The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

How will you be spending your $40 for Saint Patrick’s Day? That’s the average amount that people are spending on today’s holiday.

I’m a quarter Irish, so I’m thinking today about the marvelous trip my daughter and I had several years ago visiting Ireland. We were able to meet with modern-day members of the Baylee family, now spelled Bailey. It was a thrilling experience. They live in Kilkishen, County Clare.

We learned about them because the Anglican church, no longer in use, was being converted to a community center. The community was reaching out to descendants in the United States for support. I received an email from a woman who had researched her family tree. We had a common ancestor, Henry Baylee. She’d visited Kilkishen and put us in touch with the Bailey family.

The photo is of Laura Baylee Slingsby, my paternal grandmother.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day and sláinte.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Personal Finance Writer

Celebrating, traveling, and shopping on Saint Patrick’s Day 2019

In 1991, the U.S. Congress designated March as Irish-American Heritage Month.

Saint Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century, and Saint Patrick’s Day was originally a religious holiday to honor him. It has evolved into a celebration of being Irish and Ireland. On March 17, 1762, New York City hosted the first Saint Patrick’s Day parade. Irish soldiers serving in the English military were featured. President Harry Truman attending the parade in 1948, and it has become an annual event.

Spending

Consumers plan to spend an average of $40 for Saint Patrick’s Day this year, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation. Unlike other holidays where consumer spending has grown, the average amount consumers spend has stayed the same even as the nation recovered from the Great Recession.

Today is International Women's Day

International Women's Day, March 8, is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

International Women's Day has occurred for more than a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. Prior to this the Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom’s suffragettes, America’s suffragists, and other groups campaigned for women’s equality.

This year’s theme is Balance for Better. The IWD website explains the theme this way:

Baby boomers focus on the holidays and life’s ups and downs

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting went to her town’s official party to usher in the holiday season, a Saturday evening with a holiday parade and block party. It rained early in the day, but by the 5 p.m. start, no rain fell and the temperature was almost balmy. Fire engines, school bands, home-made floats, and enthusiastic spectators created a festive atmosphere. 

Other boomer bloggers are writing about:

• Creating a calendar for the holidays to help you enjoy the time and stress less over it.
• Researching whether a charity you’ve heard about it a good choice.
• Recounting stories of holidays past.
• Contemplating our life’s journey.
• Being a caregiver to someone who is chronically ill.

Baer writes about these articles for the Best of Boomer Blogs #575. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Baby boomers deal with life in today’s world

 

The midterm elections are Tuesday and some of our baby boomer writers are getting excited about the outcome. America could be on the cusp of political change. It all depends on who comes out to vote.

This week, boomer bloggers are writing about:

• A 50^th high school reunion.

• A family’s immigrant past.

• Bullet journals.

• The child-like part of us.

• The deferred credit card trick.

• How Congress is out of step with the rest of us.

Rebecca Forstadt-Olkowski of BabyBoomster is the host for this week’s Best of Boomer Blog 571. Click here to get links to this week’s boomer articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Facts and figures for Labor Day 2018

Summer's ending, with Labor Day weekend coming up soon. WalletHub, a personal finance website, offers these facts and figures on Labor Day 2018:

Source: WalletHub

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

States to challenge Trump administration’s roll back of vehicle emission standards and end of authority of states to enforce stronger standards

Twenty attorneys general, from jurisdictions that have adopted California’s more stringent vehicle emissions standards, will challenge the Trump administration’s roll back of the standards, if a proposed rule released Thursday is adopted.

“Federal rules to limit tailpipe pollution and improve fuel economy are our best strategy to reduce carbon pollution, improve air quality, and save drivers money on gas,” the attorneys general said in a statement. “The Administration’s proposal to weaken these rules will cause the American people to breathe dirtier air and pay higher prices at the pump.”

If adopted, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s rollbacks will cost American drivers hundreds of billions of dollars, they said.

