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December 27, 21012

Health care law may help Baby Boomers

The federal government is moving forward with the Affordable Care Act. And Baby Boomers stand to gain the most.

With the presidential election and Supreme Court decision behind us, the federal government is moving forward with the Affordable Care Act. Baby Boomers stand to gain the most. >> Read more

December 19, 2012

Older People Become What They Think, Study Shows

All of us have beliefs — many of them subconscious, dating back to childhood — about what it means to get older. Psychologists call these “age stereotypes.” And, it turns out, they can have an important effect on seniors’ health.

When stereotypes are negative — when seniors are convinced becoming old means becoming useless, helpless or devalued — they are less likely to seek preventive medical care and die earlier, and more likely to suffer memory loss and poor physical functioning, a growing body of research shows. >> Read more

October 13, 2012

Fear, stigma make Alzheimer's patients slow to seek help

Looking back, Jennifer Harrington can see how the stigma surrounding Alzheimer's disease made her mother's last decade of life harder than it had to be.

For one thing, Harrington said, fear of the disease led Joan Preston to avoid seeking a diagnosis for a long time – and that long period of denial made talking with her about her memory decline and planning for her future more difficult.

"She was forgetting things, like what day of the week it was," said Harrington, 60, who lives in Roseville. "She was getting upset about things that didn't used to upset her. She'd get angry and hostile. She was getting lost in her neighborhood and having trouble finding her way back to her apartment in her complex.

"She knew something was happening, but she really didn't want to face it." >> Read more

May 8, 2012

'When We Hear Music, Memories Fill Our Minds': Living With Dementia

When I walked into the chapel at Saint Peter's Church in New York City, there were about a dozen pairs of people sitting in an open area in front of the pews on folding metal chairs; each couple shared a music stand. They were mostly older adults, though a few were middle-aged. For a group of people waiting for an audience to take their seats for the concert they were about to give, they seemed remarkably calm.

They call themselves the Unforgettables -- a chorus of couples that include a person with dementia, mostly Alzheimer's, and a caregiver, usually a spouse. This was their third concert. >> Read more

Aprl 9, 2012

Joining a Community By Staying at Home

Thinking about moving to a so-called CCRC, or continuing-care retirement community? Perhaps you could stay in your home—and have the community come to you.

That is the idea behind a concept called "CCRCs without walls." Rather than requiring members to purchase a residence on a campus, these programs dispatch services—administered by aides, physical therapists, nurses and care coordinators—to members' homes as needed. By doing away with the residence requirement, they typically can charge less. >> Read more

March 28, 2012

10 Great Opportunities for Older Volunteers

If you have time and an interest in volunteering, you can literally create your own program. Aided by Internet sites that match needs and volunteers, along with other do-it-yourself online tools, boomers are rewriting the book on how volunteering works. >> Read more

March 27, 2012

People Sleep Better As They Age

Here's another reason to look forward to turning 80 — you may start sleeping better than you did at any other point in your life.

Surprised? So were the authors of a recent myth-busting stdy that found that the older you are, the better you sleep. >> Read more

February 6, 2012

10 ways to keep your mind sharp

Alzheimer’s isn’t inevitable. Many experts now believe you can prevent or at least delay dementia — even if you have a genetic predisposition. Reducing Alzheimer’s risk factors like obesity, diabetes, smoking and low physical activity by just 25 percent could prevent up to half a million cases of the disease in the United States, according to a recent analysis from the University of California in San Francisco.

Here are 10 new ways you can boost your brain health now. >> Read more

December 12, 2011

Tips for Baby Boomers Reaching Retirement Age in 2012

In 2012, the oldest baby boomers will turn 66, an important age for Social Security eligibility. At 66, boomers can claim the full amount of Social Security they have earned, and the penalty for working and claiming Social Security benefits at the same time disappears. Here are some retirement planning tips for those turning 66 next year. >> Read more

December 2, 2011

Baby Boomers Make Old the New Young

When I was a teenager, I viewed anyone over 30 as old. These days 30-year-olds are just kids in my book. And I venture to say that before long that ripe old age of 80 will not seem quite as ancient as I once thought. Perceptions of what constitutes old age tend to change in our individual lives as we approach those ages. >> Read more

August 24, 2011

Older People May Learn Better Through Trial and Error

If at first you don't succeed, try again -- and you may get a brain boost.

