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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76689976573463870142018-12-12T10:40:57.475-08:00Society of Certified Senior AdvisorsThe Certified Senior Advisors Blog educates and informs professionals in the fields of aging.Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-58755338034241784002018-11-16T14:07:00.002-08:002018-11-21T11:00:45.001-08:00You May Control Your Risk for Alzheimer's
New research shows that each of us may have more control over the likelihood of getting Alzheimer's than we thought.

When Margaret Daffodil Graham, 74, heard that a local hospital was on the lookout for people with hypertension to volunteer for a study, she jumped on the opportunity. Like over 100 million Americans, Graham suffers from high blood pressure, a condition she's been treating since her 30s. She figured that being in the study would get her blood pressure monitored at shorter intervals, and perhaps reduce her risk for developing heart disease or stroke.

Unbeknownst to Graham, the study would be benefiting much more than her heart. The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (dubbed SPRINT MIND) was designed to see if dramatically lowering blood pressure could influence the risk of cognitive decline, including symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease.

The results are in, and provide evidence that lowering blood pressure has the benefit of also reducing risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), brain decline that may precede dementia, and probable dementia. Graham and others who participated in the study were taken aback by the results.

"It never occurred to me that controlling my blood pressure could protect me from dementia," says Arthur Lane, 89, another participant in the study. "I think this is wonderful."

Drug Treatments Prove Ineffective

Dementia is a concern for older adults around the globe, and rightly so. More than 150 million of them will be affected by it by 2050. Dementia is a broad term that describes a group of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to impact everyday life. Types of dementia include Alzheimer's, Lewy Body and vascular.

Until now, researchers had little to offer when it came to positive steps to take to fend off cognitive decline. It was known that genes play a role in who gets dementia, and that age was a factor, but neither of those are under anyone's control.

Accordingly, research has centered on drug treatments to battle the disease. But every anticipated breakthrough thus far has failed. With billions of potential dollars at stake, major drug companies have spent heavily on research, to no avail.

 "The data are pretty soft on a lot of things," says Dr. Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, "so that was discouraging for the field and discouraging for the general public."

Top Ways to Lower Blood Pressure Without Drugs
Although study participants were able to make use of medications, there's plenty you can do to keep your blood pressure in a safe range without resorting to drugs. From the Mayo Clinic, here are 10 ways to maintain a healthy blood pressure:

Watch your weight. Blood pressure rises right along with your weight. Excess pounds can disrupt breathing while you sleep (sleep apnea), raising blood pressure even higher. Losing even a little weight can help. You'll reduce blood pressure by about 1 mm Hg with every 2.2 pounds you shed. Generally speaking, a man's waist should measure 40 inches or less, and a woman's 35 inches or less.

Make Exercise a Habit. Thirty minutes of exercise a day can take 5 to 8 mm Hg off of your blood pressure. However, that number will go right back up if you quit exercising, so being consistent is key. Walking, swimming, cycling, dancing – it doesn't matter what you do. Interval training, or short bursts of high-intensity training, is effective. So is strength training for more powerful bones and muscles. The best option may be to combine all of these activities to keep your routine fresh and interesting.

Eat a healthy diet. Skip the processed food aisles in your grocery store and hug the perimeter, where you'll find fresh fruits and vegetables. Try the Dietary approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which is low on saturated fat and cholesterol. Also, boost potassium intake to lessen the effects of sodium on blood pressure.

Cut down on sodium. People with high blood pressure can see a reduction of 5 to 6 mm Hg by cutting sodium intake even a little. Sodium is almost always added to processed foods, rather than occurring naturally. Read labels to avoid products, such as soup, with added sodium. Put the salt shaker away; one level teaspoon of salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium. Pump up the flavor with herbs instead. If you can't go cold turkey, reduce the amount of salt over time while your taste buds adjust.

Limit alcohol intake. Men should limit themselves to two drinks a day, and one for the ladies to lower high blood pressure by 4 mm Hg. Over imbibing can actually send you in the opposite direction, raising blood pressure by several points. It may reduce the effectiveness of blood pressure medications, as well. One drink is 12 oz. of beer, five oz. of wine or 1.5 oz. of 80-proof liquor.

Quit smoking. Every cigarette pops your blood pressure for many minutes, but quitting reduces your risk of heart disease and other health factors. It also takes away smoke-induced bad breath, smelly clothes, tar-stained teeth and a host of other nuisances.

Rein in the caffeine. Looks like this one's debatable and you may be off the hook. Yay! Caffeine may have little to no effect on habitual consumers. The ones who need to watch out are those who rarely take it in, as their blood pressure may zip up 10 mm Hg with a java jolt.

