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Keeping Teens Safe Behind The Wheel
Tweet Share on Facebook August 10, 2009 Comment (5)The Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater, this week explores how you can help your teens to be safe, responsible drivers.
[Take a Road Test of Your Driving Skills.] -
7 Tips for Finding Right Volunteer Work
Tweet Share on Facebook August 7, 2009 Comment (4)Volunteering is one of the best ways for seniors to get involved in their local communities, share a lifetime of experiences, develop new relationships, and help make the world a little bit better. Today, there are more tools than ever to help you find the right organization and make sure that the match is a good one for you and for the group you want to help. Here are some things to consider:
You're not alone. More than 60 million Americans volunteered a median of 52 hours in 2007, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This does not include the many millions of people who work as unpaid caregivers for family members or friends. Churches and schools far and away topped the list of places where people donated their time and expertise. Other areas—health, community service, civic and political organizations, sports and environmental groups—had more than 30 million volunteers.
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Great Advice on Parting with Possessions
Tweet Share on Facebook August 5, 2009 Comment (4)I recently wrote about how hard it is for many of us to downsize, get rid of possessions and prepare for new phases in our lives. Some changes are triggered by positive events but many are forced upon us by losses -- of spouses, of health, even of financial security. It can be a very tough and lonely period. Clearly, many of you agree, because you posted some absolutely marvelous personal stories and suggestions. You are the experts here, and your experiences are more instructive than my advice and even many observations from the "experts" I often quote. I'd like to share a few:
The ten-six-three rule. "I had a life change this year, and took that opportunity to start simplifying my life. At first it was little things, then it started getting easier and easier. Pretty soon, the lawn was just a giant gift shop to the world. The first obstacle to get over was holding on to things in your life you don't use, but perceive that it still has value and so you shouldn't let go of it. If you aren't using it, then its only value is as a dust collector. Start small, and force yourself to keep to your rules. My first rule was, 'If it hadn't been used in 10 years, it had to go.' That was hard at first, but I did it. Then we went to six years, then three, then a year. Eventually, we just emptied the attic. Things that I saved for heirlooms that I didn't use, I bequeathed while I can still enjoy [seeing people] receiving them. (Why hold on to it if you don't use it?). The house was empty after a few months, and I felt great and free. Now the house is too big. So much of it was just storage or "filler" furniture. Start small and see how it changes your entire outlook. It is a true domestic colonic for the soul." -
Tips to Help Loved One with Alzheimer’s
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2009 Comment (4)The Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater, this week discusses caring for a relative with Alzheimer’s Disease. We explore the role of a caregiver and financial resources to assist you.
[See New Tool to Compare Long Term Care Costs.] -
10 Best Places for Lifelong Learning
Tweet Share on Facebook July 31, 2009 Comment (11)Lifelong learning programs are not only a rich source of activities for seniors; they're an enriching business opportunity for a growing roster of colleges and universities, retirement communities, travel companies, and cultural institutions. U.S. News searched for the nation's best places for lifelong learning, using the 2,000-city database of our partner, Onboard Informatics, and interviews with education and other learning experts. (You can find your Best Place to Live using our new search tool.) We looked for cities with lots of people with undergraduate and graduate degrees; heavy employment at higher education institutions; concentrations of schools, libraries, and museums; and plenty of literary and cultural activities nearby. Areas of particular focus are those containing all three branches of higher education: universities, colleges, and community colleges. The last of these has long reached out to nontraditional learners. Most places in the United States have plenty of lifelong learning choices. Our top 10 have more. They tend to be smaller places adjacent to large urban areas, and they often benefit from that proximity. But they also have their own homegrown programs.
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Summer Recess for Health Reforms is Welcome
Tweet Share on Facebook July 29, 2009 Comment (10)Health care reform has hardly left the starting line. Yet many self-appointed pundits are calling the effort a failure by the Obama Administration. They say Congress is stuck in an ideological quagmire. Many also characterize Democrat proposals as a government takeover of health care and as a socialist attack on the U.S. private free enterprise system.
Puhleeaasee! Give me a break. -
Tips to Maximize Social Security Benefits
Tweet Share on Facebook July 27, 2009 Comment (20)The Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater, this week discusses various tips to help you maximize your income from Social Security.
[See Billions in Social Security Not Being Claimed.] -
A Dozen Retirement Community Bargains
Tweet Share on Facebook July 24, 2009 CommentContinuing care retirement communities provide lifetime housing and medical-care packages to retirees. But brutal housing and economic realities may be making the industry wish someone was providing it with lifetime care. The housing market meltdown of 2007 and 2008 dried up demand for CCRC living units because potential residents either couldn't sell their homes or sell them for enough money to fund the up-front entrance fees required by many CCRCs. There also are rental CCRCs, but they, too, require a substantial financing commitment over time. In both cases, the sale of a primary residence is the typical funding source for CCRC residency.
[Slide Show: Best Affordable Places to Retire.]
As housing woes mounted, the 2008-2009 stock market collapse devastated many retiree investment accounts, removing yet another source of financial support for retirement-community living. And because this bad dream comes in three installments, on came the ensuing recession—the deepest since the Depression—that continues to take a deep toll. Here, the impact may not be so much on retirees as on their family members, who may be facing prolonged unemployment.
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How the 'Old Old' Can Have Best Lives
Tweet Share on Facebook July 23, 2009 Comment (5)Americans 65 and older are projected to grow from 13 percent to 20 percent of the nation's population by 2050, when one in four older people will be 85 years of age or older. That's 5 percent of the entire country -- one in 20 people. That's the Age Wave getting ready to wash over us. Yet surprisingly little attention is being focused on the "old old." How are we going to take care of them? The ranks of geriatric medicine have been thinning, not growing. How are our communities going to accommodate and treat them? And, most important to older people, what does a high quality of life look like at that age and how can they attain it?
[See Growing Older, Getting Mellower, Feeling Good.] -
List of Flight Health Risks is Growing
Tweet Share on Facebook July 22, 2009 Comment (6)Add health risks to the list of concerns that plague commercial air travel these days. We've been worried about paying for a piece of checked luggage or getting chiseled on a meager snack. But it turns out the medical and scientific community sees an airline cabin as a big petri dish -- and one that carries many threats.
[ See America's Best Healthy Places to Retire.]
