So Baby Boomer: Life Tips

The Second Half of Life's Journey

More of us are entering the second half of our lives than at any other time in history.

Our numbers are growing rapidly, and as life expectancy continues to rise, we will find ourselves living much longer as elders than did our parents and grandparents.  These extra years, even decades, extend the blessing of life.

Yet, in many ways, we are not prepared to live them fully.  Our culture has lost the capacity to acknowledge and value elders the way many other cultures around the world do.  We have forgotten the rites of passage that help us learn to become wise elders, actively participating in our communities and living a deep, fulfilling life.  Our culture's current perspective is that the second half of life offers only decline, disease, despair and death.

From age fifty onward, there will be four broad frontiers to face:

Retirement: From what, toward what?  In many parts of the world, there is no such thing as retirement.

The possibility of becoming a mentor, a steward, or a grandparent.

Coping with the natural challenges of maintaining the health of an aging body.

Mortality: Losing our loved ones and the inevitability of our own death

If we are to live our best second half of life, to embrace these years and flourish in them, it is time to consciously shift that cultural perspective.  Each of these frontiers will demand from us very different attitudes, disciplines, and life skills.....many of which have not yet been clearly associated with increased longevity.  Each frontier will challenge us to be courageous in the face of our fears.  This new terrain promises to be both daunting and exciting.

Source: SHIFT: At the frontiers of consciousness, June-August 2008

Visit Blogging Boomer Carnival #79 to support you during your second life's journey. 

Boomers taking the path to happiness

Boomers are dating over 50 and finding love in their later years.  They have decided to go hand-in-hand down the path of happiness....including having fun at a summer carnival.  

Come to this week's carnival and read what my Blogging Boomer friends have to say about what's happening now in your and their life.

Getting Enough Vitamin D?

A growing number of experts think that many people aren't getting enough vitamin D--particularly those who work and play indoors and slather on sunscreen.

"It sounds crazy--until you realize that vitamin D turns into a steroid hormone that's involved in the maintenance of over 200 human genes," says John J. Cannell, founder of the nonprofit Vitamin D Council in Atascadero, CA.

A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine last month found that men with low D had a higher risk for heart attacks.  Other studies have linked low D with cancer of the breast, ovary, prostate, stomach, bladder, esophagus, kidney and lung.  Low levels of D also have been associated with high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, macular degeneration, mental illness and chronic pain.

The strongest source, by far, is ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from the sun, which convert a form of cholesterol into vitamin D in the skin.

Boomer Retiree Benefits Shrink

Workers planning to retire early might consider working at least part-time to keep active employee health coverage until they're eligible for Medicare at age 65.

Employees and retirees "have to feel lucky if they still have retiree [health-care] benefits, and have to start planning for when they won't," says Rick McGill, head of retiree medical consulting for employee-benefits firm Hewitt Associates.  He says such benefits are "a dying breed." 

Retirement benefit experts have for some time been recommending that all workers--even those close to retiring and who've "earned" full retiree benefits--should assume that those benefits will likely be eliminated, either before or during their retirement, and start planning and saving for it.

Blogging Boomer Carnival #77

  Come to the Blogging Boomer Carnival and discover what's new in the world of the Baby Boomer Generation.

You will be delighted and amazed at the variety of posts and the sagacity of the posters.

You will stand in awe of the wisdom and sheer good sense displayed.

Boomers' home downsizing

It's hard enough under normal circumstances to figure out how much is needed to ensure a comfortable retirement.  But the mix of slumping housing prices, oil at around $140 a barrel and volatile financial markets makes it particularly tough today.

With energy analysts increasingly convinced that high oil prices are here to stay, and stock and bond markets expected to remain under pressure, living plans may need to be rethought.  Because of the drop in housing prices, the median household wealth of homeowners aged 45 to 54 will have fallen by 25% between 2004 and 2009, according to economist Dean Baker and research associate David Rosnick of the Center for Economic & Policy Research.  Even America's wealthiest 20% will have seen their balance sheets plunge by 27%.

The most practical approach is simply to downsize, suggests Henry K. "Bud" Hebeler, author of "Getting Started in a Financially Secure Retirement" (Wiley & Sons).  That's not a very popular chocie, however.  One reason may be that families often find that a smaller home doesn't come with a much smaller purchase price.  A two-bedroom condominium in an attractive part of a city with all the amenities typically sells for nearly the price of a comfortable four-bedroom home in a tony suburb.  "People don't save money on the purchase price by going from 2,500 square feet to 1,700 feet because they [still] want the granite countertops and the Jacuzzi tub," says Joel Larsen, a certified financial planner with Financial Strategies Group in Davis, CA.

Yet, large homes cost a lot more to maintain and are subject to higher property taxes.  The saviings from running a small home compound over time.  Plus, as we age, few of us want to perform maintenance.

Downsizing could become more common as energy costs rise and the population ages.  Hebeler advises anyone contemplating a smaller residence to act sooner rather than later.  "I believe that over the next decade, small homes are going to be relatively pricer than large ones, at least on a dollars-per-square-foot basis," he says.  Smaller homes will be in more demand, and many larger homes will be on the market.

Source: BusnessWeek, July 14, 2008

Senior Moment Reduction

Aging boomers are turning to video games to keep their wits agile.

People worried about "senior moments" can now turn to an explosion of brain-asisting video games, such as Nintendo's Brain Age; puzzles that are said to ward off dementia, such as crosswords; and online tips that claim to train the brain.

Many boomers have watched their parents struggle with Alzheimer's and an estimated 10 million of them are now expected to develop the disease, according to a recent report from the Alzheimer's Association.

"People are worried," says Dr. John Hart Jr., medical science director of the Center for Brain-Health at the University of Texas at Dallas.  "You have a large group of the population getting to the age where they are sort of vulnerable to degenerative neurological diseases that seem to be prevalent."

Hart says there is "reasonable evidence" that challenging your brain by learning new things can stave off the cognitive decline that comes with aging.  But brain fitness programs differ from traditional learning by focusing on drills for specific cognitive abilities, such as concentration and retaining information.  Hart says there is no one brain "exercise" that is guaranteed to work for everyone.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2008

To stay fabulous after 40, visit the Blogging Boomer Carnival today at: www.fabulousafter40.com