A study released today in the journal Psychology and Aging found that older people benefited from trial-and-error learning. The research paper encompassed two small studies ... >> Read more

June 16, 2011

How Baby Boomers Will Change Retirement Living

Watch out world, the Woodstock generation is about to move into retirement communities.

But this isn’t your grandma’s retirement community. Baby boomers want more from their communities than just bingo and shuffleboard, and will shun anything associated with growing older. >> Read more

April 25, 2011

Amortality: Why It's No Longer Necessary to Act Your Age

If one place on earth has vanquished nature and stopped the clocks, it is Las Vegas. Built on land without water or any reliable resource apart from the blazing sun, the resort entombs visitors in the permanent, cool, jangling dusk of hotel casinos. Its skyscape positions ancient Egypt near Renaissance Venice and fin de siècle Paris. I had come to this confected city to find out if the Cenegenics Medical Institute, "the world's largest age-management practice," could subvert the laws of human biology with similar ease. >> Read More

April 3, 2011

Integrative Medicine: Dancing helps ward off dementia in older adults, studies say

Want to avoid your risk of dementia holistically? Besides controlling your weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugars and decreasing your intake of inflammatory foods, what else cand you do?

Start Dancing! >> Read More

April 1, 2011

Sleep Apnea, Daytime Sleepiness: Risky Combo

Older adults who have sleep apnea and who are excessively sleepy in the daytime may have more than twice the risk of death as people who do not have both conditions, new research suggests.

In a study of 289 adults over age 65 without depression or dementia, the risk of death was not increased for people with sleep apnea without excessive daytime sleepiness or for those who reported only excessive daytime sleepiness without having sleep apnea, the researchers say. >> Read More

January 4, 2011

For older people, walking faster may be linked to living longer, a study finds

Time to step it up -- for older people, there may be a connection between walking at a faster pace and living longer. We first reported this study in summer 2009 when it was presented at the IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics in Paris. >> Read More

November 2, 2010

Baby Boomers putting caregiving needs ahead of own needs

Baby Boomers who are caring for a loved one are putting their own health at risk from stress and exhaustion, according to a new study from Humana.

“People who ignore their personal well-being are often fine at first,” said Jean Bisio, president of Humana Cares, in a statement. “But over time the impact on one’s personal health can be seen in weight gain, fatigue, and stress-related illness.” >> Read More

August 19, 2010

Seniors: Get moving toward better health

Our society tends to protect older people from performing physical activities. "You're not as young as you used to be" is a common phrase used to encourage older adults to slow down and take it easy. According to researchers, this advice is outdated and could prove risky for older adults.

Many older adults accept loss of strength and ability to do things on their own as part of the normal aging process. The fact is that loss of strength and stamina is due in part to inactivity and lack of exercise. >> Read More

August 2010

We may leave childhood behind, but not our childhood selves, research finds. (Surprised?)

Chatty kids tend to become chatty adults. Roll-with-the-flow kids tend to become roll-with-the-flow adults. Impulsive kids ... humble kids ... insecure kids ... well, you can see where this is going. Personality traits tend to stick with us. >> Read More

July 28, 2010

Relationships Improve Your Odds of Survival by 50 Percent, Research Finds

A new Brigham Young University study adds our social relationships to the "short list" of factors that predict a person's odds of living or dying.

In the journal PLoS Medicine, BYU professors Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Timothly Smith report that social connections - friends, family, neighbors or colleagues -- improve our odds of survival by 50 percent. >> Read More

June 23, 2010

Promise Seen for Detection of Alzheimer’s

Dr. Daniel Skovronsky sat at a small round table in his corner office, laptop open, waiting for an e-mail message. His right leg jiggled nervously.

A few minutes later, the message arrived — results that showed his tiny start-up company might have overcome one of the biggest obstacles in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. It had found a dye and a brain scan that, he said, can show the hallmark plaque building up in the brains of people with the disease. >> Read More

May 21, 2010

Normal Aging or Alzheimer's Disease?

