Catherine Foot is Director at Phoenix Insights, a new longevity think tank launched in 2021, which reimagines how we work, learn, save and live in an age of longer lives.  She previously was Director of Evidence at the Centre for Aging Better and prior to that was Assistant Director, Policy, at the King’s Fund.

Our conversation traces Catherine’s early interest in older people, aging with dignity and thinking about what it means to live longer, fuller lives.  She relays an anecdote around thinking about a life span like a play to which a 15 minute addition has been given and challenges us as to how we would amend the play with that in mind.  Would we simply add another 15 minutes to the end.. without a plan or would we add some minutes to different stages of life. Would we add a few minutes to our work lives, to our volunteering and to the phases that pre-date the end of life.

This thought experiment is a trigger to “talk” more about age – the topic of a recent campaign at Phoenix Insights around the later years in life and how to make them count.  It is a powerful and important movement.

This podcast series was made possible by the kind support of Darwin Alternatives. Darwin Alternative Investment Management Limited offers innovative, alpha-driven investment solutions that are uncorrelated with traditional asset classes and feature business areas which have not previously been considered by investment funds. The firm aims to create new opportunities for investors to further diversify their portfolios and achieve stable absolute returns.