So Baby Boomer: Life Tips

Holiday Casualties during the eBook Wars

I was one of those 900,000 people who were predicted to buy a new eReader during November and December 2009.  My selection was Amazon.com's Kindle eReader.

That purchase prompted a thoughtful loved one to purchase an "eBooks Gift Card" from Barnes and Noble (B&N) booksellers as my Christmas gift.  One would expect that an "eBooks Gift Card" would allow one to purchase eBooks that are harmoniously compatible with the purchaser's eReader make and model---like buying new tires for an automobile.  Not so, Virginia.

Since I know that B&N's new Nook eReader uses a different eBook format than Amazon's Kindle format, I called B&N customer service to inquire how I might buy ebooks in Kindle format through B&N.  The answer was, "You can't."  This response was confirmed by a later email message on Thursday, 12/31/09: 

 

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Unfortunately, at this time, eBooks purchased on our website are not
compatible with (KINDLE).  Please check our website often as we are
continuing to expand our download capabilities to other devices.   At
this time, the Barnes & Noble eReader supports downloads to your PC,
iPhone, MAC and Blackberry.
We appreciate your patience and look forward to your next visit.

Sincerely,

Latonia
Customer Service Representative
Barnes and Noble
http://www.bn.com/

 

I had asked a customer service person during our telephone conversation if I could receive cash back in exchange for the eBooks Gift Card (since other than Kindle format does not read well on my Kindle eReader).  The answer was, "You can't exchange the gift card for cash, except where required by law."

 

The predicted fallout is: B&N (and other non-Amazon.com booksellers) will lose many eBook sales because they can't sell eBooks in Kindle format.  Also, their once loyal book store customers, who now have Kindle eReaders want to buy B&N eBooks, may become confused and disappointed that they have purchased a hard-to-read eBook due to an incompatible format. 

 

The only way to buy eBooks in Kindle format today is through www.Amazon.com which is probably another reason why Amazon's market share will continue to rise along with the value of Amazon stock.  On Christmas Day, for the first time in its history, Amazon.com sold more digital books than paper books.  It was a watershed moment for the book industry.

 

With Amazon having the potential to end up with the same kind of pricing power in books that Apple has in music, traditional publishers and booksellers view this structural transition to digital as a looming threat to their business.  With publishers, authors and booksellers reinventing their businesses before Amazon does it for them, they are now considering their best moves for eBook and print-on-demand (POD) distribution.

 

One prospective target is Apple.  More than 50 million people (including me) have Apple's iPhone or iPod Touch, which can be used to read digital books, compared with just four million who have eReaders.  Publishers may expect to generate more eBook sales from Apple customers than Kindle users.

 

However this eBook War ends, the future for book publishers is as clear as it was for newspaper publishers: it is now time to jump into digital publishing with both feet. 

 

Source: BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK, January 11, 2010

Boomer Woman's Estrogen Level

It has long been known that a woman's risk for heart disease rises after the onset of menopause. But is that the result of falling levels of the hormone estrogen that accompany menopause or actually a consequence of aging? 

The answer to the question has long eluded researchers. Conflicting evidence has caused some to suggest that heart risk has an effect on menopause instead of the other way around, pushing women into an early end to their menstrual periods. A decade of controversy surrounding the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy—including whether it protects women against heart attacks—has fueled the confusion.

Now a provocative study led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh sheds new light on the issue, demonstrating that a woman's LDL or bad cholesterol rises markedly during the year before and after menopause begins—the time period that coincides with a significant drop in levels of estrogen.  The findings were published this month in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

In the study involving 1,054 women, average LDL levels ranged between 113 and 116 during three to five years before the last menstrual period, and then rose to above 125 by the year after menopause before leveling off in the subsequent three to five years at just below 130.

Current government cholesterol guidelines regard 130 as borderline optimal for most people, with levels below 100 viewed as optimal. For patients with other risk factors such as high blood pressure or being overweight or having a family history of heart disease, the predominant advice is to get LDL levels below 100.

The study "helps to understand the role of a woman's natural estrogen in protecting the heart and affecting risk factors for coronary disease," says JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, who wasn't involved with the study.

The Middle-Aged Heart

The level of LDL cholesterol jumps an average of 10% in the years around menopause. Here are some steps to take:

Get your LDL cholesterol checked and keep the level under 130; under 100 is optimal.

Get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise a day.

Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables, lean meat and fish and low in saturated fats.