(CBS) In part three of our series, "Alzheimer's: A National Crisis," CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton discussed how you can distinguish between normal signs of aging -- what we jokingly call "senior moments" -- and the serious symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. >> Read More

March 30, 2010

Fulfillment at Any Age
How to remain productive and healthy into your later years

The idea that an optimistic attitude is not only correlated with but can perhaps cause people to live longer became established as scientific fact several years ago by Yale psychologist Becca Levy. In her studies of people's perceptions about the aging process, Levy found that those who held more favorable views about getting older actually lived to older ages than those who took a less sanguine attitude about their own aging. This research was a great boost to other gerontologists who, like myself, think that society's negative depiction of the aging process creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. >> Read More

February 11, 2010

Health Checkup: How to Live 100 Years

How to Live 100 Years
Don't write that down! Put your pencil away!" Agnes Buckley is trying in vain to head off an entertaining story her sisters are telling me about how she used to sneak out of the house as a teenager. (She favored boys with motorcycles.) When their father hid her shoes to keep her at home, Agnes simply bypassed the front door and leaped out the window. >> Read More


Living Long and Living Well
When explorer and longevity investigator Dan Buettner guided me into the Costa Rican rain forest last year in preparation for an Oprah show on longevity, each of the centenarians I met there greeted me with the customary "Pura vida" — variously translated as "Pure life," "Full of life" or even "This is living!" >> Read More

Longevity Drugs May Be Coming
Elixirs of youth sound fanciful, but the first crude antiaging drugs may not be so far away. To date, two compounds have sparked scientists' interest: resveratrol, a substance found in grapes, red wine and peanuts; and rapamycin, first isolated in the soil of Easter Island. Both compounds seem to work in . . . >> Read More

How Do You Spell Longevity? D-N-A
What if exceptionally long life could be brought about with a single genetic mutation? In a few very simple species, that appears o be the case, and molecular biologists are exploring ways to parlay that knowledge into something that could benefit humans. >> Read More

The Importance of Being Female
There's nothing new about the fact that women live longer than men — and nothing uniquely human about it either. The same is true in many other mammals. Japanese scientists may have new insights into why. >> Read More

February 9, 2010

Geriatrics experts discuss the upside of growing older

If you think that getting older is the beginning of the end, think again. Sure, skin loses some elasticity and joints get creaky, and maybe you can't keep your eyes open past 9:30 p.m. But even people well into their 80s are going to yoga and Pilates classes, volunteering, having sex and taking college courses. In short, getting older has its upside. >> Read More

January 28, 2010

Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: Assisted Living for Aging Parents

"Good Morning America's" new series "Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk" tackles tough topics on aging parents. And few subjects are more difficult to broach than the question of assisted living: When is it time to get your parents help or move them to a senior residence?

Elinor Ginzler, senior vice president for livable communities at AARP, offers advice on how to recognize the signs that your parents need assistance in day-to-day living, and how to talk to them about it. >> Read More

January 16, 2010

When to ask your parents for the keys

It can be a tough thing to tell a parent. First, do some research. Second, choose your words carefully. >> Read More

December 13, 2009

Technology becomes friendlier to older generations

The 75-year-old actress "was always very afraid of anything technical like that," and instead of seeking help from her children, she got a three-minute lesson from a business associate. She now has no problem with texting and regularly video chats with her granddaughter in St. Louis. >> Read More

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For the first time, half of adults age 65 and older are online
June 6, 2012

As of April 2012, 53% of American adults age 65 and older use the internet or email. Though these adults are still less likely than all other age groups to use the internet, the latest data represent the first time that half of seniors are going online. After several years of very little growth among this group, these gains are significant.

Overall, 82% of all American adults ages 18 and older say they use the internet or email, at least occasionally, and 67% do so on a typical day. >> Read More

December 7, 2009

What Do Baby Boomers Want From Technology?

By next year, one-third of the United States population will be over 50 years old. >> Read More

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November 12, 2012

Childless boomers wonder who will handle their long-term care

Karen Spencer was single until she was 48. Like more than 20 percent of baby boom generation women – twice the number as in previous generations – she never had children.

The retired political consultant, now 60 and married, has diligently pieced together a long-term care insurance policy, a range of investments and a small pension to make sure her financial needs will be covered in the future.

