Shades of grey

Remember when "Freedom 55" defined the perfect retirement?

What began as an advertising slogan to make financial planning seem more sexy became a life dream, fed by images of silver-haired, carefree seniors reaping the rewards of their life's labours on sun-drenched beaches and manicured golf courses.

The idea was that if you planned it right, you could make the pursuit of leisure a full-time job and literally sail through your golden years.

It was probably a good idea at the time -- before modern science started pushing life expectancy well beyond the biblically allotted span of "three score and 10" (70) years.

But, to quote an aging prophet, "the times they are a-changin'." And with them comes an urgent need for baby boomers to plan for a retirement that could last in excess of 25 years -- and include their parents.

Canadian life expectancy, which has increased steadily since 1979, has now reached 80.4 years. And it continues to rise. The number of centenarians (4,635) alone is up 50 per cent from 1996.

Our population is greying rapidly -- a record one in seven Canadians is 65 and older -- and for the first time in history, Canadian adults have more parents than children.

Rather than sailing off into a golden sunset, however, we're heading into a "grey wave" that experts warn could turn into a "long-term care tsunami" unless we face the fact that at some point we're going to find ourselves either giving or receiving care -- most likely in our own homes.

OK, so who wants to talk about growing old and increasingly dependent?

"Surveys tell us that most people would rather clean a toilet than discuss this issue," says Patty Randall, a Vancouver author and national "care-years" consultant.

"I've started calling home care a 911 issue for Canadian families because I get enormous amounts of email from boomer children, where the subject line is 'Help!' and from young seniors, who usually begin 'Please let me know what services are available for me to stay in my own home.'"

It's going to be a No. 1 topic for decades to come, says Randall. Her 600-page guidebook, Let's Talk -- The Care Years: Taking Care of Our Parents/Planning for Ourselves, chronicles her own 20-year journey as a "care guide" for both her parents, as well as her husband and, currently, her mother-in-law. (Her website is www.longtermcarecanada.com.)

The age wave is cresting. According to a recent national survey by Investors Group, 69 per cent of Canadians aged 43 to 69 still have at least one living parent or parent-in-law, compared with just 16 per cent in 1960. More than a third of them are already providing parental care.

It'll crash in 2035, Randall says, when the boomers are clustered around age 75 and start needing help with daily living themselves. And given the growing trend toward "aging in place," she adds, they're going to want to remain in their own homes as long as possible by having family and friends provide much of their informal care and, perhaps, help pay for extra in-home support services.

Randall cautions against relying on the government to pick up the slack. "Home care is not, and never has been, a guaranteed service under the Canada Health Act," she says, "and neither is nursing home care. They're extended care services" (governed by provincial and territorial legislation).

Ideally, long-term care should be a partnership between the government and families, says Randall, just as retirement is a partnership between you (your RSPs, personal savings, private pension) and CPP. (She suggests adding long-term care insurance -- her book calls it "a 21st-century product for Canadians -- to the mix in your 40s.)

Freedom, not fear, should be our motivator for planning for the "less-than-glamorous" stage of life, Randall says.

"The whole thing about care is you have to want choices. And increasing your choices, your freedom and your quality of life, that's the whole point."

carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 17, 2009 D1