roy went for treatment after Roy’s accident.

MARY: Right.

JANE: … and we’re going to find out about it. There is someone here who can help us find out more about the treatments.

LIZ: And there’s that book … The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil.

JANE: He co-wrote a book about vitamins with a doctor. He takes over 200 vitamins a day.

MARY: We’re taking all his vitamins. You can get them on the Internet.

JANE: I know. I may switch to his regimen from Life Extension … well his book, I think it’s called Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever.

MARY: The late Dr. Helen Singer Kaplan said, "Some day, not too long from now, a group such as us will be sitting around and we’ll be saying, ‘Oh, think about 1990. People actually died back then.’"

LIZ: Oh, my God.

Read more about: Aging, Books, Retirement

285 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Shooz
To get back to the original subject, do we really want to live forever? I, for one, do not. I’ve had a TREMENDOUS ride, starting out with one parent when that was a stigma, starting out with a minimal socio/economic position, and realizing my fate was pretty much my own responsibility. That realization, together with hard work and real luck, led me to the ability to work until I was 75 … when physical decline made retirement suddenly immediate. I’m now on the cusp of my ninth decade. Feel I’ve had at least my due and probably much more. I’m enormously grateful. (Afer all, what else is there but gratitude, appreciation?) The next generations are totally welcome to this world. I’ve had fun!
By Shooz on 06/27/2008 6:04 pm
Vivvy Stewart
Shooz, that was beautiful. I applaud your life, your gratitude, and the fact that you have kept up with technology and came here to share with us. Best wishes and thank you.
By Vivvy Stewart on 06/28/2008 9:02 am
Maurine H
Hooray for you Shooz! You are a wonderful role model for all of us! And I love your photo!
By Maurine H on 06/28/2008 2:24 pm
Harriet C.
Rich or poor, would anyone really want to live forever?
By Harriet C. on 06/27/2008 6:15 pm
mary lou s
my 89 year old mother is watching people her age and younger die. while she is still full of life, she understands the idea that she might not want to live on after a certain point. for myself, deterioration is causing me to think there will be a time when i will be ready to give it up. stem cell research should be done, though, for all the people it can help. neuropeptides? sometime i will look them up.
By mary lou s on 06/28/2008 9:50 pm
Elisabeth S
Mary Lou, i am glad you have your computer back and are posting again. I missed seeing your comments. Hope you are feeling well after your test. I agree there is a quality of life issue at some point. It’s the same for stem cell research-maybe most of it won’t effect our generation but think of the changes it might make for future generations. Terrible diseases that might be cured or controlled. No question in my mind.
By Elisabeth S on 06/29/2008 1:38 pm
Isabelle Herbert
This is a subject so close to my heart! And I see two clear parts to this. The age for retirement (65 or thereabouts in most western societies, or younger for women, which is strange as they live longer) was set when almost everyone was dead at 70. So you paid into a fund - often state supported - and had 5 or 6 years of secure, pleasant, retirement before popping off this mortal coil. Now that we routinely live to 85 or beyond, should we really still expect to retire at 65? I don’t think so, personally. I fully anticipate working until I’m 70 and I hope to keep myself fit and healthy enough to do that. And although you can never be quite dure what life will throw at you health wise, you can at least do your best to keep fit enough to work. State pension/social security funds and private funds too were designed to keep ex employees in a reasonable standard of living for maybe 10 years at most, not 20 plus. We are not addressing this reality. The second part, is how this affects women in particular. The career gap. Or career chasm in many cases. I’m one of many who foolishly gave up work to stay home for some years looking after children and then took a boring part time job to fit in around them. Now in my 50’s I’m trying to make up for lost time by rebuilding a career. I have a pathetic retirement fund to look forward to. Now I’m lucky enough to still be married and my husband is a decent man. Yet still, I’d like my own money so that I can make my own choices about how I live and what I do in retirement, not have to ask him and barter every time I decide I want to do something which doesn’t interest him, like I was asking for a favour. Like maybe decide my own vacation choices, doing the things I want to do etc. No woman (or man for that matter) should be able to give up work to stay home and take care of anyone, child or parent or whatever, without being sat down by a financial planner and told “This is how it will affect you 20 years from now. You will have very little money of your own. You will have no independent pension. You will be economically dependent for years and years” Actually I think young women especially well qualified ones, are voting with their feet; I don’t know any who want to have kids………… and the main reason is? They know they will be financially dependent for years. I think there’s a book out there somewhere on this. The Feminine Mistake.