But the question that concerns her and many of America's 15 million childless baby boomers is more emotional and poignant: Without offspring to help them, who will take care of them when they grow old? >> Read More

October 23, 2012

The Boomer Entrepreneur: Never Too Old to Launch a Business

My grandfather is still going strong at 88. And I don’t mean just getting by. Perhaps he’s slowed a bit, but his clients wouldn’t know it. An entrepreneur with an automotive parts aftermarket distributorship, he services his customers’ needs with "high touch," often showing up in person to deliver their goods. And who is helping him keep his books? You guessed it. My 82-year-old-grandmother.

It’s becoming less frequent that we hear of someone’s "traditional" retirement.
>> Read More

November 28, 2011

Life After Age 90

The 90-plus population is expected to more than quadruple between 2010 and 2050.

Living to age 90 is a worthy goal Americans are increasingly meeting. The number of people age 90 and older almost tripled from 720,000 people in 1980 to 1.9 million in 2010, according to a new Census Bureau report. And the 90-plus population is expected to more than quadruple between 2010 and 2050. Here's a look at what life is like in the United States after age 90. >> Read More

July 15, 2011

Aging America: Percentage of Children in U.S. Population Hits Record Low

Is America following the footsteps of Japan, notorious for its aging and declining population?

The 2010 U.S. Census shows a major drop in the percentage of children in the States, the Associated Press reports. Currently, people younger than age 18 take up 24% of the entire U.S. population. By 2050, the number is predicted to fall even more, to 23%, while the senior population is set to jump from 13% to 19%.

(MORE: What the World Will Look Like in 2050) >> Read More

May 12, 2011

Census: Elderly increase faster than children in Sacramento region

The number of elderly residents in the Sacramanto region grew three times as fast as the number of children during the last decade, acording to census figures released today. >> Read More

December 14, 2010

30 Cities Ranked by Retirement Readiness

The survey's bottom three has Los Angeles last, behind Indianapolis and Orlando.

Ameriprise's look at the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan areas suggests that where you live can be a factor in your readiness to retire. Scoring was based on responses to a national survey gauging attitudes and saving habits. The survey collected responses from 10,028 adults, ages 40-75, in September and October. >> Read More

June 14, 2010

Retirements by Baby-boomer Doctors, Nurses Could Strain Overhaul

Since the passage of the health-care law in March, much has been said about the coming swarm of millions of retiring baby boomers and the strain they will put on the nation's health-care system.

That's only half the problem. Overlooked in the conversation is a particular group of boomers: doctors and nurses who are itching to call it quits. Health-care economists and other experts say retirements in that group over the next 10 to 15 years will greatly weaken the health-care workforce and leave many Americans who are newly insured under the new legislation without much hope of finding a doctor or nurse. >> Read More

June 29, 2009

Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality

Getting old isn't nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. >> Read More

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October 22, 2012

For Older Workers, Here Is Where the Jobs Will Be

The number of workers age 55 and up grew by 3.5 million from September 2009 to September 2012. That represents the lion's share of the gain of 4.2 million for all workers 16 and older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Two factors help explain the trend. >> Read More

August 22, 2012

Senior victims lose average of $140,500 to financial abuses

Lured in by the promise of free lunches, big-cash prizes and high-yield investments, seniors are losing big money to bogus financial schemes and bad advice.

On average, seniors who become victims of financial abuse lose an estimated $140,500 . . . >> Read More

March 11, 2012

Eight things you might not know about Social Security

Most of us know some basics about Social Security.

We understand retirees can start taking retirement benefits at age 62. We realize we'll get a bigger monthly check if we wait a few years more until our normal retirement age to tap benefits. And who hasn't heard that Social Security has a long-term financial problem that Congress needs to address?

"When you scratch beyond the surface, the knowledge really plummets," says Jean Setzfand, vice president of financial security for AARP, which recently polled older adults on their Social Security knowledge. "I don't blame people for not knowing and understanding the details. It can be really confusing." >> Read More

March 10, 2012

Scams Targeting Older Adults Are On The Rise

Scam artists are targeting older Americans more than ever. Over the last decade, both complaints and financial losses among baby boomers have skyrocketed, and the trend is expected to accelerate as they age, according to a recent report by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 1.5 million complaints about financial and other fraud — up 62 percent in just three years, the report noted. But fraud may be even more pervasive, because researchers say that it often goes unreported.

Scammers see baby boomers as a prime target because of their financial status — around 75 million people >> Read More

March 8, 2012

How Boomers Can Take Advantage of Time Banking

The saying “time is money” just got a whole new meaning. Time banking allows patrons to trade their skills for services they need, and the relatively-new concept is becoming increasingly popular among retirees.

Here’s how it works: For each hour of service banked, members earn an hour’s worth of alternative currency known as “time dollars”, >> Read More

January 25, 2012

Grandma and Grandpa Can Save The Economy

The answers to our current economic woes lie not in politicians, central banks, or corporations but with good old grandma and grandpa. While I wouldn’t put myself in the Keynesian camp, I contend that spending by the right people and for the right reasons will play an important role for economic recovery. >> Read More

July 12, 2011

Boomers who work longer can get more from Social Security

Most of us aren't very good at delayed gratification, which is why so many pies mysteriously disappear before it's time for dessert. Social Security is no exception. Most seniors file for benefits as soon as they become eligible at age 62, even though that results in a permanent haircut in their monthly benefits. >> Read More

December 14, 2010

Nix Retirement Planning For ‘Longevity Planning’

Despite all the financial gloom recently, at least two experts feel it should be a time of optimism as the baby boomers and their advisors carve out a new definition of retirement.

Instead of retirement planning, people should be thinking of longevity planning, and advisors should be preparing themselves to deal with new products and services for this kind of planning.

The conclusions were reached by two financial experts who elaborated on The Hartford's 2010 Investment and Retirement Study, the fifth annual study produced by The Hartford. This year's study included 764 men and women ages 45 and up. >> Read More

October 9, 2010

The Retirement Age Debate — As Social Security Reaches Insolvency, Policymakers and Politicians Debate on Raising Retirment Age from 66 to 70

Under current law, the normal retirement age — the age at which full retirement benefits are payable — is already scheduled to increase from 66 to 67 in two-month increments from 2017 to 2022. >> Read More

September 7, 2010

No retirement for these older folks, just work

The preparation before work each morning starts in a methodical fashion. By 6 a.m., Morris Wilkinson, a 91-year-old letter carrier, irons his postal worker uniform -- a crisp, collared shirt and gray slacks -- a habit he formed while in the Marines during World War II. He enjoys a hearty breakfast of eggs or pancakes with his wife. He shines his black shoes. And he's off to work.

"I'd rather work than be idle," he says one morning before heading off on his route. >> Read More

Aprl 29, 2010

How the Sandwich Generation Can Ease the Money Squeeze

Raising children, adult and otherwise

The other side of the coin for those in the sandwich generation is raising children and, in some cases, supporting adult children, even up to age 30.

There are reasons why some sandwich-generation parents are helping their adult children. According to Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, president of Charles Schwab Foundation, some adult children have an overwhelming amount of college debt and are unemployed. But the adult children of sandwich-generation parents are dependent for other reasons as well: Some have overspent and have a tremendous amount of consumer debt. >> Read More

March 24, 2010

Planning to Retire
Increased Longevity Creates Challenges for Retirees

It’s well known that the life expectancy of citizens in developed countries has increased dramatically over the past century. This longer and healthier lifespan creates challenges for people aiming to save enough to fund their own retirement.

Increasing longevity is mainly due to public health measures which keep people healthy longer, . . . >> Read More

March 12, 2010

How to Salvage Your Retirement

Is it too late to save your retirement? For many, the answer is surely yes. News out this week shows that 29% of those who have already retired have saved nothing at all to support themselves, while only a third have saved at least $50,000.

To put this in context: A retirement account of $50,000 will provide a 65-year-old man with an annuity of just $4,000 a year. >> Read More

February 16, 2010

10 Ways Baby Boomers Will Reinvent Retirement

The baby boomers redefined each stage of life as they passed through it. This generation also will retire in a way that is distinct from their parents and will set the standard for generations to come. Baby boomers are likely to live longer, . . . >> Read More