The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Getting the retirement you want in these tough economic times

These difficult economic times are changing retirement plans for many baby boomers.

Some boomers are delaying retirement. Others are looking at options for retirement that they hadn’t considered before, such as moving to a lower cost community or working part time.

Regardless of your situation, it’s more important than ever to set retirement goals, study options, visualize scenarios, and come up with the best workable plan that you can devise.

Here are ideas to help you with retirement planning:

Where to live

“Best Places for Baby Boomers to Thrive in U.S.” – A list of 20 towns based on criteria such as health care, dining out, low crime, cultural activities, weather, active lifestyle, average cost of living, and a range of home sizes and prices.

“How to Pick the Best Place to Retire” – Items to consider to select the best community for your retirement.

“15 Great Places to Reinvent Your Life” – A list of 15 appealing places selected by AARP for you choose from, then look for a way to earn a living there.

“The Dream of Retiring Where It’s Warm in the U.S.” – Basic steps for determining if you can afford to retire where the weather is better.

“The Dream of Retiring Where It’s Warm Abroad” – Things to consider if you want to retire overseas.

Employment

“AARP’s List of Best Employers for Workers Over 50 Offers Helpful Information for Baby Boomers” – A list of firms that may hire retired boomers.

“Boomers Looking for Jobs With Meaning in Retirement Years” – Encore jobs combine income and an opportunity to make a difference.

“Baby Boomer Women Looking for Options in Retirement” – How boomer women can have periods of work and leisure in retirement.

“Five Things Baby Boomers Need to Do Before Starting an Internet Business” – Tips to think about before you take the plunge and become an Internet entrepreneur.

“Boomers Head for Exotic Locations to Work Instead of Retire” – A job overseas offers a way to travel and earn money.

“Job Hunting Tips for Boomers” – A list of articles and Web sites to help boomers find jobs.

Housing

“What Are the Housing Needs of Baby Boomers as They Grow Older” – Different types of housing that will help boomers age in place.

“Plan to Age in Place, But Consider Backup Options, Too” – The benefits of being able to stay in your own home as you grow older and the importance of thinking through other options.

Retirement planning

“10 Top Retirement Tips for Boomers” – Important items to think through in preparing for retirement.

“Familiar Retirement Planning Techniques Fit This Financial Crisis, Analyst Says” – Steps to take to help prepare for retirement.

“New Retirement Ideas Shake Old Beliefs” – A new way look at retirement because people are living longer and are healthier and more vigorous in old age.

“Baby Boomers Putting Their Retirement at Risk by Helping Adult Children” – Why it’s important to take a look how much you’re helping your family financially.

“Life Coaches Are Helping Baby Boomers Create Better Lives” – How a life coach can help you figure out what you want to do in retirement or improve your retirement living.

Health

“How’s Your Health? Study Says Boomer Health Worse Than Previous Generation at Same Age” – Why taking care of your health is important to the quality of your retirement.

“Optimizing Your Retirement: Health, Financial Tips for Boomers” – What boomers can to do about their health and finances to have a better retirement.

These are the retirement topics I’ve been writing about since January 2008. Are your boomer consumer retirement challenges covered here?

If not, let me know what retirement information you’d find helpful.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 reasons for baby boomers to be optimistic

Yesterday’s post on the “Top 10 Baby Boomers Challenges” wasn’t upbeat. In these tough economic times, the problems can be great.

Here’s the other side of the coin, ways baby boomers can embrace new thinking and opportunities during the recession:

1. Reinventing yourself

A job loss or downsizing at your workplace can lead to the opportunity to look at what you really want to do in your work life. Doing research and finding companies or agencies that are hiring rather than only responding to ads are techniques that work even during a recession.

2. Reducing spending

Buying less and having fewer things often lead to a simpler and happier lifestyle.

3. Focusing your business

A recession offers the opportunity to slow down, examine your business, and make plans for the future.

4. Thinking positively

It promotes positive solutions and can draws things to you as in the Law of Attraction.

5. Investing opportunities

The financial crisis offers investment bargains if you have any new money to invest. Be sure to work with a financial planner to help you make wise choices in these unusual economic times.

6. Making different retirement decisions

Delaying retirement may have its advantages. You may be able to come up with a plan, such as moving to a lower-cost community with fantastic part-time employment opportunities, which will be better able to meet your retirement needs.

