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Seniors Should Find Right Doctor Mix Now
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2010 Comment (3)For anyone past the age of 60, now is the time to carefully plan for your future physician needs. You will live, on average, into your mid-80s. Who will take care of you during this period? Will your current doctors be around then? Ask them. Do they have succession plans in their practices? Ask them. If you're not satisfied with the responses, build a personal action plan to locate doctors who will best meet your needs as you age.
Passage of health reform will add more than 30 million persons to the insurance rolls beginning in 2014. It's already hard to get access to a primary care doctor. Imagine what it might look like in a few years. -
Optimism Returning Even Amidst Problems
Tweet Share on Facebook April 7, 2010 Comment (2)Do you feel optimistic, America? Perhaps surprisingly, you do, according to some admittedly unscientific results from an online survey sponsored by Northwestern Mutual, the Milwaukee-based life insurance and financial security firm. The nation is only slowly emerging from a recession. We're fighting two wars and struggling with terrorists. Government finances are in a shambles and the passage of healthcare reform has been so divisive that legislators may be safer these days in a bunker than out visiting constituents. So, have the folks in Milwaukee been drinking something stronger than beer?
[See U.S. News's list of the Best Mutual Funds for 2010, and use our Mutual Fund Score to find the best investments for you.] -
How About Bailing Out Responsible Seniors?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 4, 2010 Comment (4)Please let me know what you think about the letter I'm drafting to U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Would you sign it?
Dear Secretary Geithner:
You seem like someone who wants to do the right thing. I bet you spend a lot of your time worrying about the health of our major banks and other financial services companies. So, maybe it's only natural that you've ended up doing the right thing for many of these big companies. I know that your actions are framed as being in the service of overall financial system stability. So, indirectly at least, I'm pretty sure you feel you're doing the right thing for consumers when you help to bail out the banks, look the other way at outlandish compensation packages for people who should be fired, and support Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke in a low interest-rate monetary policy.
You and many other really smart people think this monetary policy is needed to lubricate credit markets, stimulate business lending, and give those financial firms access to free money. By doing do, those firms can rebuild their balance sheets without needing more direct government bailouts. It is, however, a policy that is just devastating to seniors and others who depend on their savings to provide living expenses. You have done what you deplore in others -- shifted interest-rate risk to seniors and forced them to pay for problems they did not create.
[See U.S. News's list of the Best Mutual Funds for 2010, and use our Mutual Fund Score to find the best investments for you.] -
Collecting: A Great Hobby for Retirees
Tweet Share on Facebook April 2, 2010 Comment (2)Collecting can be a recreational mainstay of your later years. Whether it's high-end antiques, Barbie dolls from your youth, or sports memorabilia, collecting can be an ideal blend of a compelling interest and the opportunity to socialize with people who share your passion. The Internet—particularly eBay—has taken the collectibles field and put it on steroids. No category is too small to pursue these days, thanks to the ability to instantly assemble online audiences and facilitate communication and trade.
"There are two types of collectors," says Dave Margulius, who set up a collectibles website a few years ago, collectorsweekly.com. "Some are motivated by financial value and investment, and others are motivated by passion." Perhaps many collectors tend to pursue things from their younger years, he says, such as records.
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The Best Life
Philip Moeller, contributing editor for U.S. News Money, writes about achieving success and happiness in older age. He also is a research fellow at the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College.
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