Retirees can advise on debt control
"This is not housing or student debt...but it defines their lives." Diane Maxwell, retirement commissioner
Young people have been urged to listen to their already retired elders if they want to avoid being crippled by debt.
Retirement commissioner Diane Maxwell made the comments during a speech on the first morning of Grey Power’s national annual general meeting in Palmerston North on Monday.
In a wide-ranging speech in front of more than 100 Grey Power members, Maxwell covered topics like the skyrocketing price of superannuation, retraining older people in new areas of work and ensuring the country had infrastructure in place to take care of an aging population.
But the vast majority of her hour-long talk focused on the need for people to listen to retirees.
She said there was an increasing amount of young people getting into debt in their 20s and 30s.
‘‘This is not housing or student debt... but it defines their lives.
‘‘This stops them owning a home, stops them getting ahead, stops them providing for their families and stops them having peace of mind.’’
Some young people thought getting rich was about a quick business idea or ‘‘putting a video clip on Youtube and making heaps of money from it’’, she said.
‘‘It’s actually a slow burn, working on the idea that getting to retirement in good shape is about a lot of decisions across a lifetime.
‘‘Sometimes, that means you can’t have everything you want right now.’’
While comments about millennials spending too much on ‘‘eating smashed avo and drinking too many lattes’’ were probably overblown, Maxwell said there was a grain of truth in there.
‘‘Young people are spending money on a whole heap of things that I don’t think your generation would be buying.’’
She urged Grey Power members to help their children and grandchildren understand financial issues and become financially literate.
‘‘You have some wisdom you can share with those generations.’’
She said her mother-in-law’s habit of reusing tea bags was probably a step too far, though.
‘‘My mother’s money rule was ‘you get it, you save it and you spend it later’.’’
Businesses would also pay to heed suggestions from retirees as they made up a large proportion of customers, Maxwell said.
Movies with older actors grossed extremely well at movies, while restaurants with menus printed with large font would likely attract more older customers, she said.
‘‘How is the world going to get ready for an older population?
‘‘Cosmetics are being advertised by 18-year-olds. I’m 50. I don’t want a teenager selling me makeup.’’