The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

How are you doing saving for emergencies, college, and retirement?

The American personal savings rate is at its lowest level since the U.S. financial crisis in 2008, at 6 percent of disposable income, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and is continuing a 60-year downward trend line.

America Saves Week, Feb. 25 to March 2, is a good time to evaluate your short- and long-term financial goals and figure out how you can save more.

Monday, Feb. 25: Save with a plan

Savers with a plan are twice as likely to save successfully for items such as retirement and their or their children’s education. During America Saves Week, create a savings plan when you take the America Saves Pledge for a chance to win up to $750.

Not much time left to get ready for the Academy Awards Sunday

Fortunately, my daughter urged me to start watching movies earlier this year. I usually wait for the list of Academy Award-nominated movies before I begin my marathon watching. I review the top movies every year to see if there’s a reduction in the amount of violence, ageism, and sexism in the latest movies. I think movies, like television, are too violent, and consumers need to take action to reduce the violent images that bombard children.

I’ve seen almost all of the movies with the most nominations. Last night, I saw the documentary short subjects. All were very good.

I have several foreign language films to watch: “Capernaum,” “Cold War,” and “Never Look Away.”

EPA’s plan to regulate harmful PFAS chemicals is too little, too late, environmental group says

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a plan Thursday to regulate PFAS chemicals, which includes making a determination by the end of the year about how the harmful chemicals should be regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act and listing them as hazardous substances to aid in cleanup efforts.

PFAS, short for perfluoroalky and polyfluoroalkyl, are a group of highly fluorinated chemicals used in nonstick cookware, fire retardants, oil and water repellents, furniture, carpets, waterproof clothes, take out containers, and fire-fighting foam. The chemicals are very persistent in the environment and in the human body – meaning they don’t break down and they can accumulate over time.

EPA’s PFAS management plan would only make the nationwide crisis of pollution from fluorinated compounds worse, according to the Environmental Working Group. It wouldn’t stop the introduction of new PFAS chemicals, end the use of in everyday products, alert Americans to the risk of PFAS pollution, or clean up contaminated drinking water supplies for an estimated 110 million Americans.

Baby boomer bloggers keep writing despite winter storms

The winter storm we had in the Seattle area was our worst in decades. On the first night of the storm, my power went out at 11:30 p.m. I spent the night in the cold, then barely got out of the driveway the next morning to find someplace warm.

I drove north until I found a Starbucks with power. Then I decided to spend two nights in motels.

When the power came on, it was snowing heavily. When I was shoveling the driveway, my car got covered in snow again.

Despite all the bad weather throughout the nation, our group of baby boomer bloggers keeps on writing. Their latest articles include:

What presidents are celebrated on Presidents’ Day?

What are your plans for Presidents’ Day? Enjoying a day off? Exercising? Reading? Binge watching TV programs? Shopping? Working? Cleaning house?

I bet not many people are thinking about their favorite president today or about citizen participation to help our government work better.

Again this year, I’ve been seeing the Mount Rushmore presidents on a Presidents’ Day articles. In addition to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, many people are adding the two other Mount Rushmore presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt, to honor.

Best Presidents' Day sales this year

Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day sometimes fall within a few days of each other, so sales covering both holidays often are offered.

Presidents’ Day is a big sale holiday, and it’s a good time to stock up on home goods, electronics, and clothing.

DealNews offers the following list of what to expect from Presidents’ Day sales this year:

Honda recalls vehicles because car wash soap damage may cause them to catch fire

Photo: Kelvin Eng

Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are recalling about 106,683 Ridgeline sport utility trucks because they could catch fire after being washed in a car wash.

In 2017, 2018, and 2019 Ridgeline trucks, the acid from car wash soaps could cause the fuel pump feed line to crack. The damage increases the chances the trucks will catch fire.

The recall is expected to begin on March 7.

Honda is notifying owners, and dealers will repair and replace the fuel pump at no cost to owners.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Baby boomers are escaping and remaking

Boomer bloggers are in escape mode whether it’s from the cold, from their comfort zones, or from doing things that don’t benefit them.

They’re remedying their situations by being a snowbird and going to South Carolina and Florida, going on walking tours to reduce stress, mastering the art of career change, and remembering to take care of themselves, too.

Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski of Baby Boomster writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #583. To get the links to the articles, click here. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Education Department fails to adequately supervise student loan servicers, federal watchdog says

Student loan debt is now the second largest debt in the United States with only mortgage debt higher. And, since 2013, most people aren’t able to discharge their student loan debts through bankruptcy.

That’s what makes a report from the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Education, which is highly critical of how the department is handling federal student loan servicers, disturbing. A loan servicer is a company that handles the billing and other services on a federal student loan.

In an audit, the inspector general found that Federal Student Aid, an office of the department, hadn’t adequately supervised student loan servicers.

Diet drinks can cause increased risk of strokes in older women, study finds

Drinking two or more diet drinks daily was associated with an increase in the risk of having a stroke caused by a blocked artery, especially small arteries, among post-menopausal women, according to research published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association.

While this study identifies an association between diet drinks and stroke, it doesn’t prove cause and effect because it was an observational study based on self-reported information about diet drink consumption, said Yasmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate professor of clinical epidemiology and population health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Compared with women who consumed diet drinks less than once a week or not at all, women who consumed two or more artificially sweetened beverages per day were: