Life Begins at 40?

I remember reading a book in my 30s (this would be during the 1980s) that was written during the 1930s and it was called "Life Begins at 40".

The point of view was sort of like this: "Yes. Your life can begin at 40 if your finances are in order and your family and your health is in order."

But, if you don't have all your ducks in a row you are kind of screwed.

That was the point of view of this book then.

However, then you have to look at how long people lived back then. For example, when Social Security first started the average person did NOT live until 60 or 65 back then in the 1930s. So, giving people a retirement at 62 or 65 was sort of cruel for most people because they just didn't live that long.

Their mental and emotional and physical states were generally terrible. In fact, when I grew up in the 1950s most people had lost most or all of their teeth by 40 to 45 because they ate too much sugar and meat which always makes your teeth fall out if you are a real meat eater along with too much white sugar. The Native Americans in Alaska found this out the hard way when white sugar was introduced into their all meat and fish diets way back when too.

In the 1950s I watched Building Contractor after building contractor die usually from heart attacks or strokes in their late 30s to late 50s too.

So, as you can see the education and self discipline regarding diet and exercise has changed a lot here in the U.S. since then.

Also, things like Wikipedia and other online resources to self diagnose illnesses were not there either. So, many people died just from medical ignorance in the 1930s to 1950s too.

Also, people tended to think of medical doctors sort of as God then. (Which really wasn't always in their best interests either. Much better people learn enough about health and preventative medicine to not get ill in the first place in regard to mental and physical health and diet and exercise.

So, now, in the same way "Life begins at 40" in the 1930s, I would say that Life can also begin as late as 70 now because if you make it to 30 likely you will also see 90 or more.