7. Improving health

Job changes and spending less may free up more time for exercising, walking, running, cooking nutritious meals, and learning relaxation techniques such as yoga. 

8. Contributing to the community

With the economy sagging and unemployment at record levels, you have the opportunity, through various community programs, to help those who have lost their jobs and homes.

9. Experiencing a more progressive society

With an administration in the White House that believes in pro-work, health-promoting policies and consumer protection, boomers can benefit from a federal government that serves them better.

10. Getting greener

Green projects and organic food sales are on the upswing. It’s a good time to consider green jobs, goods and services, and volunteer opportunities. Check green Web sites such as Green America, formerly Co-op America, Worldchanging, and Global Exchange for information on what’s happening. You won’t find many reports about green activities in the media.

Let me know your opinions. What do you see as opportunities for baby boomers today?

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 baby boomer challenges

What are the top 10 difficulties baby boomers face today?

With the recession continuing, many boomers are stressed about money, jobs, and housing.

Here’s my take on the top 10 things worrying boomer consumers these days:

1. Setting a retirement date

With investment returns and housing prices down, many boomers are postponing retirement.

2. Keeping a job

Older workers are often the first to be laid off, so boomers have concerns about being able to remain in the workforce. Or, they’re unemployed and looking for work.

3. Declining health

As boomers get older, the chances of becoming ill – including developing a serious illness or having a heart attack – increase. 

4. Rising health care costs

Health care spending has risen about 2.4 percent faster than GDP since 1970. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project that by 2018 health care spending will be more than $4.3 trillion or $13,100 per resident and account for 20.3 percent of GDP. Meanwhile, the quality of health care diminishes, including an increased risk of getting an infection when you go to the hospital.

5. Dwindling home values

In 2008, home sales prices fell an average of 9.5 percent, the largest annual decrease in 39 years.

6. Handling family relationships

Tough economic times make it more difficult to visit with adult children and their families who are spread across the country. Or, adult children may need to move back home due to job losses and financial setbacks. 

7. Increasing costs and the inability to pay off debts

Costs are continuing to rise while raises and promotions disappear, making it more difficult to pay off credit card debt.

8. Decreasing leisure activities

With money tight, the opportunity for vacations and health club memberships are reduced. 

9. Increasing stress levels

More demands at work, less time to spend with family and friends, and the intrigues of social networking make it difficult to find a time to relax.

10. Increasing declines in environmental quality

Although the Obama Administration has plans to turn around the environmental destruction of recent years, the sweeping changes needed aren’t yet in place.

Let me what’s of concern to you as a baby boomer. 

Tomorrow’s post will discuss “Top 10 Reasons for Baby Boomers to Be Optimistic.”

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What’s in your bright, green future?

Alex Steffen, executive editor and cofounder of Worldchanging.com, is a big, green idea guy.

Steffen tracks what’s going on in green innovations and writes essays on the possibilities for the future. The popular book he edited, “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century,” is a 600-page tome of writings from more than 60 leaders around the world.

Tall, dressed in jeans and a dark blazer with his white shirt untucked, he addressed his audience at the Seattle Green Festival and flung ideas out at them – one after the other.

Steffen sees the possibility of the world becoming choked with people, with the demographic tilting to the old and young.

Four billion people in poverty have seen the American lifestyle on television, and they want to climb up into the middle class. The most watched TV program in the world is “Bay Watch,” and the world’s poor are saying, “I’ll take my version of that.”

Educational opportunities need to be extended to women throughout the world, he said, because when women have choices they have fewer children. If education is provided to every woman, population could see peak this century.

While the poor are “getting rich,” our job is to reinvent what “rich” means, Steffen said. Americans need to consume less of the world’s resources, reduce their impact on the earth, and develop a restorative economy.

“We can do that,” he said, adding “It’s not going to be easy.”

Changes are needed in how:

• Infrastructure is constructed.

• Transportation is provided.

• Minerals are used.

• Waste is handled.

• People live in cities.

Some things that are working:

• Mountain Dwellings near Copenhagen, where livable, suburban apartments are stepping up the “mountain” above the car parking space.

• Huge flowerboxes added to buildings that provide shade and food to eat.

• Yard sharing where people garden in your yard and share the produce with you.

