The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

In this year of change, the changes keep coming

I should have been more prepared. The Australians warned us. The wildfires they experienced during their summer fire season were the worst in history.

But here I am. Not only staying home due to covid-19, but now, I have to stay inside due to smoky air from wildfires throughout the West Coast.

Maybe the air will clear this week. Maybe not. My daughter in California has been dealing with heavy smoke in the air since Aug. 20. The fires there won’t be out until it rains, probably in October.

See my article for tips on how to deal with smoky air.

Others are dealing with change, too:

Experiencing a funeral in the era of the coronavirus

This week Meryl Baer of Beach Boomer Bulletin returned to her hometown of more than 30 years for the funeral of a good friend. Funerals are different in a pandemic, but mourning doesn’t change. Baer reminisces about her friend and her hometown family.

Learning something new due to covid-19

Tom Sightings at Sightings Over Sixty asks: “Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?” He and his wife have learned something new and different this summer, or as Sightings claims, they've even become experts on the topic. So zoom over to “Old Dog, New Trick” to find out what all the excitement is about. 

Manifesting big changes

Is manifestation real or just the result of an overactive imagination creating connections that don't really exist? Over at A Healing Spirit, Carol Cassara muses about an unexplained coincidence that led to a big life change.

Changing with aging

“When I'm 64?” You can’t imagine how old and wretched Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles pictured this age when she first heard this McCartney song in 1967. She still has about a week to go, but can’t help comparing the lyrics then to the reality today.

Listening to audio books

Have you been getting any reading done while we’ve been stuck at home? Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com has been listening to audiobooks. It’s easier for her because of her contacts and aging eyes. She discusses the advantages of audiobooks in her latest post “Have You Been Listening to Audiobooks?” 

Figuring out your wardrobe when you move to Florida

September usually makes Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin start to think about fall cleaning and changing out summer clothes but since she's moved to Florida things are different. Find out more in “The Blush of September.”

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #667. Click on the links to read the articles. And be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

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

Estate Planning 3-2-1 – Part 3: One task that can make – or break – your estate plan

By Lauren A. Pitman, Attorney

Founder and Author of the Side by Side Planner

Imagine this: a person goes through the trouble of hiring an attorney, making an estate plan, and keeping the plan accessible to their loved ones in an emergency. Then, their loved ones discover a glitch. The deceased’s life insurance policy is payable-on-death to only one of the three children, as it was created many years ago when the family only had one child.

Now, it‘s up to that child to decide: was this my loved one’s true wish for this money, or do I have to share it? What happens now?

Estate Planning 3-2-1, Part 2: Two ways to ease family tension by personalizing your estate plan

By Lauren A. Pitman, Attorney

Founder and Author of the Side by Side Planner

If I have learned anything in more than 15 years as an estate planning attorney, it’s that there’s really no such thing as a “normal family.” That’s because every family is beautiful, whether your “family” is your children and grandchildren, beloved nieces and nephews, or a network of close friends.

That’s why online estate planning tools don’t work: they aren’t customizable enough to work for a real-life family. Real families are too important to risk. I have seen too many sibling relationships fall apart after the death of a parent over what’s “fair.” In extreme cases, contests or disputes lead to permanent family fall-out.

A good estate plan can do more than just preserve relationships: it can even heal old wounds or set things right within a family. Only you know what you think is fair for your beneficiaries.

Estate Planning 3-2-1 – Part 1: Three key lists to keep with your estate plan

By Lauren A. Pitman, Attorney

Founder and Author of the Side by Side Planner

An estate plan is meant to make life easier for the people you love. You make it for yourself – so you maintain control over your medical decisions and the way your assets are distributed, to protect the legacy you’ve built – but really, it’s about the people you love.

It’s about lightening the load for them. If something happened to you, like an accident or injury, your loved ones would already be under a great deal of stress. The last thing they want to worry about is bureaucracy and paperwork.

That‘s where an estate plan comes in. You have done the work ahead of time, so your loved ones can focus on what is important: taking care of you and each other.

Baby boomers venturing out some into the new pandemic world

These days, I’m still not going out much. I pick up groceries from my local food coop weekly and order everything else.

However, we’re having socially distance, outdoor events to celebrate the ratification of the 19^th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right to vote. It was ratified 100 years ago on Aug. 18, 1920, when Tennessee became the 36^th state to approve votes for women. I’m photographing the events, four so far with the fifth and sixth, the final ones, tomorrow.

Meanwhile, boomer bloggers are writing about what’s happening in their lives these days:

Baby boomers are figuring out, again, how to cope with change

A big change has occurred in my life. My niece, the Lovely Linda Lee, passed away Feb. 17, 2020. Linda worked as a bank auditor, day trader, and real estate agent. She was really smart and got her master’s degree in economics from the University of Washington.

