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Marx was right, the two principal drivers in our behaviours are sex and money. A successful financial salesman used to present in working men’s club with a clipboard stuffed with ten pound notes, when he opened the clipboard out, he revealed a montage of cavorting couples.
“If you want out of that, you’ll need plenty of that” -was his catchphrase
I’ve often wondered why the International Longevity Centre, a great research organisation, don’t talk more about people’s sexual needs in later life, which (I hope) don’t diminish.
But while the libido remains strong, the capability to perform the act reduces.
I am pleased to discover that the ILC has now turned its intellectual curiosity to the link between financial capability and sexual prowess.
And in case you don’t want to read the presentation through, here is how it concludes
This slide shows two things.
Firstly that older people have less sex as they journey though their later decades.
Secondly that the more financially literate (the questions were about money) are getting more sex.
I don’t find the idea of older people having sex distasteful. Infact I find that our society has a taboo on this subject distasteful. The bias towards sex being for the young may have some biological purpose , but sex is about love and having fun and why older people shouldn’t have love and fun and sex is beyond me.
It is a lot cheaper to be financially literate than to pay for Viagra, though the financially astute may have better means to pay for sex drugs. But more seriously, the chart suggests that the old adage that a “healthy mind leads to a healthy body” holds true.
Brain training for the over 50s
Financial education should be delivered in schools, it should be delivered in the workplace and it should go on being delivered in later life.
Now that I’ve got your attention with Cesira’s stunning conclusion, let’s look at some more mundane outputs from her research.
It looks like those who take care to understand financial matters are better able to get others to care for them when mind or body gives out.
My friend from Rotherham , who told me “you want out of that , you’ll need plenty of that” was right. The ILC research shows that people who are smart about money , save more and have more.
Let’s not be shy – let’s talk about sex and the elderly
I can see why people are shy about it. But I don’t think the taboos about elderly people enjoying sex are good for society and I don’t think they’re fair on older people.
I am quite sure that (until this bit of research), I have seen no-one making a causal link between financial wellness and sexual activity.
And before anyone tells me I’m being distasteful, let me remind readers that one of the principal reasons for our demographic time bomb is because we have not been making enough babies in this country for the past forty years.
At a personal, familial and societal level, the generations in retirement today are suffering from not having a strong family unit to take care of them in later years and this is going to get worse as more elderly people find themselves in need of support.
Perhaps we should all be a little let prudish and remember that “our children are our future” and they don’t get delivered like this.
And finally…
While IFAs can make you sexy, it doesn’t look that the most sexed amongst us, want to be IFAS.