• Street lights that turn off when moonlight reaches a certain intensity.

• Meters in the home so people reduce usage when they see the dial spinning fast.

• Car sharing.

• Bicycle sharing programs such as Bicing in Barcelona.

• Tool sharing through tool banks where you can checkout tools.

• High-end purses and jewelry rentals, such as Seattle’s Bag, Borrow, and Steal.

Things that are operational but need to be improved:

• Google walking maps.

• An iPhone program that will tell you when the next bus is coming.

Ideas for the future:

• A smart grid that can take inputs from electric car batteries and other sources which have extra energy.

• An iPhone readout of how much energy and materials are imbedded in a product you can receive after taking a picture of the product.

• Cell phones that pop into components when heated so all the parts can be recycled.

Steffen said the economy of the future is a high quality of life at a low ecological impact.

“We can do it,” he said, adding a better place can be created than what’s happening now with the destruction of the planet.

“We’re all in this together,” Steffen said. People in balance with the planet will make a life everyone can enjoy.

The Seattle Green Festival is sponsored by the Global Exchange and Green America, formerly Co-op America.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Baby boomers and global warming

How will global warming affect baby boomers?

I thought about it a lot in the last 24 hours as I watched the snow pile up as I blogged in the library, scraped three to four inches off my car, and slogged my way to the food co-op.

Last year, when it snowed in late March, unusual for the Pacific Northwest, I wrote “Late Spring Snow Storms a Surprise.”

I wondered in the post if global warming could be causing the strange weather. It’s possible, I learned.

I found a report from the Washington State Department of Ecology that indicated recent climate modeling results indicate that “extreme” weather events may become more common. Rising average temperatures produce a more variable climate system, the report said.

For boomers, what does global warming mean?

Say, for the sake of simplicity, that boomers will live to be age 90. That means they’ll be exiting the planet between 2036 and 2054.

What changes will boomers see in that time frame?

Baby Boomer Magazine.com makes this prediction in the article “Baby Boomers Concerned About Global Warming”:

If the warming continues, we can expect catastrophic consequences. Global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide. Heat waves will be more frequent and more intense, droughts and wildfires will occur more often, and the Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer by 2050. More than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050.

Here are some ideas on how boomers could be impacted by global warming: Boomers:

• Will need to change their consumption habits, such as buying fewer things, using less energy in their homes, driving greener cars, using public transportation, and living in walkable and other types of eco-friendly neighborhoods and communities.

• Will need to get used to erratic weather patterns and possible storm damage to their homes or in their neighborhoods or cities.

• Will become eco-activists in greater numbers.

• Face the possible collapses of living systems in their lifetimes, such as food, energy, and materials, as the world scrambles to respond to climate change and the water crises.

• Will need to use their personal, social, economic, and spiritual assets as they get older to craft ways to use their resources to respond to a changing world.

That’s a hefty list, but something to think about as the innovative Boomer Nation, who've changed every decade they've lived in, approaches the future.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Tips for baby boomers on how to buy auto insurance, carpet, or bicycles and select a kennel, housecleaner, or appliance repairer

One of the best consumer resources available for baby boomers is Checkbook magazine. It provides ratings of local businesses in seven areas of the country: Boston, Chicago, Delaware Valley, Puget Sound, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, Twin Cities, and Washington, D.C.

The new Winter/Spring 2009 issue covers these topics:

• Supermarkets: Which stores have the best prices based on a 152-item shopping list.

• Auto Insurance companies: Steps that will help consumers save hundreds of dollars a year, and ratings of companies selling auto insurance.

• Kennels: Local kennels ratings, and a price comparison showing that some of the higher-rated facilities have below-average prices.

• Carpet stores: Stores named that rate best for quality of advice, ease of shopping, reliability of delivery, and quality of installation and that have the best prices.

• Housecleaners: Information on how to decide whether to hire a housecleaning company or an individual housecleaner, a listing of how companies rate for quality and price, and how to avoid a mess with any cleaner.

• Bike shops: A listing of the top shops in the areas for purchases and repairs, and a discussion of online bicycle shopping.

• Major appliance repair: A rating of appliance repair shops, those that receive praise and some that arrive late, miss appointments, overcharge, and fail to get the appliance operating properly after many tries.