Reduce your stress. Stop laughing. One method is to focus only on what you can control, and make plans to solve the problems. Another is prioritize time for yourself every day, even if it's 10 minutes. Finally, research shows that an attitude of gratefulness is good for others and good for you. Smile and give thanks.

Monitor your blood pressure and visit your doctor regularly. Home monitoring lets you know if your program is working, and will alert you if it goes awry. Blood pressure monitors are relatively inexpensive (here's one for $30) and available without a prescription.

Get support. Family and friends can offer encouragement and support. You can also contact outside groups to find others with practical tips to boost your morale.

SPRINT MIND Results

It looks like that is all changing. The study offers the most hopeful evidence yet that people may have control over their risk for dementia. Funded by various agencies at the National Institutes of Health, the trial results were presented in July and drew immediate responses from Alzheimer's experts.
"It's one of the first real demonstrations of a lifestyle modification having an impact on late-life cognition," says Petersen, who was not involved in the study.

The aim of the trial was to lower systolic blood pressure to a target of 120 mm Hg or lower over 3.2 years among a group of people with cardiovascular risk factors. High blood pressure is generally defined as a systolic pressure of 130 or greater. Pressure of 120 to 130 is considered elevated, while normal pressure is 120 or less.

Lowering blood pressure alone reduced the risk of mild cognitive impairment by 19 percent and probable all-cause dementia by 17 percent in study participants who achieved 120 mm Hg or less. No amyloid-targeting investigational drug has ever approached this magnitude of benefit. However, Dr. Sanjay Kaul at Cedars Sinai cautions that it's not as impressive as it sounds. Kaul calculates that the absolute risk reduction was only 1.34 percent for MCI.

The results do "not represent a robust effect," says Kaul. "However, this has to be interpreted in the context of lack of treatment effect on this outcome with currently available interventions and the relatively short duration of treatment exposure. So, promising data, but not the whole enchilada, as spun by trial investigators."

The good news gets better. The class of drugs used to lower blood pressure had no effect. Cheap generics performed just as well as name brands. Men and women were equally benefited, and race had no impact. Finally, lowering systolic pressure in those older than 75 provided just as much benefit as it did for younger test subjects.

The rigorous, randomized study involved a sizeable group, including 9,300 elderly adults with heart problems or at risk of developing heart disease. Participants were randomly told to lower their systolic pressure to either less than 120 mm Hg or less than 140 mm Hg. The group was tested over an average of three years on different cognitive abilities, including memory and processing new information.

Lead study author Dr. Jeff Williamson reports that biologically, it doesn't seem like blood pressure would affect dementia. He makes a comparison between air pressure in your tires, and blood pressure: neither should be too high or too low. "Over time, high blood pressure can damage the walls of very fragile arteries that deliver blood to the brain and other organs," he says. "And that can produce some of the things we see associated with dementia: inflammation and small strokes."

Time will Tell

While the study could only make conclusions about a reduction in probable dementia, that doesn't mean that reducing blood pressure won't affect the disease. Dementia can take many years to develop, and because the study only covered a three-year span, the results are not in. Furthermore, you should check with your doctor before lowering your blood pressure. One side effect of over-aggressive blood pressure reduction is an increased risk of falling.

Still, it's the first time a large study has shown we may each have some control over whether or not we get dementia. "This provides great encouragement for people to say, yes, make sure your blood pressure is well controlled, because right now, it's one of the things you can do," says Williamson. "This opens the door to testing more interventions."

Click below for the other articles in the November 2018 Senior Spirit

Money – Managing Someone Else's Money

Lifestyle – Older Adults Without Children: A Growing Group

Technology – Help for Older Adults in the Workplace

Famous & 65

Sources:

http://time.com/5362176/alzheimers-prevention/
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/science/systolic-blood-pressure-intervention-trial-sprint-study
https://www.mdedge.com/clinicalneurologynews/article/171130/alzheimers-cognition/mild-cognitive-impairment-risk-slashed-19
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/high-blood-pressure/art-20046974
http://www.cardiobrief.org/2018/07/26/no-a-big-nih-trial-did-not-show-that-lowering-blood-pressure-will-prevent-dementia/

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors

www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-8955819602882686502018-11-16T14:07:00.001-08:002018-11-21T11:05:25.066-08:00Managing Someone Else's Money
Many children or trusted friends of older adults wind up managing their assets, but many don't know if they're doing a good job. Here's an overview to get you on the right track.

A lot of older Americans wind up needing assistance with their financial assets, according to researchers. The skill needed to manage money is different from most daily functions because it relies on cognitive skills.