By Isabelle Herbert on 06/27/2008 6:49 pm
Frannie Em
Isabelle Great input.
By Frannie Em on 06/27/2008 7:07 pm
K O
Thanks, Isabelle. You’ve added a great deal to this discussion, and we can all benefit from your valuable insight.
By K O on 06/28/2008 12:58 am
mary lou s
isabelle, that is why our society needs to provide child/invalid care alternatives for the working (that includes women) population. check out what sweden or norway or even france do. watch the movie sicko, by michael moore. it is for the social good, not for those fat cats who can watch oprah instead of being at a desk. (that was meant tongue in cheek)
By mary lou s on 06/28/2008 9:59 pm
New York Business Owner
I appreciate being able to read this discussion - very pertinent. As an entrepreneur who started a business with $400 - I want to encourage anyone who is concerned about retirement or their financial future, to size up their skillset and create a plan to sell those skills. If I didn’t have a business, I would look into eldercare — or any kinds of services for seniors — bookkeeping and similar “necessary” services. Women excel at forming relationships, and are trustworthy. Start with one small step. Don’t make excuses as to why you can’t take a course, print business cards and flyers, or are embarrassed to be working from home. Just do it. Plant a seed. You will be pleased with how it grows into a tree..or an orchard.
By New York Business Owner on 06/27/2008 7:07 pm
Frannie Em
NY Business owner Great advice. There is a woman a the park that I walk in the morning. She walks two little dogs. She gets paid $25-50 per hour. More if she stays with them in the dog park. She does it three times a day and supplements her income by about $100 per day. She is retired and has a pension, so this is fun money and she loves dogs. Pet sitting is another. You don’t have them at your house, you go to their house, feed them, play with them, call the owner on the phone and let them talk to the dog - whatever - Clean up the doo etc. It is a snap. I know a young woman that is putting herself through college this way. There are many things out there.
By Frannie Em on 06/27/2008 7:13 pm
Flora Dora
To those of you discussing vitamins: I see five docs; all brilliant. Four take superb care of themselves; two are in the Physicians Heart Study. I also see a nutritionist who is at a nutrition center affiliated with a major medical center. This center is considered one of the best in the country. I ask my four super healthy docs what they do and they ask me. As far as Omega 3’s, I was in a one year NIH study and the brand (I didn’t know this at the time) they chose were Thereatears. If you want to buy them, they are with the artificial tears, not the vitamins. The study was for dry eye and when I told my other docs, they switched brands, because they knew that they’d been tested for mercury. Your body can only store so many water soluble vitamins; no matter what form they’re in. Too many only provides expensive urine. However, fat soluble vitamins:A, D, E are stored in the liver and too much can do you in. There are certain things you cannot get from vitamins and certain things you cannot get enough of from food. When I add a supplement I show my docs; I figure I’m on the right track if they want to know how to get it. No one has done studies on people who take hundreds of vitamins a day. And it’s elitist and for the rich. Do you have any idea what these “miracle” supplements cost? And nothing can protect you from a medical disaster: I always took superb care of myself but missed out in the gene pool. Two of my very health conscious docs have had very serious illnesses. The one who went through chemo said he had the worst reaction of anyone in his group. And that included the obese and smokers.
By Flora Dora on 06/27/2008 9:05 pm
Blue Circle Girl
This pet sitting is GREAT idea …. how would one get started doing that?
By Blue Circle Girl on 06/27/2008 9:58 pm
Frannie Em
I guess you would have to be good with animals. Maybe call some of the pet stores and see if they have a bulletin board to post ads. Place ad in Pennysaver or local free advertiser. Call pet groomers. Put ad in newspaper. etc. Start talking to people at dog parks.
By Frannie Em on 06/28/2008 2:53 am