SCIENMAG: Start training for retirement as early as 50, research urges

The University of Alicante presents the results of a project to establish European guidelines for preparing the population for life after full-time employment. The results urge people to start planning as soon as 50.

‘Start early’ is the main message from project partners at the close of BALL, a two-year project led by the Evris Foundation in Iceland, in which Reykjavik (Iceland) and Lublin (Poland) Universities of the Third Age and the Permanent University of the University of Alicante (UPUA) also participated. The project addressed the urgent need to establish directives and best practices for preparing individuals early for retirement, stressing the importance of on-going learning, environment and cultural factors, and knowledge sharing.

In the final project meeting of this Erasmus+ initiative, the partners presented lessons learned and the main tangible results of the collaboration. These include a model awareness-raising campaign, the “Personal Development Academy” and the “Warehouse of Opportunities,” all of which are outlined in the directives and recommendations document, “Towards a Dynamic Third Age.”

Specifically, the University of Alicante led the development of the awareness-raising campaign model with the intention of enabling any centre, institute or association to prepare the local population for retirement. Researchers Concepción Bru and Ronda and Nuria Ruiz of UPUA first made a European map of retirement and carried out surveys on the retirement situation (reports here). They then used this data to design the awareness campaign.

Read more: http://scienmag.com/start-training-retirement-early-50-research-urges/