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"Get a grip": Retirees roasted over tone-deaf pension question

A pair of retirees - and their significant others - have found themselves at the centre of a new online debate, all because of their submission to one financial advice column, and its circulation on social media. Both retirees - each with millions of dollars to their names - submitted their concerns to the Sun Herald’s George Cochrane, hoping for financial advice and a solid strategy moving forward with their respective retirements. The first request saw a 78-year-old man and his 79-year-old wife ask if they should look into selling some of their shares in order to stay below a threshold. The couple were receiving an account-based pension from their self-managed super fund, with a combined total of nearly $2.3 million - he had $1,5999,956 and she had $675,590 as of July 2017. Their combined funds were invested in Australian shares, they noted, and gave them a “healthy return which includes imputation credits”. They went on to share that since 2017, some of their shareholdings had “more than doubled in value”, and that the husband’s contribution to their fund had exceeded “the $3 million limit which the government intends to bring in.” “What will be the tax implications if my SMSF reaches $4 million and my wife’s $1.8 million?” they asked. “Should we sell some of our shares to stay below the $3 million threshold?” The second request came from a 60-year-old woman on behalf of herself and her 50-year-old husband, in which she revealed they had property valued at $4 million, and that they’d accessed her super to pay their $300,000 mortgage. His super, meanwhile, still contained half a million. Additionally, the two had plans to relocate to Europe to a “less expensive property” in order for them to spend more time - and have more funds to put towards - travelling. “We prefer not to work,” she shared, “have no children and intend to spend all our money. What would be a good strategy?” Advice was given, but the column’s wave of response came when The Guardian’s deputy news editor Josephine Tovey shared it to her Twitter, sharing her thoughts on the “generational inequality” it represented, and closing her take with the line “what problems to have”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Honestly if you want to get your blood up about generational inequality in Australia may I recommended the letters on the Money page of the Sun Herald? What problems to have. <a href="https://t.co/uka3EpbOOj">pic.twitter.com/uka3EpbOOj</a> — Josephine Tovey (@Jo_Tovey) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jo_Tovey/status/1660073911944638464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2023</a></blockquote> Many - mostly those from younger generations, primarily millennials - were quick to side with Tovey, unable to wrap their heads around the idea that the couples’ problems were valid ones. “Oh no. I have TOO MUCH MONEY. What to do, what to do,” one user wrote. “‘I have more money than I know what to do with. Please help’,” another contributed. “I'd ‘prefer not to work’ too but here I am,” one quipped. And as someone else put it, “more than $4 million in assets but too cheap to pay for professional advice. Nothing could be more boomer than this.” “I think that there is huge inequity and variance among Boomers - often depending on the presence or absence of intergenerational wealth,” another user noted. “Ditto with millennials cos of [the] same reason”. However, for every person who was condemning them, another was prepped and ready to come to their defence. “Dear oh dear. Tall poppy syndrome strikes again - Australians are so good at trying to tear down the successful,” one said. “Seriously, get a grip everyone. Good luck to them and I hope they enjoy their respective retirements.” “My partner and I don’t have kids, we live in a modest house and save as much as we can so that we can retire early and travel, we are not landlords, we didn’t inherit any money but we should have about $2 million to retire on, we are working class,” one shared, “doesn’t seem wrong to me.” “They obviously worked hard and earnt it!! Haters going to hate - but good on them - I hope in 20 years when I retire, I have problems like this too,” another wrote. “So they have worked hard all their lives, they don’t have children and they want to travel - why is this an issue?” someone wanted to know, before adding that “they deserve to spend their twilight years in comfort.” Images: Twitter

Money & Banking

The case of missing Madeleine McCann still grips the world – but why?

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who vanished as a three-year-old from her family’s holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007, was back in the news recently as yet another person <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/polish-police-reportedly-dispute-womans-claims-she-is-missing-british-girl-madeline-mccann/news-story/d5d789567c18f32973163d2419cbdf77">claimed to be her</a>. It’s a phenomenon fuelled by social media - in 2020 a TikTok trend emerged in which women uploaded images to compare themselves to Madeleine. The latest claim was quickly debunked by police, but it raises an interesting question: why do some cases stick in the public consciousness? What generates the ongoing engagement and interest? Put this into the context that two people under the age of 18 go missing every hour in Australia. That’s <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/campaigns/international-missing-childrens-day-campaign">48 every single day</a>. In the United Kingdom, of the 353,000 missing person incidents <a href="https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/for-professionals/policy-and-research/information-and-research/key-information">reported annually</a>, almost 215,000 relate to children. Of these, 98% will be found within 2 days, while the other 2% will remain missing for more than a week – and, as in Madeleine’s case, some will stay missing for years. <h2>The case of Madeleine McCann</h2> I was living in the UK when Madeleine was abducted, and remember vividly the photos of her, and the constant live news coverage from the scene. And I remember the interviews with Madeleine’s parents. I was working in a forensic centre, and I can recall conversations with criminal psychologists and forensic practitioners about the parents – we were all of the same mind. They were behaving exactly as parents would if their child had been abducted. Their body language, verbal cues, everything said they were telling the truth. But their innocence was not accepted by everybody, and some people were suspicious because of the parents’ apparent determination to stay in the spotlight. For me, the reason was clear – keeping Madeleine on page 1, at the beginning of every news bulletin, constantly in the public eye and on the public’s mind, was their best chance of getting her back. They were trying to use the world’s media to help find their daughter. Sadly, it failed, and we still don’t know what happened to Madeleine, or why, and ultimately who is responsible. But it was that media strategy, fuelled by the parents’ intelligence, perseverance and strength, that made Madeleine a worldwide story. Add to that the pictures of Madeleine constantly circulated in the media, an innocent, angelic, blonde-haired child, and she has become part of the world’s collective conscience. Madeleine is what social scientists would call an “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/ejil/article/29/3/703/5165646">ideal victim</a>”, a term coined by criminologist Nils Christie as “a person or category of individuals who, when hit by crime, most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim”. Once her face was implanted on our public consciousness, the story played into every parent’s worst nightmare: their child being taken by a predator, without leaving a trace, and never seen again. <h2>Madeleine McCann and the ideal victim</h2> It wasn’t that the circumstances around Madeleine’s disappearance were different to others, but the family that changed the script by how they responded. That’s why the whole world knows her name. The term “ideal victim” can be a little confronting, and criminologists are not saying they are a good choice – but rather that the victim wasn’t engaging in any risky behaviour, they weren’t involved in any criminal activity, they were in essence totally blameless for what happened to them. This is complicated framing, as people’s unconscious and conscious bias plays into how we judge a victim’s culpability, and ultimately how much we care about them as a victim or survivor. I’ve spoken about this “weighing of human worth” and our associated interest in some cases over others before. In an <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gabby-petito-case-has-been-exploited-by-the-media-we-need-to-stop-treating-human-tragedy-as-entertainment-168562">earlier piece for The Conversation</a> , I discussed the notion of “White women’s syndrome” and why there is always more media and public interest when a young, attractive, Caucasian female vanishes, when compared to a woman of colour for example. I used the media storm around Gabby Petito to illustrate this: Gabby was another “ideal victim” - young, innocent, vulnerable, and the target of an abusive, controlling man. But how has that level of public attention on the case, dissection almost, expressed itself? Well, if you type ‘Madeleine McCann’ into a Google search, you will return around 26,200,000 hits. Channel 9 created a podcast, which releases new episodes every time there is a “breakthrough”. Dozens of other podcast series have produced episodes on the case. <h2>A comparable Australian story</h2> William Tyrrell is Australia’s Madeleine. William was also three years old when he vanished from his step-grandmother’s home in New South Wales in 2014. Like Madeleine, he vanished without a trace, and there were images of William available in the media, showing a gorgeous little boy, the very picture of innocence. Who can forget the little boy in the Spider-Man suit? Another ideal victim, and one the media – and the public – took to their hearts. But not all children get the same attention. Do you know the name of <a href="http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/BradPholi.htm">Bradford Pholi</a>, a ten-year-old Indigenous boy who disappeared after leaving his family home in Sydney on Boxing Day in 1982? It’s <a href="https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/can_you_help_us/rewards/100000_reward/20091216_reward_offered_to_solve_27_year_old_case_of_missing_boy_bradford_pholi">likely Bradford was murdered</a>, and a $100,000 reward was offered in 2009. While his siblings remain hopeful one day they will find out what happened to their brother, I doubt his face is one you will recognise. I have never seen it age-progressed to see what Bradford would look like now, as has been done for both Madeleine and William. Stories about First Nations children do not generate the same attention as that seen for white children, a sad truth and one that must be recognised and faced. Why are we less engaged with stories like Bradford’s? This is a question I wrestle with as a criminologist and as a person. <h2>Madeleine’s disappearance changed missing children’s cases forever</h2> One positive that can be taken away from Madeleine’s case is that the media strategy used by her parents has changed the ways families of missing children interact with the media. To gain interest and keep the search front and centre for the missing children, the family has to engage and face the media pack, as hard as that is under such an extremely stressful situation. They need to be the voice for their missing child. It worked in the case of <a href="https://theconversation.com/cleo-smith-has-been-gone-almost-a-week-why-missing-children-cases-grip-the-nation-170363">Cleo Smith</a>, the four-year-old who was abducted while camping with her mother and de facto father in regional Western Australia in 2021. Again, the world watched and breathed a collective sigh of relief when 18 days later Cleo was found. Sadly, the media strategy has not paid off, yet, in Madeleine’s case, but the world lives in hope that one day we will find out what happened to her. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-case-of-missing-madeleine-mccann-still-grips-the-world-but-why-200727" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Caring