"Most older adults want to live independently for as long as possible. The problem is, it's hard to live independently if you have difficulty managing your medications or finances," said study coauthor Dr. Alex Smith of the University of California at San Francisco.

Many Seniors Need Help with Money

Smith and his colleagues analyzed data on 9,434 men and women available from the long-term U.S. Health and Retirement Study. Over 10 years, they found that 2,824 people, or 30 percent, developed difficulty managing their finances. Approximately a third of the original group died before demonstrating difficulty.

Among people at the relatively young age of 65 to 69 when the study began, nearly a quarter (23 percent) developed problems over the next decade.

"We don't help people anticipate the fact that they may lose these abilities," said Dr. Holly Holmes of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, who wasn't involved with the study. "We assess them when the abilities are already gone, and people often don't have a plan in place. We rarely counsel 65-year-olds about their risk and how to plan for it."

What the study couldn't measure was loss of function about which the participants were unaware, since the answers were self-reported. "The elephant in the room is that this study covers self-reported losses of function, so the rates are actually much higher for those who don't realize they've lost their abilities," according to Dr. Mark Lachs, director of Cornell University's Center for Aging Research in New York City.

Free Guides for Fiduciaries

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau provides guides tailored to the needs of four different fiduciary capacities:

Agents under a power of attorney

Court-appointed guardians

Trustees

Government fiduciaries

Additionally, because fiduciary powers and duties vary from state to state, there are six state-specific money management guides. The six states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia) have high populations of older adults. They also offer set of tips and templates for creating your own state-specific version.

Each guide is available as a PDF or can be ordered for free in quantities up to 200.

What Caregivers Should Know

If you're the one who steps in to help a loved one manage their money, there are many things you should know. One caveat is that it's always easier to plan ahead. If your loved one is using the ATM and balancing their checkbook now, it may be possible to add a trusted name to their checking account. In the event of stroke or another emergency, that person can step in. It's essential to have another name on the account if the loved one has been diagnosed with a progressive disease, such as dementia.

Although a joint account is usually the easiest way to make payments and track expenses, there is risk involved. Most fraud on older adults is committed by a family member (see sidebar). Creditors of either person can try to collect from the account. If either person dies, the money automatically belongs to the other account holder. Some banks will allow you to have a convenience account that allows another person to write checks and make deposits and withdrawals, but will not give them ownership in the event of death of the other account holder.

A caregiver can also help set up automatic, online payments for telephone, cable, utilities, mortgage, credit card and other payments. It's wise to make a simple budget to monitor income and expenses.

Investments and bank accounts should also be monitored. Mint is one free resource that is both easy to use and capable of aggregating investment and banking information along with having a robust budget platform.

In the event that your loved one is uncomfortable allowing a friend or family member access to financial information, money-management programs can help. Find one at the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.

Transparency

Whoever is managing the money should be transparent and above reproach. Decisions should be made in the exclusive best interest of the account holder. Here are some guidelines for caregivers who manage money:

Always act in the best interest of your loved one.

Use the memo field to record what every check is for.

Never, ever borrow from the account.

Do not use the account to pay for anything that also benefits someone else. For example, your loved one's account shouldn't fund a car purchase that will take her to the doctor but also transport you to work.

An open-book policy is the best for establishing trust. Give other family members access to the books, and provide bank statements to assure them you are being a good steward.

Financial Fraud Often Committed by Family Member

About 1 in 20 older adults reports being financially abused by a family member in any given year, according to research funded by the U.S. Justice Department. It may involve stealing money or taking over assets without permission. Financial exploitation causes seniors to lose almost $36.5 billion per year, according to one estimate from financial services firm True Link Financial. Many of these cases never are brought to court because families don't want to air their dirty laundry or send a member to jail.

Money is only part of what is lost when the perpetrator is a family member or trusted caregiver. Some people lose their home, says Kathleen Quinn, a senior advisor and past director of National Adult Protective Services Association. Being victimized by someone trusted can lead the older adult to lose their ability to count on others, making her withdrawn and vulnerable to further victimization. Studies show financial abuse raises the risk for depression and suicide. "This is obviously about more than just money," says Sarah Barnard, a social worker who manages an elder abuse prevention program at WISE & Healthy Aging, a nonprofit social services organization in Santa Monica, California.

If you suspect someone is financially abusing someone you love, contact Adult Protective Services, local law enforcement or the senior's financial institution.

Making It Legal

Your loved one should choose someone they trust to be the legal guardian of their assets, or fiduciary, while she is still healthy. This can only be done while the person is still completely competent. There are four ways to become a fiduciary:

Power of Attorney (POA). A durable power of attorney assigns power to another to make financial decisions in the event of incapacitation. POA must be granted when your loved one is of sound mind, and it can only be revoked in sound mind. If no one has a POA or trust, the family may have to spend time and money in court to file for guardianship.

Trustee. In sound mind, your loved one can elect to transfer assets to a revocable living trust and name a trustee. If she becomes unable to make sound decisions in the future, the trustee acts to keep the trust's property safe. This can include moving items to a safe-deposit box, maintaining insurance policies, making careful investment decisions and paying taxes. Because it is revocable, as long as your loved one is of sound mind and the trust allows, she can elect to change or terminate the trust.

Government fiduciaries. Appointed by a government agency, these fiduciaries manage monthly benefit checks, such as Social Security or military pension payments.

Court-appointed guardians. A court may step in and appoint a guardian or conservator if it finds that someone cannot manage their money or property alone. The guardian is required to act in the best interest of the protected person, in addition to reporting regularly to the court. Guardians must prepare accountings of income and assets, along with details about how the money is being spent.

What to Do about Conflicts

Money has the amazing ability to create conflict, even among the most civil of families. Siblings are particularly vulnerable to its temptations as they deal with the ongoing loss of a parent to dementia or impending death. Nip this problem in the bud by reaching out to siblings and other interested parties before they voice a complaint. Offer to show them the record books, explain purchases, and answer any questions. If they aren't satisfied, ask a family counselor, mediator or social worker who consults with families in your situation to step in. A list of mediators is available from The Association for Conflict Resolution.

If there is no one who wants to take over a loved one's finances, or if the family dynamics don't favor that solution, your best bet may be to consider a daily money manager/management (DMM) program. These versatile programs can do everything from reminding someone to pay a bill to taking over financial management. Daily money managers pay bills, balance checkbooks, maintain a budget, organize bank statements, track receipts and tax return documents, and even figure out medical bills. Start your search at the American Association of Daily Money Managers, which has an ethical code for members.

Remember to take your time and use caution when hiring a DMM, because they are not regulated by law. Get referrals, and ask the following questions:

What is your experience as a daily money manager?

What are your credentials?

How much do you charge, and what is included in the fee?

Is there a minimum charge per visit? a minimum of visits per month?

Can you provide references?

What will happen if you get sick or go on vacation?

Are you bonded and insured?

Will you work with your client's professional advisors, such as her lawyer and accountant?

Remember to monitor accounts, even when you've hired a money manager, even though it's annoying.

Click below for the other articles in the November 2018 Senior Spirit

Health – You May Control Your Risk for Alzheimer's

Lifestyle – Older Adults Without Children: A Growing Group

Technology – Help for Older Adults in the Workplace

Famous & 65

Sources:
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/financial-legal/info-2017/managing-someone-elses-money.html
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/managing-someone-elses-money/
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2014/02/managing-someone-elses-money
http://acfccares.com/careville/money/articles/resources_olderadultsmanagemoney.html
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-elderly-money-medications-idUSKBN17E2GY
https://health.usnews.com/wellness/aging-well/articles/2017-03-07/financial-exploitation-when-taking-money-amounts-to-elder-abuse
https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/what-to-do-if-you-suspect-financial-abuse-of-an-elderly-person.rl

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-51972542227456566712018-11-16T14:07:00.000-08:002018-11-21T10:59:56.475-08:00Older Adults Without Children: A Growing Group
As more baby boomers head into retirement without children, they're networking and finding a variety of ways to navigate old age just fine, thank you very much.

Former teacher and librarian Batya Lewton, 82, never married or had any children. She lives in New York and wondered who would take care of her as she grew older on her own.

"You have to think in advance; you can't assume that people are going to know what you want done for yourself, or how you want to be taken care of, whether you want to stay in your home or not," she said. "It's important that people who you care about and who care about you know exactly what you want."'

So eight years ago, Ms. Lewton granted power of attorney to two of her friends who live in the same apartment building. They are both listed as executors on her will, and she's given them information regarding her funeral. She wants to stay in her apartment until that day comes. She knows just about everyone, and many are elderly like herself.

Other childless couples and singles are banding together in cohousing for people of all ages. People like Nancy Squires, 58, the owner of an I.T. company near Washington. Her biggest fear is being put in a nursing home. She's been saving for retirement over decades, and now she talks with her friends about moving in together.

"I love the idea of a communal living arrangement with separate spaces and shared expenses," she said. "Not like in the '60s. More of a 21st-century model, like a large farm where someone has horses, another raises/trains dogs for others, some of the people might coordinate an organic garden, some might cook gourmet dinners a few times a month. It's all about really living to your fullest without eating dinners alone — unless you want to, of course."

Although children typically provide nearly 70 percent of long-term care for their parents, a 2012 study found that only 3 percent of parents thought their children would care for them if they became ill.

"While it's great to have kids who are available to help, there are a lot of complications with having kids around," said Audrey K. Chun, a doctor who is also a medical director at the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Hospital, in New York. "A lot of the dynamics, decisions that have to be made around the end of life, disagreements that arise between siblings, what mom or dad may have wanted, can be very emotional. Many of my patients without kids are interested in not wasting resources at the end of life — when it's their time, they don't want unnecessary suffering, or to be a burden on society. They want to die naturally. Because they don't have children to advocate for them, they're much more open and direct about that."

It's always important to plan for retirement, but for those without children around, the task may be even more critical. You can't always count on friends to fill in the gaps.

Planning for Old Age

"You have to build the infrastructure around yourself to compensate for the fact that you don't have family," says Ken Moraif, senior advisor at Money Matters, a financial planning firm in Dallas. Put together a team that includes both friends and paid professionals.

A recent survey found 53 percent of childless seniors had no one to call if they were bedridden. Another concern is finding a ride to the doctor. It may be time to reconsider your living situation. One option is to move to an apartment building for seniors, where residents can use the buddy system to help each other out.

You may need to look for connections in your own community. Join a church, seek out your local senior center, or find a regular opportunity to volunteer. If you already have a group of friends, consider starting a breakfast group. One former teacher meets with friends six mornings a week. "It gives us something to look forward to in the morning," says 83-year-old Wilbur Repp. If someone doesn't show up, other members will check to make sure all is well.

Making those connections well in advance of when you need help is key. Help out other community members by driving them to appointments, weeding the lawn or delivering food when they're sick. "One 89-year-old may drive and another may not," says Edwin L. Gaskin, a financial planner and founder of Your Financial Architects, a financial advisory firm in Elkridge, Md. "It's really important to establish those relationships before you need them," he says.

Linda Adler, founder and CEO of medical advocacy and consulting firm Pathfinders in Northern California, suggests that people carry a laminated card with the name and number of their doctor, along with current medications and dosages. She says, "I don't want my clients to be anonymous when something bad happens."

Figure Out Your Finances

Inheritance is another factor that should be in place long before it's needed. Many childless adults choose favorite charities for donations. Former teacher Wilbur Repp built up a sizable housing portfolio in retirement. He decided that when he dies, his 30 buildings will be sold and the proceeds used for scholarships to further the educations of local students. "I don't have any pressing heirs for my estate," he says. "It's for the student who is overlooked in the classroom. There's always two or three like that."

 Repp turned to a colleague in a local charitable group to dispose of his assets. This job should always go to someone you can trust, but that varies from person to person. Elder law attorney Michael Amoruso has clients who tapped long-term neighbors for the job. Others may name a sibling, or a niece or nephew.

You'll need to name a health care power of attorney for medical decisions, and a financial power of attorney for your assets. It doesn't have to be the same person. In fact, naming more than one individual provides checks and balances and spreads out the work. One option is to hire a monitoring service such as EverSafe to monitor accounts in order to provide protection against fraud and I.D. theft.

Not everyone has such an abundance of assets. Many in reduced circumstances have to think outside the box. When Elaine Bearden, 61, lost her job as a technical writer, she decided to become a landlord. "At this stage of life, my resources are thin," she says. Bringing boarders into her home will help defray expenses and create a network of others to turn to when someone needs help.

Elder Orphans Connects Childless Older Adults

Shuttling the 125 miles from her home in Dallas to attend to her aging parents in West Texas over six years, Carol Marak realized how much help she might need as time went on. Marak, now 67, is one of a growing number of "elder orphans" who are childless older adults. In February 2016, Marak started the Facebook group Elder Orphans to connect with people in a similar situation and share concerns and ideas about how to manage without children to help out. Currently, the group has more than 8,000 members.

There are many people aging without a spouse or children, it turns out. Dubbed "solo seniors," they represent close to 22 percent of adults age 65 and over. The group is growing. In 2010, 12 percent of women age 80 to 84 were childless, but that number is estimated to swell to 16 percent for the same age group in 2030, according to a report by AARP.

To join Marak's group, you must be age 55 or older, unmarried and without children close-by. Members ask and give advice about revocable trusts, leaving the world of work, and what to cook when you can't look at another frozen pizza. "It's been impossible in my current life to find folks who can understand what I'm facing being 64, never married, no kids, nephews or other relatives in my life," one poster wrote. "I foolishly counted on my 'family of friends' to be around in senior years, but they all have spouses, kids and grandkids, plus oodles of other relatives, and tell me they are too busy to be involved with me."

