Liveaboard with fewer old people?

[peeweediver]

Well, this conversation certainly got the blood flowing in our old, broken down 60-something bodies. I hope the OP is still reading some of these posts and hasn't tuned out due to the many old person responses. Our first diving trips were with young kids so we split up, one played on the beach with the kids while the other dived. Since the kids got certified and then left the nest, what has made diving as special as it is for me is that my wife is as enthusiastic about diving as I am. We like the groups we travel with (just had dinner last night with a just tuned 40 couple we met in one of the groups) and having my spouse as my dive buddy makes everything outstanding. To the OP, join Scuba Meet Up groups in your area (we have at least one in Chicago), get to know dive shops in your area and then join some trips with those groups that you can find a few age-appropriate pals. It is hard if you're 20-something and everyone else is 50+. But, find the right group that is diverse in age in your hometown and go diving with them.

Rob

 

[dead dog]

If 50 is the new 30, then is 30 the new 10 year old?

You summed that up just right.

 

[lowviz]

...//... I really have nothing to talk about with people in their sixties. I love the alone time but ...

Try solo diving.

I find that you can be any age that suits the moment. Nobody is watching, nobody cares.

 

[scubafanatic]

50 is old ??

Actually, it is! ...at least where I work (major broker-dealer/financial institution who shall not be named to protect the innocent ) just last year they 'offered' a financial incentive package to anyone over 55 with 10 yrs of service, to quit the company....and they openly admitted they weren't reducing headcount, they were just replacing them with younger people! So, in the American workplace, if you are in your fifties, you are damaged goods and a business liability.

My company loves to manage or 'roll in' "old" people's money/retirement accounts, just doesn't want any of them on the payroll.....we just want your money, NOT YOU!

 

[scubadada]

Actually, it is! ...at least where I work (major broker-dealer/financial institution who shall not be named to protect the innocent ) just last year they 'offered' a financial incentive package to anyone over 55 with 10 yrs of service, to quit the company....and they openly admitted they weren't reducing headcount, they were just replacing them with younger people! So, in the American workplace, if you are in your fifties, you are damaged goods and a business liability.

I volunteered twice for severance at the large company where I worked. Unfortunately they would not go for it. I retired when I was 60. Nearly 200 dives per year since then,

 

[Dogbowl]

Yeah I guess so...in certain industries, 20s is old (modelling females), 30s (Hollywood females). In my firm, mandatory retirement age is 62, to make room for the young ones to come up the ranks.

 

[Hoag]

Yeah I guess so...in certain industries, 20s is old (modelling females), 30s (Hollywood females). In my firm, mandatory retirement age is 62, to make room for the young ones to come up the ranks.

Where I worked (the RCAF) there is a Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) of 55. If you apply for a waver, you might be allowed to stay up to age 60, but that is done on a case by case basis. In general, by your 55th birthday, you are done.

 

[scubafanatic]

I volunteered twice for severance at the large company where I worked. Unfortunately they would not go for it. I retired when I was 60. Nearly 200 dives per year since then,

I wasn't quite eligible at the time, so I didn't know the terms of the offer, but the company is quite cheap, so I'm sure the ' $ package' was meager. These offers are best characterized as "Silver or lead" (slogan taken from the world of drug lords who offer bribery at first (silver) , and threaten to kill you if you decline to be bribed (lead = bullets)

If you accept the offer you help the company maintain the PC image of 'voluntary buyout = no age discrimination over here, folks). If you decline the offer then you know the company will be targeting you forever afterwards for termination, making you as miserable as possible going forward, until you quit on your own or they dream up 'cause' to just fire you! I'm sure most folks who 'accepted' this offer fully understood their 'silver or lead' options and agreed in pure desperation of really having no choice.

 

[scubafanatic]

Where I worked (the RCAF) there is a Compulsory Retirement Age (CRA) of 55. If you apply for a waver, you might be allowed to stay up to age 60, but that is done on a case by case basis. In general, by your 55th birthday, you are done.

In a military/pilot situation, I fully get being forced to retire @ 55...it makes less sense in a white collar/office building/desk jocky environment though.

 

[scubadada]

I wasn't quite eligible at the time, so I didn't know the terms of the offer, but the company is quite cheap, so I'm sure the ' $ package' was meager. These offers are best characterized as "Silver or lead" (slogan taken from the world of drug lords who offer bribery at first (silver) , and threaten to kill you if you decline to be bribed (lead = bullets)

If you accept the offer you help the company maintain the PC image of 'voluntary buyout = no age discrimination over here, folks). If you decline the offer then you know the company will be targeting you forever afterwards for termination, making you as miserable as possible going forward, until you quit on your own or they dream up 'cause' to just fire you! I'm sure most folks who 'accepted' this offer fully understood their 'silver or lead' options and agreed in pure desperation of really having no choice.

The severance package at my company was very good, thus my two attempts to participate. I worked for a very good company, quite large pharmaceutical company, 70,000 employees the year I left. Retirement benefits were also very good. I have no complaint, just had to wait a little longer.