Get your blood pressure checked, and try to maintain a level of 120/80 or lower.

Quit smoking.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2009

How bad was the last decade for your investment in stocks?

As was mentioned in our December 4th posting: A well-known business magazine recently published a story with this headline:

Stocks: The "Loss" Decade
A disastrous ten years for the stock market ends in just a month. Will the turning of a new decade change investors' luck?

One sentence from the story itself tells you most of what you need to know: "The ten years since Y2K are on track to produce the worst total returns for investors since the 1930s."

Yet, many investors don't realize quite how bad the decade was because most forget about the effects of inflation on their stock market investments....while their stockbrokers continued to sing the praises of maintaining a long-term stock market investment strategy.

Despite the 2009 rebound, the Dow Jones Industrial Average today stand at just 10,520, no higher than in 1999.  And that is without counting consumer-price inflation.  In 1999 dollars, the Dow is only at about 8,200 and would have to rise another 28% or so to return to 1999 levels.  Using today's dollars and starting at 10,520, the Dow would have to surpass 13,460 to get back to its 1999 level in real, inflation-adjusted terms.

Your stockbroker may note that the Dow today is worth 27 times its value at its 1929 pre-crash peak, meaning that even if you bought at the worst moment, your stock still would be way up over time.  In inflation-adjusted terms, however, the Dow today is only a little over twice its 1929 peak, according to Ned Davis Research.

The bottom line for investors is (even though your stockbroker or financial advisor won't tell you) "when in doubt, get out."  By converting your stock holdings to cash when the stock market tops off, you'll have cash reserves to buy at deflated prices when the market bottoms out.  Yes, Virginia, there are business and economic cycles.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, December 28, 2009

For Boomer Grandparents: Imagination isn't Silly!

Jacqueline Woolley, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, is studying the process of "magical thinking," or children's fantasy lives, and how kids learn to distinguish between what is real and what isn't.

In one study involving 91 children, Dr. Woolley asked young kids if a number of people and characters, including Santa and the garbage man, were real. She found that 70% of 3-year-olds reported that Santa Claus was real, while 78% believed in the garbage man. By age 5, kids' certainty about the garbage man grew, and Santa believers peaked at 83%. It wasn't until age 7 that belief in Santa declined. By 9, only a third believed in Santa while nearly all reported the garbage man was real.

So, "if kids have the basic distinction between real and not real when they're 3, why do they believe in Santa until they're 8?" says Dr. Woolley.

If a child asks if Santa is real, parents and grandparents might want to assess their child's level of doubt. If the doubts appear strong then the child might be ready and it is time for the truth. Ideally, the child will find out for him or herself, like a little scientist, so parents might ask, "Is there something you saw or heard that makes you think Santa isn't real?" and "What do you think?"

"You want to find a balance to let [children] be open to possibility but also to question," says Dr. Woolley.

Fantasy play is correlated with other positive attributes. In preschool children, for example, those who have imaginary friends are more creative, have greater social understanding and are better at taking the perspective of others, according to Marjorie Taylor, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon and author of the book "Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them."

Imaginary friends can also be used to help children cope with stress, Dr. Taylor says. "This is a strength of children, their ability to pretend," she says. "They can fix the problem with their imagination."

Source: The Wall Street Journal, December 22, 2009

  

Older Workers and Their Involuntary Retirement

A growing legion of unemployed older boomer workers say the recession is leading them on a path toward early retirement--whether they like it or not.  Many are relying on financial resources, like Social Security payments, previously reserved for later in life, putting their future well-being into question.

The number of unemployed workers ages 55 to 64 has nearly tripled since the recession began, to about 1.6 million of the nation's 15.4 million unemployed as of November 2009, according to the Labor Department.  By comparison, the number of jobless workers of all ages has roughly doubled.

The share of people age 55 to 64 who are employed--which has been trending down for the past 18 months--sank to 59.9% in November 2009, an eight-year low for that month and down from 60.3% in October.  The rest either want jobs and can't find them or aren't able or interested in working.

The drop in employment for older workers follows a period of nearly three decades in which a greater share of individuals approaching retirement age had jobs.  The U.S. Social Security Administration, which was established in the wake of the Great Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, saw a 21% surge in applications for retired worker benefits for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009.  Only about 15% of the was expected from a surge in Baby Boomers and working women reaching retirement age, according to Stephen Goss, the agency's chief actuary.

An economic recovery is unlikely to quickly restore the jobs lost by older workers--and some might never return.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2009

If you think the past decade was bad for stocks,

wait until you see this....  The major stock indexes are the wrong place to look.

