The following is a post from a reader who's a CFP and blogs at Swimming Upstream to Wealth:
Ever since Ponce De Leon set sail to discover the fountain of youth, people have dreamt of eternal youth. This quest has inspired authors, moviemakers, artists, and an entire industry of opportunistic shysters. While these charlatans push magic pills, organic hormones, and surgical procedures, the fountain of youth may be right in front of our faces.
Mental Jumping Jacks
Study after study has shown that those who continue learning increase longevity. While ample retirement assets and health insurance assist in this endeavor, these factors pale in comparison to remaining mentally engaged. In 2003, the New England Journal of Medicine released a study revealing that seniors over the age of 75 who continued to actively read staved off Alzheimer’s and dementia better than those who failed to flex their mental muscle. Any activity that engages the brain helps. It can be a crossword puzzle, a second language, or the latest craze, Suduko.
Opportunities Galore
Today, retirees have more opportunities than ever to study. Most community colleges, and even four year universities, are offering discounts for seniors. Online universities are especially targeting the leisure student with their programs.
Even better, many of the most respected schools in the nation are now posting their coursework and professor lectures online for free. MIT, Notre Dame, and Berkeley have already posted several courses for download, covering topics from history to religion to quantum physics. Even Harvard and Yale plan to provide coursework to the public by year’s end.
If you want to increase your years, and the quality of those years, you should sharpen that pencil (or laptop) and get back to school.
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