FINANCIAL ADVICE “We live too short and die too long” By Richard Yaskinski Special to the CDCR The philosopher Satchel Paige asked: “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” This question explores the central issue in our life’s journey. Age is really about how we feel. We’ve met 40 year olds that plod along and end their day in front of a TV and 80 year olds that have a twinkle in their eye and a schedule so busy you have to book an appointment. How- ever many still view aging as a time in our lives where we relax, ‘enjoy’ life and slowly decline in health, activity, productivity and contribution. Much scientific analysis has been done on the ‘limit’ of the human body. Dr. Bortz summarizes five separate lines of scientific evidence suggesting 120 years is our true lifespan. Current estimates suggest a male child born today will live to about age 79. A differ- ence of 41 years is a lot of time to waste! What’s happening that pre- vents us from living to our true limit? Baring genetic predisposition to dis- ease or an unfortunate accident, maybe it’s the choices we make re- garding what we eat, how we exercise 10 – January 2016 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report and what we fill our time with that re- duces the years we can truly live. We know what those choices need to be – yet do not always choose what’s best for living a longer, healthy and fulfilling life. Here’s a thought. “Will a constant and unwavering purpose in life encour- age us to maintain our health like noth- ing else can?” Maybe replacing ‘a life of leisure’ with a ‘life of purpose’ is the answer. A purpose that causes us to focus our physical and mental energies to achieve something important to us. A purpose that encourages us to make better health decisions because we