A frontline nurse’s gripping story

When Melbourne was plunged into rounds of lockdowns during the first months of the global coronavirus pandemic, two friends answered the call to join the frontline as nurses. After spending years as a family violence educator and sexual health nurse, Simone Sheridan put her hand up to retrain and work as an ICU nurse. Over countless phone conversations with her friend Alisa Wild, Simone shared the exhaustion, confusion, tears and surprising moments as she faced the greatest health crisis her city had ever seen. Then Alisa wrote it all down to form the newly-released book, The Care Factor. A celebration of friendship and nursing in the time of social distancing, The Care Factor has been praised for its ‘behind the scenes’ view into nursing and health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we present an excerpt from their gripping tale. Chapter 1 ‘Like preparing for a war’ The Crisis Respondent It’s 20 March and I’m in a doom spiral, fear- scrolling and heartbroken. There are twenty-eight new cases of Covid-19 in Victoria. Yesterday 2700 passengers disembarked from the Ruby Princess cruise ship into Sydney. It’s time to keep my three- year-old home from childcare. I’ve been working from home for years, setting up and packing up my laptop from the kitchen table each day. I think of this house as mine alone. Those hours when Jono is at work and Jack’s at childcare, the stretching peace of tea and silence and room for my brain to work; they are what keep me sane. I’m about to give them up. I’m supposed to be writing a children’s book but I can’t focus. I’m afraid. Instead, I call my friend in Sydney whose grandmother is dying in aged care. Limits on visitors seem to shrink each day. She’s from a big Greek family and everything feels wrong about her Yiayia being alone for a second. There should be cousins and great-grandchildren and love all around her for these final days. My friend manages to get permission for her children to come in for a ten-minute visit to say goodbye. With her own full-time work, the domestic load, and the children in her face, she sounds like she doesn’t have time to grieve. I call my single friend who is just back from an overseas work trip. She’s in quarantine at home alone – facing lockdown as soon as her quarantine time ends. She’s been sharing articles about skin- hunger and loneliness. I bite back my envy of her space, my longing to be alone. And I listen to her sadness. I call my friend who is helping to care for her bedridden father. He has a slow, debilitating terminal illness. Someone needs to wake with him several times a night to help with toileting because his bladder is shot. My friend is living several nights a week at their house, trying to share the load, dressing in cobbled-together homemade PPE when she does the shopping. I call my friend who’s living on Centrelink with two kids and training to be a nurse. I check that she’s got the tech she needs for remote learning. I call my friend whose work as a touring theatre performer stopped overnight to find out how she’s planning to manage financially. I call my friend who’s a high school teacher. He is spending the entire school holidays planning how to deliver distance learning. I feel like they are all superheroes. I feel like I am part of a great network of carers who are holding up the world and I hope my phone calls lighten the burden. I realise that the phrase, ‘Love makes the world go around’ isn’t actually about the nice feeling I have in my chest sometimes. It’s talking about the hard, endless, soft, sleepless, exhausting labour of caring for our people. That labour just got a whole lot harder. I call Simone. I make my first recorded call to talk about how she’s feeling as the lockdowns roll in. Wu Han, Seoul, California, New Zealand … and now us. I’ve been listening to ICU nurses in New York talking about their days. The danger. The deaths. The lack of PPE. I want to know exactly what’s happening here in the hospitals near me. I asked her how she came to decide. ‘I guess I felt: I’m up for this. I’ve got ICU experience. I’m fit and healthy and I’ve got good support. So, I’m going to give it a go. For me, there wasn’t a question. Sure, there’s a part of me that would love to just bury my head in the sand but…’ But people need her help. At the first ICU orientation session, the message Sim heard was, ‘We need you. Please come and do whatever you can. If you only come in for two hours to relieve tea breaks, at least that’s something.’ She is part of a huge cohort of nurses returning to ICU from other places – education, project management, retirement or maternity leave. Sim will be stepping back a little from her other role: training health professionals to recognise and respond to signs of family violence in their patients. ‘The thing is,’ she tells me, ‘all the face-to-face training I was doing has ceased. We can’t have people in a room together. No-one’s got time. It’s not the priority right now.’ She’s obviously conflicted about this. ‘We know from data around bushfires and other crises that we’re going to end up with an escalation in family violence incidents. Isolation at home will just make it …’ She breaks off. ‘It’s really hard for a lot of people. Really fucking hard.’ She explains that, on top of increasing incidences, the family violence services have to find ways to operate with social distancing. ‘Social workers are having to figure out what they can do online, from their homes. The refuges are asking questions like, can they take people who’ve been in hospital, or might they be a risk to other people in the refuge?’ I feel the issues expand in front of me. Of people living in crisis accommodation, of children in state care, of prisoners. How are we, as a society, going to keep people safe? ‘So, I’m hearing all this info about family violence and my emails are full of it and my job is to make sure hospital staff have an eye open for it. But you can imagine the barrage of information going through hospitals at the moment. People are trying to filter what they need to know from pages of writing. They just don’t have time for it. I wrote one email about the increases in family violence we’re expecting. I probably went over it 20 million times trying to make it as succinct and easy to read as I could.’ Her frustration levels are high. This is not surprising, when all she can do is send emails people might not read. ‘I don’t have the ability to talk to people about all the details. All I can do is flag it and make sure they know where to look for resources.’ She’ll keep working at that for now. But she’s also getting ready for something very different. She had her first training in ICU yesterday. ‘It was, quite hilariously, the most welcoming experience I’ve ever had there.’ She pauses to explain. ‘Background: ICUs can be snobbish places in the sense that you have to meet certain criteria to work there. They’re very strict about it. If you haven’t worked there for a while, they will only take you back under specific conditions – so you can receive support and training.’ It makes sense to me. This is about life and death. You need to get it right. ‘But we just don’t have the ability to run ICUs with the number of staff this pandemic will require. Things are changing fast and we need to think outside the box. Suddenly it feels like ICU is rolling out the red carpet. They’re just having to say, “We want you. We want all of you.”’ It’s been five years since Sim worked regularly in an ICU and when she did it was at a smaller, more specialised unit. She’s never worked in a big trauma ICU like at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. I ask her how she’s feeling about it. ‘I’m incredibly nervous. You can imagine that there are a lot of machines. And there are a lot of things to remember. There’s a lot of immediate recall of what to do at each point that really isn’t fresh for me.’ Her voice rises. ‘And there was a woman in my group yesterday who hasn’t worked in ICU for eighteen years!’ On the recording of our conversation, you can hear me gasp, ‘Eighteen years! The tech must have really changed for people like her.’ Sim equivocates. ‘Yeah, but interestingly, a lot of the principles haven’t. Bodies are still the same. Blood pressures are still controlled in the same way. The tech has changed for sure, but some of it’s become more intuitive.’ She laughs. ‘You know, like how using an iPhone is actually easier than using an old Nokia.’ Sim explains the way ICUs are run. If a patient is on a ventilator, they have a nurse dedicated solely to them, who does not leave the bedside. The machines control how many breaths they take, the volume of air with each breath and the concentration of oxygen they receive. Medications are delivered by pumps to control blood pressure and heart rate. The nurse is always there, monitoring the machines and adapting settings and dosages in response to changes in the patient’s vital signs. ‘I stupidly started the day by reading stories from nurses living the nightmare that is ICU in London right now.’ Her voice rises with incredulity. ‘I read they only have one ICU nurse to six patients.’ I can feel the tension rolling down the phone. Royal Melbourne usually has thirty-two ICU beds and they’re looking to open ninety-nine in preparation for the pandemic. ‘So, if we are going to ninety-nine beds, then we need to triple the number of staff, and there’s just not that many ICU nurses. Even with all of us coming back from retirement and out of projects, there’s a gap. So, they’re also training up a cohort of nurses who haven’t worked in ICU before; they’re calling them Fast Track nurses.’ She says they’re not just training. They’re also ‘untraining’. ‘They always talk about danger to self. Don’t go in if there’s a danger to you. But nurses are inherently bad at that. If someone suddenly pulls out a breathing tube or is bleeding everywhere, we tend to go straightin. We should wear gloves, of course, but in that moment, we often just do what we can to save that person’s life – then deal with ourselves later.’ They’ve been training in how to put on Covid PPE. They have to pay attention to exactly how they handle the mask and breathe strongly to test if they have a seal. The mask is tight-fitting and takes time to get it on. It takes time to get it right. ‘If I look into a room and someone’s arresting, I can’t rush in and save that person’s life. I have to diligently put my mask on and focus on myself first. It’s actually going to be really hard.’ But Sim’s trainer told them, ‘Look, the thing is, how many other people won’t make it if we lose one ICU nurse for fourteen days? Even if you’re not sick, you’ll have to isolate and that has an impact on how many people we could actually save.’ ‘Yeah, that was just huge.’ She laughs her disbelief. She explains that the ‘pods’ of the intensive care unit will be divided to stop the spread of infection. ‘Initially, they’ll put Covid patients into the isolation rooms, but there are only eight. Once the isolation rooms are full, then they’ll go into Pod A and B which can be locked into Pandemic Mode. And then, of course, there will still be all the patients in ICU who don’t have Covid – so they’ll be in the other pods. ‘And then just … we don’t know what will happen. But that’s the initial plan.’ I’m worried about older nurses coming out of retirement, back onto the wards and being put in the way of infection. I’m worried about the fresh new mothers who had months of maternity leave planned and are suddenly, instead, stepping back into a risk- filled workplace. I’m afraid of our hospital system being overwhelmed. My sister lives in London and works for the National Health Service. Just days ago, she was telling me about clearing entire mental health hospitals to make way for palliative care wards. Wards for the Covid patients over sixty who they won’t be ventilating. Who will quite probably die. I’m scared for my parents who are far away in New South Wales. Sim’s parents are even further, in Western Australia. But we don’t talk about our families. It’s easier to focus on the details of the organisation and planning underway. It feels both compelling and reassuring. ‘They’re trying to work out an estimate as to when we expect to see patients at the hospital. When we expect to be flooded. And the interesting thing is, they don’t think it will peak for us until late April.’ The hospital was planning to roll out a new system of electronic medical records in April but they’ve slammed the brakes on that. They don’t want to be training hundreds of staff how to operate a whole different record-keeping system in the middle of a global pandemic. They’ll do it in July, when hopefully the peak will be over. ‘We’re going into a period now of potentially four weeks of not much happening from a hospital perspective. So, we have this amazing benefit of time to prepare in a way that Italy didn’t. And the UK didn’t. Those countries were flooded with ICU needs before they had time to think what was happening. ‘Whereas we don’t have any patients with Covid at the moment at Royal Melbourne, so we’re in total preparation mode. Teams are being formed. People are being brought on. Recruitment is happening.’ Sim pauses and slows. ‘It’s weird. It’s like preparing for a war, but the war’s not here yet.’ This is an extract from <a href="https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/publishing/bookfinder/book/the-care-factor-by-ailsa-wild/9781743797273">The Care Factor</a>, the story of one incredible nurse who chose to join the frontline combating an unprecedented global health crisis (Hardie Grant Publishing Australia), out now.

