The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Baby boomers concentrate on the basics

Baby Boomer bloggers are writing about returning to the basics and focusing on the fundamental aspects of their lives. As the Billy Joel song says, they “don't wanna waste more time." Boomers don’t want to waste time on political or personal arguments, shallow everyday distractions, or the superficiality and wastefulness of crass consumerism.

They’re writing about:

• Why it’s important to allow yourself to be a human being.
• How being adaptable can get your through life’s biggest challenges.
• How folks get together and talk in a civil, controlled, mature manner on a specific topic in a Socrates Café.
• The importance of reducing the use of plastic containers.
• Whether traits become more or less pronounced as we age.
• How to know if your vision board works.

Tom Sightings of Sightings Over Sixty writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #631. Click here to read the articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers enjoy hearing from readers.

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

Baby boomers are looking backward and forward as the year ends

There are similarities between the 1920s and 2020 such as big wealth vs. the rest of us, refugees escaping violence, and Russian influence, says Rebecca Olkowski of the blog BabyBoomster. She describes how both of her parents were born here in the early 1920s, with most of her family arrived in America in the 1880s from parts of Poland, which was Russia then Czechoslovakia and now Slovakia.

“The world works in cycles,” Olkowski says. “It’s kind of weird that way.”

Meanwhile, some of our boomer bloggers are saying goodbye to another year in their articles and others are continuing to provide helpful information. Their articles include:

• How quickly the year and decade have passed.
• A year of travels, including getting some warm sun.
• How to put your goals for next year on a calendar to help achieve them.
• How to keep warm safely this winter.
• How events that stop you in your tracks can give you a new perspective.
• How a mother’s death taught her daughter the lessons of a lifetime.

Olkowski writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #629. Click here to get the links to the articles. And let us hear from you. We love to get comments and suggestions.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers contemplate winter solstice, feeling different, aging, money, and Christmas trees

It’s the holiday season. The New Year will be here soon with new beginnings and old challenges yet unresolved. To inspire you, here are the latest thought-provoking articles and practical advice from our boomer bloggers, as reported by Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles in Best of the Boomer Blogs #628.

The articles include:

• How to appreciate those who are different and ourselves more fully.
• How to buy gift cards and the return policies for 48 retailers. 
• Why the holiday celebrations are so nice before the somber, cold and quiet of the rest of winter settles in.
• How to plan your goals better by exploring five-, three-, and one-year goals.
• Aging isn’t so bad because we’re happier, smarter, and sexier than we’ve ever been.
• How to have the money talk.
• How to have the perfect Christmas tree.

Click here to get the links to all these articles. And be sure to leave comments. We love to hear from you.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Yes, boomers are doing O.K.

Carol Cassara of A Healing Spirit is still a Beatles fan, and, all these years later when she hears one of their songs, she’s instantly transported back to the 1960s. An image of a van, like the one in the photo, which was popular at the time, does the same thing. She just goes there.

Cassara also thinks about the 1960s when she reads posts by her favorite boomer bloggers. Some of their latest articles include:

• The most memorable Christmas.
• How to make Polish Sauerkraut Soup.
• The top three challenges to expect from “gray” divorce, divorce when couples are age 50 and older.
• A narrow escape on the freeway when a box truck veered off the highway toward the center median, then careened back onto it.
• How to plan goals for 2020 and beyond.
• The new, frozen Asian desserts.

Cassara writes about these articles in the Best of Boomer Blogs #627. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers appreciate hearing from readers. It makes their day.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Top 3 challenges to expect during a ‘gray’ divorce

By Kris Balekian Hayes, president, Balekian Hayes PLLC

Guest Blogger

Divorce rates overall are declining across the country. However, they’re nearly doubling for baby boomer couples. This phenomenon known as “gray” divorce occurs when couples over the age of 50 choose to end their marriages. Couples under the age of 40 are delaying or avoiding marriage, and those who decide to get married most likely had divorced parents growing up and, as a result, are making a concerted effort to stay together. Meanwhile, boomer couples over the age of 50 – who caused the divorce rate to spike in the 1970s — are continuing to divorce at higher rates as they age.

Most boomer couples have been together for more than half of their lives, which can make coping with a divorce during their older years extremely challenging. Some of these unique challenges may include:

1. Emotional and financial impact on adult children

When their parents divorce late in life, adult children have to navigate financial and other practical considerations while dealing with the devastating emotional strain of divorce. Unlike if a divorce happened when their children were younger, older parents may be more likely to lean on their adult children for emotional and financial support during their divorces. This can leave adult children feeling burdened, divided, and distrusting as a result of their parents’ divorce occurring later in life.

