The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Facts and Figures for July Fourth 2020

It's an unusual year for the annual July 4th celebration in the United States. The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and now that cases throughout the nation are spiking, it's time to rethink things again.

The best plan for celebrating is to stay home. If you invite people for a barbecue, keep the number small and have them bring their own food and drinks. Set tables up in your yard with social distancing.

Hopefully, things will be better by next year.

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

How to celebrate Memorial Day during the coronavirus pandemic

Memorial Day, a day honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military, is Monday. Normally, most communities have gatherings and people often travel in what has become the unofficial beginning of summer.

Last year, nearly 43 million Americans took a Memorial Day weekend trip. It was the second-highest travel volume on record since AAA began tracking holiday travel in 2000, with the highest set in 2005.

This year, AAA isn’t making a travel forecast for Memorial Day due to COVID-19 impacts on the underlying economic data used to create the forecast. AAA anticipates this year’s holiday will likely set a record low for travel volume.

What are the options for Americans for celebrating Memorial Day in 2020, the year of the coronavirus pandemic?

Visit a cemetery. See if the cemetery you want to visit is open to family members. Have flowers delivered to your home to place on the grave. Go early so you can have a socially distanced visit.

Watch Memorial Day parades and ceremonies virtually. Check the internet to see what’s available in your area.

Baby boomers struggling like most Americans to get through these covid-19 days

Today is my birthday. It’s so different to be home alone celebrating. I usually go to Madrid to spend the month of May with my daughter, who also has a birthday in May. Then, of course, in May, there’s also American Mother’s Day and Spanish Mother’s Day to celebrate.

That makes many occasions to drink cava, Spain’s amazing sparkling wine. It’s aged in underground caves for a year in a second fermentation.

I talked with my daughters today over WhatsApp, then enjoyed pizza and chocolate cake with my cava.

Spring 2020 is so different – no travel, no family events, no movies or theater performances, no eating out, no face-to-face classes, no crowds, and no long lines.

Let’s hope enough states will continue social distancing so that we don’t have a second wave of the covid-19 pandemic with thousands of deaths.

Here’s what the other boomer bloggers in our group are writing about:

• Future travel for baby boomers, which includes taking small trips before venturing too far from home.
• Good quotes and life lessons scattered among the various displays of goods and wares in tourist shops on a shopping trip before the pandemic.
• A survey that shows Americans are much more concerned about the coronavirus pandemic in April than they were in March, with Hispanic and black adults having higher concerns.
• A Bob Marley quote that points out we never really know how strong we are until it matters.
• How to prepare for walking into the unknown during pandemic times.

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting writes about these articles for the Best of Boomer Blogs #648. Click here to get the links to the articles. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to converse with readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers have different reactions to stay-at-home orders

During the coronavirus Stay Home, Stay Healthy order in Washington state, I’m doing well. The time is flying by. It’s difficult to believe that we’ve been doing it for seven weeks.

Why are things going well here? I’m working on my book “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.” Since I love blogging so much, it’s been difficult to get my book finished. Now, I work on my book first, then, I get a reward to write a blog post. It’s working. I’m three-fourths done with my book.

The photo is my dining room table stacked with articles I’ve written: well over 1,000 print articles. When I finish writing about my Tacoma News Tribune articles, I’ll pause and sent my book proposal out to interested agents I met at recent writers’ conferences. While waiting to hear from them, I’ll undertake the huge task of writing the final chapter – describing my blogging work, which includes more than 6,000 articles.

However, it’s disappointing that I’m not in Madrid visiting my daughter and her family like I usually do in May. She misses me, too, because I’m good at cleaning the kitchen. In addition, we just figured out she and the kids probably won’t be able to visit in July and my holiday trip to Spain is unlikely to occur.

Here’s how boomer bloggers are handling being at home. They’re writing about:

It's World Penguin Day

My cousin, Scott Telecky, who travels the world, loves to see Penguins in the wild. His post on Facebook alerted me to the fact that it's World Penguin Day.

So, here's my photo of little penguins on Penguin Island south of Perth. We visited in 2017.

See my article, "Return Trip to Australia Shows It's as Great Now as It Was During the Late 1960s."

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Progressive Leasing to pay $175 million to FTC to settle charges it deceived consumers about prices

Progressive Leasing will pay $175 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it misled consumers about the price of items purchased through its plans. The company markets rent-to-own payment plans at more than 24,000 retail locations – including stores such as Best Buy, Lowe’s, Big Lot’s, and Kay Jewelers – in 46 states and the District of Columbia.

Consumers who visited retailers to buy items such as furniture, jewelry, or cellphones were often told that Progressive’s payment plans were “same as cash” or “no interest” – leading consumers to believe they wouldn’t be charged more than an item’s sticker price, according to the FTC’s lawsuit filed Monday.

Instead, the lawsuit alleges, consumers paid more than the sticker price, and often paid about twice the sticker price if they made all scheduled payments under the plans. When consumers were presented with the terms of Progressive’s offers, they were shown the “cash price” of the item, as well as the cost of their initial payment and each periodic payment.

Privacy policies upgraded by Zoom after analysis by Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports recently uncovered a number of privacy concerns with Zoom, a videoconferencing service that many consumers, businesses, and schools are using during the coronavirus pandemic.

Researchers at Consumer Reports’ Digital Lab found that Zoom, like many digital platforms, outlines in its privacy policy that it collects personal information about its users, but doesn’t disclose details about how that information is used for advertising, marketing, or other business purposes.

This information, known as “customer content” could include cloud video recordings and information that was shared during the recordings such as instant messages, files, and whiteboards.

Baby boomers dealing with the strange new world

Things have changed dramatically for Americans due to the coronavirus. Most baby boomers are sheltering in place and waiting to see what happens next. What will it be? It’s all unknown.

Meanwhile, boomer bloggers are writing about ways to cope with it all. Articles include:

• How to manage anxiety and to meditate.

• The benefits of a stacation.

• The importance of avoiding charity scams.

• A nature walk in the neighborhood to break up self-isolating at home.

• Tips for dealing with isolation.

• New things to try at home.

• Good things that have come from the pandemic.

Carol Cassara of Heart•Mind•Soul writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #642. Click here to get the links to the articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. It cheers up boomer bloggers to chat with their readers.

Copyright 2020, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers are being impacted by COVID-19

Like most people for now, the coronavirus is turning my life upside down.

I wanted to get my new glasses Monday, but a delay caused an error in one of my glasses prescriptions, I’m getting regular glasses and computer classes, screwed everything up. By the time the ophthalmologist’s office said they had faxed the correct prescriptions to Costco, Costco had closed its optical department.

So, instead of shopping at Costco, I went to my local co-op and Safeway to stock up again. I wore my face mask and disposable gloves.

In addition to the canned goods shelves being nearly bare, the sugar and flour shelves at Safeway were empty, too.

People age 60 and older are to stay home, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee said. So that’s what I’m doing now.

The baby boomers in our blogging group are being impacted by the coronavirus. They’re writing about:

Digital wireless equipment for electric guitars by Yamaha recalled due to fire and injury hazards

Yamaha is recalling about 82,000 line 6 relay G10 digital wireless guitar systems and USB charging cables in the United States and about 4,700 units in Canada.

The lithium-ion battery can overheat and the battery cover can separate with force, posing fire and injury hazards.

Yamaha is aware of four incidents worldwide of the battery cover separating forcefully from the transmitter, including one report of minor property damage. No injuries have been reported.