Maintaining Control over End-of-Life Decisions

If you become incapacitated, a durable power of attorney can step in to make sure your wishes are carried out. This agent needs to be chosen when you are fully capable of making decisions. Otherwise, the court system will appoint a legal guardian for you. "You lose total control," says Amoruso, who serves as president of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

Another method for keeping some control regarding your future care is to purchase long-term care insurance. The median cost of a home health aide hovers around $4,100 a month , while a semi-private room at a nursing facility runs about $7,148, according to the 2017 Genworth Cost of Care Survey. Financial advisors say that those with more than $2 million of investable assets can self-insure against this risk, but anyone with less ought to weigh their options.

As we age, our ability to make sound financial decisions often deteriorates. A daily money manager can pay bills, collect tax documents and even assist with medical claims. Social worker and daily money manager Barbara Boustead has several childless seniors as clients in Madison, WI. She prefers not to become financial power of attorney, although some do. One client in her 90's is still sharp, but has failing eyesight due to macular degeneration.

Solo aging doesn't mean you have to go it alone. "In our society, we tend to put so much value on being independent," says Anne P. Glass, a gerontology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "I would argue that you're better off being inter-dependent, especially as you get older."

Click below for the other articles in the November 2018 Senior Spirit

Health – You May Control Your Risk for Alzheimer's

Money – Managing Someone Else's Money

Technology – Help for Older Adults in the Workplace

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/relationships/10-things-never-say-childless-woman-50-believe/
http://time.com/money/5317214/solo-seniors-elder-orphans-resources/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/06/29/how-retirement-planning-childless-couples-different/86056964/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrae/2018/09/06/5-keys-to-a-better-retirement/#25cf69193994
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/your-money/the-childless-plan-for-their-fading-days.html
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/050814/common-retirement-advice-dinks-can-ignore.asp
http://www.fidelity.com/static/dcle/welcome/documents/intra-family-generational-finance-study.pdf
https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/public_policy_institute/ltc/2013/baby-boom-and-the-growing-care-gap-insight-AARP-ppi-ltc.pdf

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-7510884874471055292018-11-16T14:06:00.002-08:002018-11-21T11:00:03.878-08:00Help for Older Adults in the Workplace
The number of workers over age 65 is rising. Technology, oddly enough, is coming to their aid.

There's a cultural change afoot in America: more and more people are working past the traditional retirement age of 65. As a result, challenges such as poor eyesight and aching joints are coming to the job with them. Technologists are responding with modifications to office environments.

Americans are getting older. Men who have a 65th birthday average another 17.9 years of life. For women, that rises to an additional 20.5 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. White collar workers are increasingly choosing to spend some of those years on the job, while lower-paid earners often find they have no choice because of meager savings.

In 1992, only 3 percent of the workforce was 65 or older. Today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, that proportion has nearly doubled as the number of older adults has increased as well. By 2022, an anticipated 13.5 million older workers will be between 65 and 74, and another 2.6 million will be 75 or beyond.

While these senior workers aren't likely to be picking up a hammer or saw, they need different tools than younger counterparts to succeed on the job. "Many products are designed with younger users in mind," says Sara Czaja, scientific director of the Center on Aging at the University of Miami. "Designers don't always think about older people."

Microsoft Hacks and Guides for Accessibility
Microsoft Corporation has long been a leader in hiring a diverse workforce that includes a variety of abilities and ages, so it's no surprise the company has a site just for accessibility. What's unexpected is the variety of topics.
For starters, the company walks you through innovation for disabilities, personal preference or a unique work style available in Windows 10. Find out how to make Office 365 deliver smoother communication and collaboration from any device.

But that's just the beginning. There are links to vision tools, hearing assistive tools, tools for neurodiversity, mental health, mobility and learning. Everything from arthritis (type with your voice, keyboard shortcuts, click with your eyes and more) to low vision (color filters, Tell Me commands, maps in 3D sound and more).

There is even a set of Ability Hacks books that give a "behind-the-scenes look into developing technology for people with disabilities" available to download.

The site is definitely worth a look for anyone who uses a Microsoft system, or even those who prefer their Mac but want a simple way to view emerging technology for people of varying abilities.

Products for an Ageing Workforce

Consider back support. There isn't any when you lean forward to use a laptop or tablet. Office furniture maker Herman Miller, based in Zeeland, Michigan, offers a desk with a sliding surface panel that can be pulled toward the user, enabling the worker to sit upright, supported by a chair back, while the device is in close for easier viewing.

By age 60, smaller pupils and clouded lenses only take in a third of the light they could at 20. Office lighting needs to be brighter, with fewer dark spots and shadows, according to Ryan Anderson, director of product and portfolio strategy at Herman Miller. Illuminating circles of desktop with high lumens from lamps doesn't do the trick; the overall space has to be brighter. In response, new kinds of overhead lighting fixtures throw their light at the ceiling to disperse around the room, rather than aiming down.