Other topics include ratings of upholsterers, window washers, and shoe repair shops.

Checkbook magazine is available for $10 at Barnes & Noble and Borders. Or become a subscriber at www.checkbook.org/ for $30 for two years.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Is drywall from China making people sick?

Drywall manufactured in China and installed in Florida is the subject of a class action lawsuit.

The drywall may be emitting sulfuric odors, possibly exposing people to respiratory health problems, according to the article “Chinese Drywall a Threat to Homeowners?” on Consumer Affairs.com. The emissions can also corrode air conditioning coils and wiring, posing a potential risk of electric fire.

Nearly 100 complaints have been submitted by Florida residents to the state Department of Health about problems with drywall.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is conducting an investigation.

The suit accuses Knauf Plasterboard Tianjin Co. Ltd., a China-based producer, of using fly ash, a waste material from Chinese power plants, in manufacturing the drywall, according to the article.

For details on the lawsuit, see Defective Chinese Drywall Lawsuit.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Best places for baby boomers to thrive in U.S.

What are the best places for baby boomers to live in America?

According to the Best Boomer Towns for the Rest of Your Life, the greatest towns are:

• Aiken, South CarolinaAsheville, North Carolina

• Ashland, Oregon

• Athens, Georgia

• Austin, Texas

• Bend, Oregon

• Camarillo, California

• Chapel Hill, North Carolina

• Charlottesville, Virginia

• Columbia, Missouri

• Danville, Kentucky

• Fort Collins, Colorado

• Las Cruces, New Mexico

• Maryville, Tennessee

• Paso Robles, California

• Pinehurst, North Carolina

• Prescott, Arizona

• Reno, Nevada

• St. George, Utah

• Tucson, Arizona

• Villages, Florida

Best Boomer Towns spent 14 months doing research and compiling a Web site. The 20 U.S. towns have the following key criteria: excellent health care, university, airport access, fine dining, low crime, cultural activities, beautiful weather, active lifestyle, average cost of living, and a range of home sizes and prices.

Note: The photo is Paso Robles, California.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

100 ways baby boomers can improve their lives in 2009

It’s often difficult to remain cheerful in these turbulent economic times. News of more job layoffs. Banks and other financial institutions continuing to have problems. Businesses closing.

Although the news can be discouraging, it’s important to think through what’s positive in your life and how to get more joy and satisfaction.

Here are 50 ways to improve your life this year:

 

Health

• Read novels to reduce stress.

• Walk, walk, walk.

• Use less toxic products, especially for cleaning your home and on your body.

• Eat more vegetarian meals.

• Plant fruit trees.

• Buy organic food.

• Talk honestly to your doctor about your health needs.

• Try yoga.

Community

• Talk to your neighbors.

• Find a rewarding volunteer activity.

• Move to a walkable neighborhood.

• Contribute to your city or county government.

• Take a walk in a park once a week.

Finances

• Compare prices before you buy.

• Pay off your credit cards.

• Complain when something you buy or a service isn’t right.

• Figure out ways to simplify your life.

• Read Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan: Keeping Your Money Safe and Sound.”

 

Joy

• Read “Finding Joy: 101 Ways to Free Your Spirit and Dance With Life” by Charlotte Davis Kasl.

• Sign up for the lessons you’ve always wanted to take.

• Say “I love you” to someone you love every day.

• Have coffee or lunch with a friend you haven’t seen in a while.

• Relax by soaking in the bathtub.

• Laugh out loud.

• Sleep in once a week.

• Hold a baby.

• Remember to get as much joy as you can from the present, rather than worrying about the past or future.

• Visit a farm.

• Watch movies that are fun.

• Stop being a perfectionist.

• Visualize daily what you’d like your life to be like.

• Surround yourself with people who are positive.

• Spend a realistic amount of time using the computer.

• Don’t think about work when you leave for the day.

• Pursue your dreams.

• Enjoy the wonders of nature.

• Give up nagging.

• Figure out ways to enjoy your children more.

• Reduce the amount of television you watch.

• Take care of yourself.

• Don’t dwell on your mistakes.

• Pace yourself.

• Be open to new ideas and activities.

• Let go of disappointments and negative people from the past.

Home

• Turn on your favorite music when you clean house.

• Organize one spot or cupboard in your house weekly.

• Use lights and plants to make your home more enjoyable.