By Guest Author Robert Folsom, December 4, 2009

A well-known business magazine recently published a story with this headline:

Stocks: The "Loss" Decade
A disastrous ten years for the stock market ends in just a month. Will the turning of a new decade change investors' luck?

One sentence from the story itself tells you most of what you need to know: "The ten years since Y2K are on track to produce the worst total returns for investors since the 1930s."

Of course, no one should really be surprised by a story that says the stock indexes did poorly over the past decade. That's not news.  The facts in the article more or less repeat what our own Elliott Wave Financial Forecast reported last March, complete with this chart:

The proof of the market is in its charts. Professional market technicians know something you don't.  A solid grasp of the most successful technical analysis methods can help you cut through the hype and give you the big-picture, unbiased perspective you need now more than ever. You can now download a FREE 50-page Technical Analysis Handbook from the largest independent technical analysis provider in the world. Learn more about technical analysis, and download your free 50-page ebook here.

 
 

It's safe to say that this business magazine article is the first of many the media will run before the year's end, as part of their "decade wrap-up" stories. And like this story, most or all those like will share the same basic assumption: stock investors did poorly because the stock indexes did poorly.

And that assumption, dear reader, is erroneous. The truth is far uglier.

Stock Market Trading Opportunities at Turning Points

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Erotically Uncharged Boomers

Researchers are wondering why so many women feel little sexual desire and what should be done for them.

Hypoactive sexual desire disorder studies suggest that around 30 percent of young and middle-aged women go through extended periods of feeling dim desire or of feeling no wish for sex whatsoever.  More than by any other sexual problem--the elusiveness of orgasm or pain during sex--women feel plagued by low desire.  The problems often overlap, but above all the others that can thwart an erotic life, the remoteness of lust is what impels women to seek treatment.  Not all women who feel erotically uncharged are desperate to change.  Some may not be dismayed in the least. 

The Developing Creative Economy

Here in Michigan with manufacturing in a tail spin, the state's economy looks to new industries to provide employment to its citizens.

An unexpected answer is provided by Dr. Stuart Rosenfeld, an expert in economic development who is interested in the impact of creative enterprises.  "The creative economy has often been overlooked in the economic development literature and undervalued in economic development analyses and plans, largely because much of the wealth it produces falls just under the radar screen of conventional economic analysis," says Rosenfeld.

The creative economy is a sprawling sector, powered by the output of "originators" such as artists, architects, designers of all types, game-developers, chefs, among others.  It doesn't have the pizzaz of technology-based industries, Rosenfeld notes.

For example, at most colleges, marijuana is very much an extracurricular matter.  But at Med Grow Cannabis College, marijuana is the curriculum: the history, the horticulture and the legal how-to's of Michigan's new medical marijuana program.

Search for Pink Viagra

Several studies, including one published in 1999 in The Journal of the American Medical Association, have indicated that sexual dysfunction is more common in women (43 percent) than men (31 percent).

And it's worse for middle-aged women.  A survey of 31,581 women published in 2008 in Obstetrics & Gynecology found 44.6 percent of those age 45 to 64 reported a problem with desire, arousal or orgasm, compared with 27.2 percent of women age 18 to 44.

Boomers are visiting the Pelvic and Sexual Health Institute, which treats about 200 women a week, mostly from the Philadelphia-New York City corridor, but some from as far away as Canada, South America and Britain.  Half the patients seen by the staff of 20 are boomer women.  A lot of them have husbands and boyfriends who've been given a recharge via Viagra.

Since 1998, men have had blue Viagra pills, and for many years, doctors prescribed hormone replacement therapy for women to ease menopause symptoms and improve sex drive.  But in 2002, hormone therapy was linked to small increases in breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes.  Since then, Susan Kellogg, who has a doctorate in human sexuality and is a nurse practitioner, says, "We've had to be more creative."

The typical boomer patient they see, she said, "is a woman 52 to 54, a year or two after menopause, and she's saying, 'I can't do it, I can't keep up,'" and 10 to 15 percent point to their male partner's use of Viagra.

"Viagra has brought women out of the closet on this," Kellogg said.  "It's given them a way to talk about it.  Suddenly he's got a sex life again and she's crying in pain.  No one's talked about the impact of Viagra would have on her, which is why it's important to work with the couple.  She needs to understand what she's going through is normal."

Source: The New York Times, November 29, 2009