Itty bitty smartphone screens are another issue. While Apple and others continues to make increasingly larger devices that benefit seniors, it's still tough to high-text documents like emails and newsfeeds. Older workers struggle to adjust their eyes between this near vision, which starts to diminish at about age 40, and focusing on people and places farther away.

Office workers may switch between near and far vision more than 100 times a day, according to researchers at Germany's Carl Zeiss Vision, a leading lens manufacturer for eyeglasses. To minimize this so-called "digital eyestrain," the company moved the reading area in its progressive lenses up and closer to the eyes, accommodating where most people hold their smartphones.

Older workers are generally quite comfortable using computers, but age can make certain aspects more difficult. "I've been studying aging for a long time," says Neil Charness, director of the Institute for Successful Longevity at Florida State University, "and now, at age 67, I've become one of the people I study." Charness describes how many operating systems can be set to activate programs and documents with a single click; double-clicking gets harder with age. Ditto for scrolling, and he reduces his need to use the mouse by turning his computer monitor vertical. In general, hand movements are more difficult than eye movements for senior workers.

Age-related macular degeneration affects 11 million Americans, according to BrightFocus Foundation. They often have trouble seeing black type on a white background. Software company Ai Squared, based in Manchester, Vermont, has developed technology to transform display colors for optimal contrast. "One gentleman uses our software to make everything purple on a pink background," says Ai Squared marketing project manager Megan Long. "That's what works best for him."

We've all heard by now that standing on the job is healthier than sitting, and some work requires employees to be on their feet all day. Arthritis and other conditions cause pain in load-bearing ankles, knees and hips. Workers have welcomed "anti-fatigue mats" that cushion floors, and inventors continually refine the design. Hospitals are big buyers of these shock absorbers. It's not surprising, considering the average age of U.S. nurses rose to 50 in 2013, according to the National Council of State Board of Nursing.

Plenty of futuristic tech is in development that will help older workers even more. Carnegie Mellon is developing an escort robot (not that kind of escort!) for people with vision limitations. Boeing is working on a driverless cart to transport travelers through airports. Aaron Steinfeld, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon, is part of a team developing Tiramisu Transit, a crowdsourced app that would share real-time information on buses, including where they are and how full each one is. Such data "can be very important for those with balance issues or who use wheelchairs or scooters," Steinfeld says. Finally, an accessible transportation program is in the works at the U.S. Department of Transportation for those with limited mobility, including seniors in the workforce.

Click below for the other articles in the November 2018 Senior Spirit

Health – You May Control Your Risk for Alzheimer's

Money – Managing Someone Else's Money

Lifestyle – Older Adults Without Children: A Growing Group

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2017/article/older-workers.htm
https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/microsofts-must-read-accessibility-user-tips-vision-speech-hearing-mobility-and-learning
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/541541/aging-workers-new-technology/

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-3535836316292904002018-11-16T14:06:00.000-08:002018-11-21T11:00:10.796-08:00Famous & 65

November 1 Jan Davis, Ph.D. and astronaut

How do you become a NASA astronaut? One way is to get your undergrad in applied biology, then grab another in mechanical engineering, and add a master's and doctorate in mechanical engineering just like Jan Davis. But that's just the start.

Davis joined Texaco as a petroleum engineer, but left two years later to join NASA as an aerospace engineer at the Marshall Space Flight Center, where her specialty was structural analysis. She worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and studied the long-term strength of pressure vessels due to the viscoelastic characteristics of filament-wound composites. That is a very fancy name for testing how much pressure it takes to blow up a garden hose… now that sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Davis excelled at just about everything, and in June 1987 she became an astronaut. Her first job was providing tech support for Space shuttle payloads, and then she was put in charge of communicating with the crew for seven Space Shuttle missions. Eventually, NASA sent her to space on three flights, logging more than 673 hours away from the Earth.

Afterwards, she was rewarded with directing the Human Exploration and Development of Space, which had to be the coolest job ever. Nowadays, you can find Davis working as vice president and deputy general manager at Jacobs Engineering Group, which could possibly be a cover name for the Space Aliens Investigations Group (SPAIG). I totally made that up, but you never know.

November 5 Joyce Maynard, writer

Maynard is the daughter of a writer/journalist/English teacher father born in India to English missionaries and painter/English professor mother born in Saskatchewan to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Maynard attended Phillips Exeter Academy, where she won a slew of writing awards, and then went on to Yale. She got an article published in the New York Times Magazine as a freshman, which prompted a letter from the very famous and very 53-year-old J.D. Salinger, who warned her of the dangers of publicity (rather than the dangers of liaisons with older men).