• Remodel a room.

• Buy a pretty new bedspread.

• Organize your photos.

• Recycle.

Here are additional suggestions from the article “50 Ways to Improve Your Life in 2009” in U.S. News and Reports:

Money

• Recycle old gadgets for cash.

• Choose “Obama” stocks.

• Advance your career online.

• Put your cash in safe accounts.

• Start your own nonprofit.

• Drink screw-topped wines.

• Lose the ‘microwave’ mentality.

• Make friends at work.

• Watch television free online.

• Try that home before buying.

Health

• Bike to work.

• Use glass to store food.

• Take an afternoon nap.

• Get paid for good health.

• Walk the cravings away.

• Get a new toothbrush.

• Move to Vermont.

• Get your eyes checked.

• Add obstacles to your jog.

• Get fit as you get older.

The brain

• Read Edgar Allan Poe

• Publish your book yourself.
  

• Go back to school for new skills.

• Study philosophy.

• Save that November 5 newspaper.

• Silence noise pollution.

• Finish a crossword puzzle.

• Start using Twitter.

• Learn Russian

• Keep a “clothes hanger” journal.

The world around you

• Learn about Abraham Lincoln.

• Plant a square-foot garden.

• Hypermile when you drive.

• Help those hit by the recession.

• Switch to a push mower.

• Air dry your laundry.

• Practice spreading tolerance.

• Ditch the phone while driving.

• Get your news online.

• Buy laptops for kids.

 

Play

• Learn to play bridge.

•  Visit Alaska.

• Celebrate the life of Miles Davis.

• Take a “staycation.”

• “Geotag” your digital photos.

• Watch the Beatles “Let It Be.”

• Teach your kids to cook.

• Play a fake musical instrument.

• Read the book before you see the movie.

• Try your hand at pottery.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What President Obama and Congress need to do for American consumers

In my last post, I looked at what President Obama said in his Inaugural address about consumer issues and discussed the challenges he faces in corralling the country’s strong special interests.

Here’s what I think Obama, working with Congress, needs to accomplish for American consumers:

• Find a solution to the country’s massive financial problems.

• Help consumers who are facing foreclosure of their homes.

• Find effective ways to create jobs.

• Establish a health care system that works and provides coverage for all Americans.

• Curb the excesses of the pharmaceutical industry by putting a lid on their profits, investigating the harmful side effects of prescription drugs that are injuring and killing people, and fostering the use of less harmful alternative medicine techniques.

• Act quickly to halt the excessive fees and interest rates being charged by banks and credit card companies.

• Stop poor lending practices by banks and mortgage companies.

• Establish better regulation of financial services.

• Fund nonindustry-sponsored research on approaches for clean energy and implement programs based on the research.

• Reestablish the White House Special assistant for consumer affairs and/or create a federal consumer protection agency.

• Restore the budgets of federal regulatory agencies including the Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• Enhance the regulatory functions of these agencies so that our food, consumer products, and drugs are safe.

• Develop creative and effective ways for citizens to be involved in the decision-making of these agencies.

• Restore trust in the work of the federal government and its processes.

• Insist on transparency in all the work of the federal government including the regulatory agencies and White House staff.

• Ban the direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs on television, in magazines, and on the Internet.

• Ban, establish a moratorium, or least require the labeling of genetically modified food.

• Require irradiated food to be labeled.

• Work with Congress to develop regulatory processes that will prevent the excesses under the George W. Bush administration that caused the collapse of the housing market and the stock market.

• Enhance environmental protections.

• Adequately fund programs for seniors including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

• Assist local and state governments in preparing for the needs of baby boomers as they age.

• Work to eliminate poverty and homelessness.

• End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so that money will be available for domestic programs.

• Support a congressional investigation of the crimes of the George W. Bush administration that will lead to the filing of charges against those who broke the law.

• Review recent telecommunication laws in terms of how they meet the needs of consumers.

• Figure out whether cell phones are safe to use and, if they’re found to be harmful, mandate that they be safe.

• Improve mass transportation throughout the nation.

• Work with local governments and the states to create compact, walkable communities so that Americans can walk to work and shopping areas.

I know this is a huge agenda, but American consumers are in need of drastic assistance after the gutting of consumer and environmental protections during the George W. Bush administrations.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist