The Best Life
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10 Best Places for Lifelong Learning
Continue reading… 11 CommentsLifelong learning programs are not only a rich source of activities for seniors; they're an enriching business opportunity for a growing roster of colleges and universities, retirement communities, travel companies, and cultural institutions. U.S. News searched for the nation's best places for lifelong learning, using the 2,000-city database of our partner, Onboard Informatics, and interviews with education and other learning experts. (You can find your Best Place to Live using our new search tool.) We looked for cities with lots of people with undergraduate and graduate degrees; heavy employment at higher education institutions; concentrations of schools, libraries, and museums; and plenty of literary and cultural activities nearby. Areas of particular focus are those containing all three branches of higher education: universities, colleges, and community colleges. The last of these has long reached out to nontraditional learners. Most places in the United States have plenty of lifelong learning choices. Our top 10 have more. They tend to be smaller places adjacent to large urban areas, and they often benefit from that proximity. But they also have their own homegrown programs.
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Summer Recess for Health Reforms is Welcome
Continue reading… 10 CommentsHealth care reform has hardly left the starting line. Yet many self-appointed pundits are calling the effort a failure by the Obama Administration. They say Congress is stuck in an ideological quagmire. Many also characterize Democrat proposals as a government takeover of health care and as a socialist attack on the U.S. private free enterprise system.
Puhleeaasee! Give me a break. -
Tips to Maximize Social Security Benefits
Continue reading… 18 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater, this week discusses various tips to help you maximize your income from Social Security.
[See Billions in Social Security Not Being Claimed.] -
A Dozen Retirement Community Bargains
Continue reading… 0 CommentsContinuing care retirement communities provide lifetime housing and medical-care packages to retirees. But brutal housing and economic realities may be making the industry wish someone was providing it with lifetime care. The housing market meltdown of 2007 and 2008 dried up demand for CCRC living units because potential residents either couldn't sell their homes or sell them for enough money to fund the up-front entrance fees required by many CCRCs. There also are rental CCRCs, but they, too, require a substantial financing commitment over time. In both cases, the sale of a primary residence is the typical funding source for CCRC residency.
[Slide Show: Best Affordable Places to Retire.]
As housing woes mounted, the 2008-2009 stock market collapse devastated many retiree investment accounts, removing yet another source of financial support for retirement-community living. And because this bad dream comes in three installments, on came the ensuing recession—the deepest since the Depression—that continues to take a deep toll. Here, the impact may not be so much on retirees as on their family members, who may be facing prolonged unemployment.
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How the 'Old Old' Can Have Best Lives
Continue reading… 5 CommentsAmericans 65 and older are projected to grow from 13 percent to 20 percent of the nation's population by 2050, when one in four older people will be 85 years of age or older. That's 5 percent of the entire country -- one in 20 people. That's the Age Wave getting ready to wash over us. Yet surprisingly little attention is being focused on the "old old." How are we going to take care of them? The ranks of geriatric medicine have been thinning, not growing. How are our communities going to accommodate and treat them? And, most important to older people, what does a high quality of life look like at that age and how can they attain it?
[See Growing Older, Getting Mellower, Feeling Good.] -
List of Flight Health Risks is Growing
Continue reading… 4 CommentsAdd health risks to the list of concerns that plague commercial air travel these days. We've been worried about paying for a piece of checked luggage or getting chiseled on a meager snack. But it turns out the medical and scientific community sees an airline cabin as a big petri dish -- and one that carries many threats.
[ See America's Best Healthy Places to Retire.] -
Estate Taxes are a Nice Problem to Have
Continue reading… 11 CommentsWith the federal deficit galloping its way to a post-WWII high, as a share of economy activity, anyone who seriously believes the estate tax will be allowed to disappear next year can take his rightful place on Fox's Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Outright repeal of the tax would represent an estimated $800 billion drain on the Treasury over 10 years, at a time when even a spare $100 billion is being treated as real money in Washington. More likely, we will see a continuation of this year's taxes, which exempt the first $3.5 million ($7 million per couple) and tax the rest at 45 percent. The big fight, if Congress is not exhausted by all the other Big Fights in store for it, will be over whether that threshold should become permanent or be rolled back to generate more tax revenues.
[Find the Best Places to Retire.] -
4 Steps to Prepare for Losing a Paycheck
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater, this week explores things you can do financially to prepare yourself for a possible loss of income. Here is the question from a Boomerater member: “What are steps I should take to make sure I am in good financial shape? My wife’s job may be eliminated next year and I want to make sure we are prepared in case it happens. Also, should I continue to contribute to a 401(k)? We could use the extra money now.”
[See How to Get Your Finances Back on Track in 6 Steps.] -
15 Top Office and Home-Based Jobs for Seniors
Continue reading… 21 CommentsAnyone looking for work knows the job market is tough and likely to stay that way for a long time. To help retirement-age job seekers, RetirementJobs.com has put together what it says is a carefully developed list of attractive positions outside the home and for those seeking at-home jobs. According to its chief career counselor, Bob Skladany, the list is based on numbers of projected job openings, the likelihood that the industry is "age friendly," whether the jobs are age appropriate (in terms of their physical demands, schedule flexibility, and providing social interaction), and whether they offer an attractive mix of pay, benefit, and advancement opportunities. While RetirementJobs.com normally charges a membership fee to access parts of its site, it has provided open access to its national list of employers with senior-friendly workplaces.
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How to Use New Medicare Hospital Tools
Continue reading… 3 Comments
There are about 5,500 hospitals in the U.S. I can name perhaps 20 to 30 of them, maybe a few more if you gave me a lot of time and even more hints. Which Minnesota hospital has the same name as the shortened name of a popular sandwich condiment and potato salad ingredient? Even in my own back yard, my hospital name recognition prowess is putrid. In part, that's because I have a pitiful memory but it's also because I've been lucky enough over the years to largely avoid hospital visits. However, as I get older, I spend increasing amounts of time at various hospital offices either getting tested, having appointments with medical practices located in hospital complexes or having outpatient procedures to attend to the aches and pains I've come to associate with my very own special aging process.
[ See Low CPI Creates Medicare Winners and Losers.]