Her memorial service was held in Bellingham, Washington, a two-and-half-hour drive from my house. I worried about attending with 50 people during a pandemic, but I figured out I could drive up there and back in a day and wear a face mask.

It a wonderful remembrance organized by her sisters Debra and Suzi. The photo of Linda is one I took of her at Debra’s wedding in Italy in 2006.

But now, we need to go on without Linda. It’s a change, a change that I don’t like, but can’t do anything about.

Meanwhile, boomer bloggers are writing about:

Baby boomers figuring out how to cope during these difficult times

It’s so upsetting that coronavirus cases are spiking in about 20 states in the USA. I’ve been staying home since early March, and am prepared to stay home more because I’m in the high-risk group.

But many people, including President Trump, aren’t wearing face masks. Trump even organized a huge rally Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What is he thinking? Eight of his staff members who worked on the event tested positive for coronavirus. Two of them attended the event. We’ll just have to wait and see how many Trump supporters will get covid-19 and how many will be superspreaders.

I am going to go out this weekend to my nieces memorial service, which is in Bellingham, Washington, a couple of hours from my home. Before I go, I’ll need to cut my hair. I was going to hire an online stylist, but my daughter said since my hairdo is so simple, I might be able to do it myself. I checked out a couple of YouTube videos, so it looks doable. I’ll report later on how it goes.

Baby boomers ponder these times

Photo: .RGB.

America is in turmoil. Millions of Americans are pouring out into the streets to protest the death of George Floyd, a black man who was murdered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when a police office pressed his knee on his neck until he died. All this in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic. 

I'm stressed. I don't know what's going to happen next. Police reform? I hope so. Millions more getting the coronavirus and thousands more dying of it? I hope not. 

I've decided what I'm going to do in these challenging times is make a large contribution on an organization that works to improve my community, including working on homeless issues.

Our boomer bloggers are writing about what's going on in America and what's going on in their lives:

Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter protests are swelling throughout the nation. As she reached out to her friends of color, Carol Cassara of Heart·Mind·Soul has learned more about what it means to be an effective ally. In "How Much Do Black Lives Matter to You?" she relates an impactful dialogue she had with a female friend; one that made even more vivid what people of color face every day of their lives. 

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold and Begin has been struggling with a lot of emotions lately; sadness, anger, and outrage, to name just a few. She was sickened by the casual way in which a cop murdered George Floyd, and while she doesn't know exactly what to say, she does have something to say.

Something that happened to Laurie Stone of Musing, Rants & Scribbles five years ago seems as relevant today as it did back then. She was in her neighborhood grocery store when she encountered a tall, middle-aged African-American man stocking shelves. He had a cart full of product and part of it blocked her way. She looked at him, smiling, saying, “Excuse me.” He turned and gazed at her, his eyes hard, face tight and unsmiling. And that’s when she saw it.

Travel

Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com attended the American Travel Trends Forum online with guest speakers Peter Greenberg, Samantha Brown, Andrew McCarthy, and others. The tourism industry has been heavily impacted by the pandemic with over 100 million out of work. What does it need to do to come back? Rebecca reports on some of their thoughts and findings.

Bathing suits

Quarantine, recession, protest marches. It has been a long week. But it is also summer and time to relax a bit and enjoy the season, the weather, the warmth. Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting obliges with an upbeat post about swim suits. Summer’s here and that means bathing suits.

Social Security

Tom Sightings at Sightings Over Sixty had occasion to check on his Social Security benefits – which we all know can often be complicated and sometimes confusing. So he turned to financial guru Jeremy Kisner to find some important Social Security FAQ's ... which will answer (almost) any question you ever had about Social Security, including if and when it will go bankrupt.

These articles make up the Best of Boomer Blogs #653. Be sure to check out the articles and leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

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 coping during weeks of staying at home due to the pandemic

Things are going well for me as I stay home under Washington state’s stay home order. I’m willing to do it for a long time more. I don’t think it’s worth it to get my hair cut or eat in a restaurant and get the coronavirus.

It’s so upsetting that protesters are risking the lives of others by coming out to state capitals, crowding together, and in some states, even carrying guns.

My yard is beautiful this time of year. I have 40 rhododendrons in many colors of pink plus red, yellow, orangey, and purple. I’m making a bouquet a day because the beautiful blossoms will soon be gone. Since my main interest in my yard is growing vegetables, I rely on all the rhododendrons, and about a dozen azaleas, planted by previous owners.

But the main thing I’m doing is working on the book about my journalism career called “Follow the Money: My Life as a Financial Journalist.” It’s a lot of work to go through the hundreds of print articles I’ve written, but it makes the time fly by. I’m almost finished with the print articles. Next, I’ll need to figure out a way to write about more than 6,000 blog articles.

Meanwhile, baby boomer bloggers are writing about: