All of my earlier ideas for how older people could use the accumulated wealth in all their assets, have been directed at raising the profile of older people in society.    At the moment they are too often forgotten or wished away, or worst of all, ignored completely.

In the next couple of decades, the population of older people in the UK is set to double.  This will be a massive problem unless attitudes towards older people and by older people themselves in society change dramatically.    Greater longevity inevitably leads to bigger demands on the health service and it is essential that we gear up for this, rather than regarding older people as “bed blockers” and a burden on society.

It’s also vital that everywhere and everything becomes much more accessible and age friendly.    Currently the rapid advance of technology is leaving far too many people behind.  Local shops, post offices and banks are all closing.    More and more services are going online.    This is the reverse of what needs to happen but I don’t mean that we turn technology back.    A key thing to do is to make technology much more easy to use for older people.

One way of doing this is for older people themselves to take a lead with a “GIVE IT ALL BACK CAMPAIGN”.    This initiative would invest in projects which make life easier for older people but could also be used by everybody else in society.

Older people are already the backbone of many voluntary organisations, where they give their time freely for a charitable endeavour.    Now they could use their new found £Trillions by donating to charities doing research into a variety of medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, hearing and sight loss, mobility etc.

It should not only be things that go directly to older people.    The “GIVE BACK CAMPAIGN” should support intergenerational projects, linking the wisdom of older people with the needs of the younger generation.    Socialising and communicating skills could be shared with a younger generation whose best friend is an iPhone.    The other side of the coin is that young people could teach older people how to use modern technology.

With older people’s new found wealth, the most obvious thing to do is to offer them  a little help whenever they need it.   So how about a scheme to employ young people to help older people to forge greater understanding and empathy between generations.

Not altogether unlike conscription used to be years ago,   Two years of service to the Country.    The £ Trillion Helpers would be paid £10 / hour which is higher than the minimum wage for people under 25 to recognise the valuable community work they will be doing.    It would either be 20 hours a week for two years or it could be fast-tracked to one year if they helped two different householders.

This would ultimately be paid for by the older people by increased inheritance tax, so the scheme would cost the Government nothing in the long term.      Indeed it will probably save the Country money by having happier and healthier older people,

Effectively this would provide a significant transfer of wealth between generations. If every young person gave 1,000 hours of assistance a year for two years at £10/hour, that could go towards paying off £20,000 their student debt.    Twelve million older people would be contributing £240 million to the economy every year.   Only young people entering the armed forces would be exempt.    Young people in full-time education should do their assistance period before going into university so that they could learn something about life first.

• Gardens would be tidier and young people could learn how to grow vegetables.
• Young people could up-skill their older companions on using computers and any other gadgets they can’t use,
• The young assistants would be taught all the basic household skills including cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing clothes.
• Together they could build a “ Book of Life” charting the lifetime of experience of the older person.

Here’s the first idea for spending  our new found wealth and having fun, by showing how important older people are in society.     As a result of our politicians being so ineffective in the last ten years, older people need to make their voices heard much more loudly in future.  The next decade is going to be the era of public demonstrations about anything and everything.

Look what a difference a young child -Greta Thurnberg – made to raising the profile of climate change around the world.

Older people can learn from young people and do the same for social change and the ageing of society.

Greta and a bunch of young people just skipped school one day and picked up a load of placards and took to the streets.  When it went viral with lots  of media attention children were attracted to the idea of a day off school👬

So how would you get thousands of older people protesting and what about ?

Here’s an idea for the first few demonstrations about the things older people have been complaining about for years.

You can find earlier posts on this by clicking on the archive for August 2017 and finding my blog entitled “LLLP Brexit Negotiations on Gadgets”.

If you don’t want older people to read or understand things, for instance legal terms and conditions, the frequently used approach is to write it in small, unreadable print, like this is!

But don’t do it!  It’s not age friendly.

You can find earlier posts on this by clicking on the archive for July 2017 and finding my blog entitled “LLLP Brexit Packaging Negotiations”.