Fines for corporations by federal agencies down under Trump administration, with penalties falling as much as 94 percent

When Donald Trump was elected president, I strongly suspected that he would be soft on his big corporation buddies. Now we have details on just how bad it is.

During President Donald Trump’s first year in office, enforcement against corporate crime and wrongdoing declined dramatically, with total penalties for such violations dropping from the final year of the Obama administration, according to a report from Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization.

In almost every federal agency under control of a Trump appointee – and most significantly at the Department of Justice, the nation’s lead law enforcement agency – enforcement against corporations dropped, often plunging to just a small fraction of what it had been.

Boomer Bloggers enjoy the Fourth and offer new reflections

This Fourth of July, I was really lucky. My daughter and my two grandchildren came to visit from Spain. We enjoyed the community parade in the morning of the Fourth, then planned to have dinner at the festival before the fireworks. However, my granddaughter wasn’t feeling well so we had dinner at home. A lucky thing happened though – we could see the fireworks well from my backyard.

Another boomer blogger, Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting attended a concert celebrating the Fourth of July, followed by ice cream at the best scoop place in town. Her local symphony orchestra performed a variety of popular, familiar tunes. Curious about the writers and composers of the music, Baer investigated and discovered several were immigrants or first-generation Americans. Read about her findings in “Celebrating Our Diversity.”

Two years ago, Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com went to a Fourth of July party in Hollywood. She sat down next to actor Norman Lloyd, who was 101 at the time. He regaled the table with tales of what it was like to work with Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Alfred Hitchcock to name a few. This year, Rebecca went to the same party and Norman was there again at 103, still telling stories, eating chicken, corn on the cob, and enjoying his Sangria

Other boomer bloggers are reflecting on life:

No matter what our age, we all set goals and make plans, Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin says. We've got things that we want to accomplish and midyear is a great time to check in on your goals to see how you're doing and if you need to make any adjustments. Find out more by taking a look at Koshak’s article on how to do a midyear check-in of your goals.

Do you take time to reflect on your life? asks Sue Loncaric from Sizzling Towards Sixty. Do you indulge yourself in memories or feel trapped by them? Are you ready for new beginnings? Loncaric guest, in the Over 50 and Thriving Guest Series, this week poses these questions to us as she reflects on her own Life Over 50. Read her article “Reflecting on My Life Over 50 – Old Memories and New Beginnings.”

Laura Lee Carter of the Adventures of the New Old Farts is reflecting on the fact that after a week of evacuation, nasty smoke, and a gigantic sense of foreboding, she and her husband's new solar home didn't burn up in the third largest wildfire in Colorado history. Read all about it in "Hallelujah! Our Home Is Saved." 

Tom Sightings from Sightings Over Sixty this week offers a reflection on how “Time Goes By...” Here's how his post begins: "The other day I was in the kitchen and my wife B was doing something in the living room. I heard her whistling, although I wasn't paying attention to what it was. Suddenly I heard her screech: . . . "

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #554. Click on the links above to read the articles. And, be sure and join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

 

Why do conservatives such as Scott Pruitt, who detest government, rip off taxpayers when they get into office?

Scott Pruitt, former EPA administrator

Scott Pruitt’s resignation Thursday as the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a great thing. Pruitt was a good soldier the Trump administration, known for its corruption, its harmful deregulation, its handover of power to the industries that agencies are regulating, and its unprecedented and pervasive ethical failures.

Investigations of Pruitt made the new frequently. Among them are:

• The $50-a-night condo
• The $43,000 phone booth
• Security spending, including a 24-hour security detail of at least 20 people
• Travel expenses, use of private, first-class, and military flights plus trips to Italy and Morocco
• Pay raises and personnel matters, including use of a provision of the clean drinking water law to hire ex-lobbyists and give raises to political aides
• Undisclosed email addresses
• Industry meetings that may have violated anti-lobbying laws for government officials and inappropriate use of taxpayers’ dollars
• The selection process for science advisory boards