Baby boomers spend time on holiday preparations and end-of-year reflections

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting was flying high this week, with a short airline ride to enjoy the company of her grandkids. She sat for hours in stiff steel bleachers waiting for her granddaughters’ teams to compete in cheerleading, got manicures and pedicures, sampled Asian ice cream, baked cookies, strolled a craft fair, and witnessed the usual family feuds, which she didn’t take part in.  

Meanwhile, her baby boomer blogging friends spent time this week on end-of-year reflections and holiday preparations:

• Why manifesting stuff won’t make you happy.
• How “free trial offers” can turn bad and cost you money.
• How the size and style of the family Christmas tree changes over the years.
• How to make your own self-care toolkit for the holidays.
• What we can do to help ourselves live longer and feel better.
• What makes someone young and someone old is a state of mind.

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #626. Click here to get the links to the articles. And, be sure and join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers enjoy sharing ideas with readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers get ready for the holidays and look beyond

I’m stressed. The holidays are coming, and I’ve been working on my book about my journalism career instead of getting ready. However, I put on a “full court press” and have sent out my holiday cards and presents. Whew. It was a big job to do in a couple of weeks.

Many in our baby boomer blogging group are also thinking about the holidays, but some also are addressing other issues and events.

Since it’s Thanksgiving this week, Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting began to think about holiday trivia and traditions past and present, universal activities as well as annual events that take place closer to home. She summarizes her holiday musings in this week’s post “Thanksgiving Trivia.”

Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants, & Scribbles admits it...she likes simple. That’s why Thanksgiving appeals to her. Yes, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and the Fourth of July all have perks, but, for her, there’s something unassuming and lovely about Thanksgiving. Here are eight things she adores.

During the holiday season, grief can be especially difficult because grief holds on tight. It's a time to be even more supportive to those who have lost a loved one. In "Do You Wonder Why the World's Still Standing," Carol Cassara at A Healing Spirit talks about some ways to be supportive.

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold And Begin asks the question: After that last crumb of pumpkin pie has been eaten this year...what's next? Do your children or grandchildren immediately turn their thoughts to what they will get from Santa this year? Is there more "wanting" than "giving" in their Christmas talk?  And, how can you help them to think about Christmas as more than just a time of getting more? This week, Koshak shares a guest post from one of her friends that includes holiday Vision Board craft activities to get your children/grandchildren focused on the season of giving.

In “What Are We Doing?” Tom Sightings from Sightings Over Sixty takes a look at his coastal environment. Unfortunately, the one word that comes to mind is: plastics.

Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com is excited to announce that she’ll be appearing on a new live stream TV show for Awake TV called “Now It’s My Turn: Unstoppable Women Over 50” on Nov. 24. If you miss it, the video will be available online on the show’s website. It will be hosted by Lana McAra. For more information about it, click here.

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs 624. Click on the links to read the great stories offered by boomer bloggers. And, be sure to leave a comment. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

Baby boomers keep on changin’

In Washington state, we moved our clocks back as we move toward winter. Now, the sun is setting about 5 p.m. The “fall back” doesn’t bother me as much as the “spring forward.” However, it’s jarring to be in the dark so early in the evening.

As winter approaches and we long for spring, baby boomers are writing about life’s changes:

• The five love languages.
• Senior sex.
• Binge-watching bliss.
• Ways to stretch your money this holiday season.
• Shelter in place when a man has a gun.

Rebecca Olkowski of BabyBoomster writes about these articles on the Best of Boomer Blogs #622. Click here to read the articles. And be sure to join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist

5 signs your marriage is over

By Adam J. Edelstein, attorney and partner, Edelsteins, Faegenburg & Brown

Guest Blogger

Relations are complicated, and when things begin to get difficult in a marriage, people wonder whether they should continue to work on it or admit defeat.

Here are five things which may show your marriage is over:

1. You don’t communicate

In one study, 53 percent of couples reported that a lack of communication was a core reason for their divorce. In any relationship, communication is crucial to build on a foundation of honesty and trust. When you and your partner won’t address relationship issues or share in each other’s joy, you’ve lost that connection. 

If this critical connection is damaged beyond repair, your marriage could be on a slippery slope toward divorce.

Baby boomers offer practical tips and talk friendship and politics

It’s so cold here in the Seattle area that I’m wearing my winter coat again. And, it’s Election Day Tuesday, another indication that November is here.

As we move toward Thanksgiving, baby boomers are writing about:

• How to reignite your passion for things that you love doing.
• What people can do when they feel overwhelmed.
• The benefits of organic food.
• How to create a blog for business purposes.
• A discussion of politics in a New Jersey.
• A visit from a friend in a dream.

Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles describes these articles on the Best of Boomer Blogs #621. Click here to get the links to the articles. In addition, please join the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2019, Rita R. Robison, Consumer and Personal Finance Journalist