Books

5 gripping memoirs by women with grit

<h2>1. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala</h2> Sonali Deraniyagala’s devastating memoir recounts the unthinkable losses she endured during the 2004 Sri Lankan tsunami. She’s on holiday with her parents, husband, and two young children when everything changes forever. With generous clarity she relays a peaceful, normal morning, and then the confusion that turns to horror as the wave comes in. Deraniyagala’s account takes you through unbearable, agonising losses. Her straightforward narration pulls you close to what would otherwise remain unimaginable. <h2>2. The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham</h2> Joan Wickersham’s riveting memoir goes over the circumstances of her father’s unexpected death by his own hand. She artfully captures the enigma of this unbearable act and its aftermath. In doing so, she takes the reader along on her attempt to make sense of her father’s passing. She structures her book like an index as a way to organise her father’s life and understand its mysteries. Wickersham’s beautifully haunting narration keeps you riveted. <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/65-books-everyone-should-read-before-they-die">Here are 65 books everyone should read before they die</a>. <h2>3. Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride</h2> If Sarah McBride’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she just made history (or, herstory) as the first-ever transgender person elected to the United States Senate. Sworn into office in January 2021, she’s also the National Press Secretary of the Human Rights Campaign. Before she ran for office, she wrote this moving book, telling her own coming-out story, her journey into activism, and her husband’s tragic battle with cancer. Also, not for nothing, but now-President Joe Biden wrote the foreword. <h2>4. I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron</h2> The screenwriter responsible for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, and Sleepless in Seattle was also an insightful novelist, director and essayist. This hilarious essay collection depicts Nora Ephron’s reflections on ageing. As usual, Ephron is relatable and charming while dishing out insights on parenting and relationships and their inevitable changes. You can’t go wrong with Ephron’s wit and charm showing you how to deal. <h2>5. Blackout by Sarah Hepola</h2> Sarah Hepola’s memoir is addictive as it chronicles the ups and downs of the drinking habit she needs to curb. It’s one of those can’t-put-it-down, just-one-more-page, keep-you-up-all-night books. Her voice is relatable and funny, honest and open. Hepola manages to be critical of her alcoholism while at the same garnering all your sympathy. The book is also about how the author finds her voice as a writer and a woman. It’s a stunning debut from a fantastic writer. <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/thought-provoking/13-books-we-bet-you-never-knew-were-banned">Here are 13 books you never knew were banned</a>. Written by Molly Pennington. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/book-club/15-gripping-memoirs-by-women-who-overcame-the-impossible">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA93V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a>

Books

5 gripping memoirs by women who overcame the impossible

<h2>1. Wild by Cheryl Strayed</h2> Readers fell in love with Cheryl Strayed’s lovely and lyrical prose in this best-seller about finding healing when you’re out on your own – like really on your own. Strayed’s best-seller recounts her months on a solo hike on the Pacific Northwest Trail from Montana to the Pacific Ocean. She comes to terms with a past filled with the wrong men and other choices she’d rather forget. Most of all, her epic hike allows her the time and space to grieve the loss of her beloved mother who passed way too young. A nature trail provides the path for what becomes an incredible journey. <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/book-club/10-best-romance-novels-all-time">You’ll also love these novels featuring strong fictional female characters</a>. <h2>2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou</h2> This is the book that launched Maya Angelou’s astonishing literary career. Her gorgeous memoir debuted in 1969 and captured the experience of growing up as a young Black girl in the South. Angelou’s poetic language expertly portrays details and events that are riveting and powerful. Though the book chronicles pain, it’s also about strength and resilience in the face of trauma. The book is a truly inspirational force about self-love and finding your intrinsic courage. <h2>3. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya</h2> In this powerful memoir, subtitled “A Story of War and What Comes After,” Wamariya writes about fleeing the Rwandan genocide as a young child, travelling through multiple African countries with her sister as refugees, and eventually ending up in the United States. Her circumstances do a complete 180 as she ends up being taken in by an affluent family and attending Yale. In this New York Times bestseller, she tries to reconcile the vastly different experiences of her life. <h2>4. The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr</h2> Mary Karr’s funny and moving memoir about a tough childhood was hugely successful when it debuted in 1995. Readers connected with Karr’s witty and masterful storytelling about life in a volatile Texas family. She writes about drama and dysfunction with a poignant eye that captures details that will stay with you long after you’ve finished. It’s a story of a child’s resilience in the midst of alcoholism, mental illness, and other assorted chaos. <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/uncategorized/25-bestselling-books-of-the-decade">Here are 25 bestselling books everyone should read</a>. <h2>5. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion</h2> Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne were a happily married literary power couple. Then suddenly, within a period of a few days, the famed writer lost her husband to a heart attack while her daughter was gravely ill with a sudden infection. Didion’s beautiful and acclaimed memoir records the year after these events during which her daughter continues a long and difficult recovery. Didion takes us through the heartbreak and shock of loss and love in this meditation on surviving grief. Sadly, Didion’s daughter passed after the book’s completion — the tragedy she chronicles in the companion book, Blue Nights. <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/ten-inspirational-quotes-worlds-strongest-women">Here are 10 inspirational quotes from strong women</a>. Written by Molly Pennington. This article first appeared in <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/book-club/15-gripping-memoirs-by-women-who-overcame-the-impossible">Reader’s Digest</a>. For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, <a href="http://readersdigest.innovations.com.au/c/readersdigestemailsubscribe?utm_source=over60&utm_medium=articles&utm_campaign=RDSUB&keycode=WRA93V">here’s our best subscription offer.</a>

Books

Jeremy Clarkson slams Meghan Markle: “Get a grip”

Jeremy Clarkson has said Meghan, Duchess of Sussex needs to “get a grip” and stop crying in a turbulent interview. The Top Gear star told British GQ that the royal must toughen up after she reportedly rejected the classic “stiff upper lip” philosophy. “Everybody cries. Everybody cried when Diana was buried. But I mean, as a general rule, you’ve got to get a grip,” he said. “I think the expression ‘get a grip’ needs to come back into the lexicon as soon as possible. Everybody needs to get a grip. Meghan Markle … just get a grip.” Clarkson’s abrasive comments may come as a surprise to many who watched and listened as he came to the defence of the couple when he said the public shouldn’t blame them for wanting to step away from their royal duties. He had previously said people were “allowed to resign from jobs they didn’t like”, and that royal life may have come to a shock to Meghan. Meghan shocked royal fans across the globe when she admitted being unhappy with her life in a documentary called Harry & Meghan: An African Journey. “It is not enough to just survive something, right?” She said in the emotional doco. “That’s not the point of life. You’ve got to thrive. “You’ve got to feel happy and I think I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a stiff upper lip. I tried, I really tried.” In January, she walked away from her royal duties alongside her husband Prince Harry and the couple have moved with baby son, Archie, to Canada. Meghan has already reportedly signed a voiceover deal with Disney in return for a donation to a wildlife charity.

International Travel

Getting to grips with arthritis

Arthritis is one of the most prevalent health conditions in the country with over 3 million Australians affected by around 120 different forms of this disease. Apart from the chronic pain and restriction of movement it inflicts on the sufferer, it also costs the country billions in medical care and lost productivity due to the incapacity it causes. Those who suffer from one of the multitude of arthritic conditions will attest to the restrictions it can place on even the most basic of daily tasks, such as driving, cooking and walking. The most common forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and gout, which together account for more than 95 per cent of cases in Australia. There is no cure at the moment, but there are many approaches that can be used to manage the symptoms and effects, involving a range of health professionals. Drug treatment options A range of drugs may be used to treat the pain and restriction of movement that arthritis causes. These range from analgesic pain relieving drugs to anti-inflammatories. The potential side effects of long term use make it essential to have your doctor closely monitor and manage any drug regime, but it is also important to educate yourself about the correct way to use them and the possible side effects. It’s not just doctors involved in treatment While your GP may be the central contact in the management of the condition, there are a range of other health professionals who may be involved in providing more holistic care. This can include dietitians, physiotherapists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, psychologists and podiatrists. Can diet help? There are certainly no magic bullets when it comes to arthritis, so you should be wary of any supplements or specific diets that promise dramatic results. Contrary to popular belief, there are no specific foods that directly cause arthritis (except perhaps for gout). As an example, some have suggested that foods such tomatoes and capsicums have an adverse effect on arthritis, but there is very little research evidence to back this up. Omega-3 fats found in foods such as oily fish may have some anti-inflammatory properties that may help, but the general rule when it comes to diet is to keep it balanced and healthy to maintain general health and reduce weight. Excess weight can be a contributing factor to the onset of arthritis because of the stress it puts on joints and lower back, so losing weight may be a dietary priority. Exercise can help too The pain and restriction of movement that arthritis causes may lead the sufferer to believe that exercise may potentially worsen their condition. While exercise may involve some pain, research indicates that physical activity is not going to risk additional damage and can be an important part of managing your symptoms. Exercise can strengthen muscles, improved support of joints, reduced stress and assist better sleep, so its significance should not be neglected. The level and type of exercise needs to be appropriate for your fitness level and mobility, so it is important to consult your doctor or physiotherapist about what is suitable for you. Low impact exercise with less force going through the joints is general more comfortable, so activities such as Pilates, tai chi, yoga, cycling, walking and hydrotherapy may be the most appropriate. Surgery is possible in some cases If the pain and impact on performing daily activities becomes overwhelming and if drug and other treatments are not providing acceptable results, then surgery may be an option to repair or remove offending tissue or even to repair or realign bones. Any surgery carries inherent risks and needs to be considered carefully in consultation with your doctor and the specialist surgeon to determine whether there is good potential for improvement and to assess the other risks surrounding surgery in your particular situation. Written by Tom Raeside. Republished with permission of <a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/health/getting-to-grips-with-arthritis.aspx">Wyza.com.au.</a>

Beauty & Style

Uncertainty has gripped the Australian retirement system

Susan Thorp is the Professor, Chair of Finance and Superannuation at the University of Technology Sydney. Will extra debt neutralise increases in the superannuation contribution rate? Studies of retirees’ financial positions show that many people accumulate debt faster than they add to their super. Once they are old enough to access to their superannuation, they pay off their debt rather than create retirement income. Is this poor planning, or are incentives at work that make superannuation unappealing? By 2020, most workers will be paying at least 12 per cent of their earnings into their superannuation accounts instead of the current 9 per cent. The Federal Government expects that this increase in compulsory savings will mean higher retirement incomes and less pressure on the Federal budget. In coming decades, the number of over-65s will rise from three to over eight million, dramatically increasing the cost of the age pension. Aggregate savings is projected to rise to $500 billion or 0.4 per cent of GDP - but this comes at a cost to taxpayers via concessions for superannuation savings (hence the mining tax furore). The problem is that many people don’t seem too happy about being compelled to save even 9 per cent into superannuation accounts, let alone 12%. A report prepared by Simon Kelly for CPA Australia showed that the average pre-retiree appears to be neutralising their compulsory superannuation savings in two ways: first by adding to property-related debt and second, by decreasing savings in other areas. In 2010, pre-retirees (50-64 years) had average debt levels almost as large as their superannuation balances, mainly due to rising home mortgages and rental property borrowing. The same age group added virtually nothing to financial assets outside their superannuation between 2002 and 2010. An ISN Research Report into retirement intentions released in 2010 showed that around 16 per cent of the 50-70+ group surveyed had debts (mainly property-related) at least as large as their superannuation savings.* The average debt of couples was 88 per cent of their combined super. Unsurprisingly, when asked what factors influenced use of their superannuation payouts, the most common choice (after plans for travel and leisure) was “I needed to pay off existing debt”. Acquiring debt to pay for houses or holidays is a “work around” for compulsory superannuation. People cannot draw on a superannuation balance to move to a better suburb or renovate the kitchen or purchase a boat. However they can still access cash or “rebalance” their portfolio by borrowing now and paying the debt with a lump sum later. Alex Malley, CEO of CPA Australia, wants the government to “break our love-affair” with windfalls by limiting the amount of superannuation that can be taken as a lump sum. Malley says that retirees should be compelled to take up income streams that deplete retirement nest eggs slowly. (It is worth pointing out that much of the retirement wealth management and advice industry is populated by CPAs. Advisor fee income relies on building on-going relationship with clients, which is hard to do if the clients have no retirement wealth left to manage. Retirees who take out a lump sum to pay off a mortgage, then live out their days on the age pension, do not need much financial advice.) Superannuation funds are also concerned about the looming possibility of a mass exodus of the fattest account balances into self-managed funds or property investments. So are the baby boomers simply profligate and short-sighted? Have they watched too much “Home Improvement” or are they also responding rationally to some powerful economic incentives? First, some people simply do not want the additional retirement savings they are being compelled to store up as superannuation so they arrange their finances to accordingly. Second, more fundamental tax incentives are playing a key role. Consider tax concessions for the family home. At any stage of life, capital gains on the family home are not taxable as income. This, along with negative gearing rules on investment property, and the generally strong growth in real estate values over the past decade, has ensured that housing and property wealth dominate household balance sheets. Further, family homes provide a flow of services, including security of tenure, that renters in Australia do not enjoy. The dangers of property bubbles notwithstanding, tax structures and the risks of tenancy encourage heavy investment in property before retirement. But more critical is the importance of the family home in retirement. Age pension means tests do not count the value of principal residences as an assessable asset against pension payments. All other assets, with the exception of a few concessions for income streams, will result in lower payments once total wealth rises above a certain threshold. (Non-homeowners get a more generous allowance for assets before the pension payment begins to decline.) Other financial assets like term deposits or shares are also “deemed” (assumed) to be earning assessable income which can also reduce the pension. The family home acts as a tax-and-means-test-free store of wealth, typically used for bequests and contingencies or to provide a bond for an aged care residence. It is not surprising that Australians build up value in their principal residence before retiring and then do not run down their housing assets afterwards. If government wants to see less superannuation accumulations used to extinguish debt and more used to generate long-term incomes, they need to look to their own house first. We need to address the totality of incentives now in place. Do you think more can be done to improve the Australian retirement system? Written by Susan Thorp. First appeared on <a href="http://www.theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.<img width="1" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/10486/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation"/>

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