They exchanged letters, and in the style of The Graduate,18-year-old Maynard moved in with the famous author after her freshman year. Their eight-month romance produced Maynard's first book, a memoir which did not include their tryst. That emerged in a 1998 memoir titled At Home in the World. The same year, she put up for auction the letters penned to her by Salinger. Showing the ultimate class, software developer Peter Norton bought them for $156,500… and promptly returned them to Salinger.

Maynard has continued writing, including a weekly syndicated column "Domestic Affairs" during her marriage to Steve Brethel. After that ended in 1989, she moved with their three children to New Hampshire. Her works include several novels, of which Labor Day was made into a movie.
In 2010, Maynard adopted two girls from Ethiopia, then a year later told family and friends she could no longer care for them and sent them to a family in Wyoming. In July 2013 Maynard married attorney Jim Barringer, who died three years later.

November 19 Robert Beltran, actor

Maybe you've met him at a Fedcon convention, or perhaps a Sci-Fi Expo? Robert Beltran, the son of Mexican immigrants, is best-known for his role as Commander Chakotay, first officer of the starship Voyager. I can hear the theme song now! The science fiction television show Star Trek: Voyager aired from 1995 to 2001, and led to Beltran being nominated for a Bravo Award for Outstanding Television Series Actor in a Crossover Role.

But that's not his only claim to fame. Beltran (I can't help thinking that would be a great name for a Star Trek character) has worked steadily in theater and film since his debut in 1979. With a slew of roles under his belt, he founded the East LA Classic Theater Group, and collaborated with amateur actors performing parts from Shakespeare.

November 25 Jeffrey Skilling, former Enron CEO

From Harvard Business School to prison, Skilling is the poster boy for bad business on Wall Street. Charges included conspiracy, securities fraud, false statements and insider trading.

Skilling was brought up between New Jersey and Aurora, Illinois, where he worked at a television station when he was 16. (His brother would become chief meteorologist at WGN-TV). Skilling got a full ride to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he majored in business. He worked at a bank after graduation, then continued his education at Harvard.

Skilling had a really bright business idea at Enron, which had initiated Enron Online, an internet-based trading system used by almost every U.S. energy company. By using "mark to market" accounting, future profits were accounted for by estimating their present value rather than their cost basis. Skilling began pushing the idea that by promoting their aggressive investment strategy, assets were unnecessary. Enron grew, and CEO Skilling made $132 million in a single year.

Skilling currently resides in a halfway house, where he is learning to reintegrate into the modern world.

Click below for the other articles in the November 2018 Senior Spirit

Health – You May Control Your Risk for Alzheimer's

Money – Managing Someone Else's Money

Lifestyle – Older Adults Without Children: A Growing Group

Technology – Help for Older Adults in the Workplace

Source:

Wikipedia

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
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Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-35143550449198648922018-10-30T09:24:00.000-07:002018-10-30T09:24:18.569-07:00Valsartan Recall & What You Should Know

On July 13, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of a popular generic medication used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. This announcement marked America as the twenty-third country to recall the drug after a potentially harmful impurity was discovered in the drug's active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) valsartan. It was initially determined that this contaminated ingredient was supplied by the Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceuticals. Many drug companies that used valsartan from this particular supplier voluntarily recalled their medications.

Throughout the remainder of July and into August 2018, the FDA's investigation of the contaminated ingredient continued and the recall was expanded accordingly. The China-based company, Zhejiang Tianyu Pharmaceutical, and the India-based company, Hetero Labs Limited, were identified as additional suppliers of the contaminated valsartan.

On September 13, 2018, the FDA announced the discovery of a second impurity within some of the medications already recalled. Both impurities found in this worldwide investigation are classified as probable human carcinogens.

This was a massive consumer drug recall affecting thousands of Americans. According to the American Heart Association, over 100 million adults in the United States live with hypertension or high blood pressure. That is nearly half of the U.S. adult population, and many of these people take medications that contain valsartan. It is easy to understand why this recall caused a great deal of alarm and confusion among American consumers. To clear up some of the questions and concerns about the valsartan recall, here are the main takeaways that consumers should understand:

Drug Recalls

Medications can be recalled for a number of reasons. However, not all of these reasons threaten the health or safety of consumers. It's important to understand this and remain calm in the face of a consumer drug recall. The main reasons for a drug recall include a contamination like the one that prompted the valsartan recall, a health hazard that would risk patients' lives, mislabeled medications, packaging or labeling defects, or manufacturing problems that threaten the quality of the drug. Discerning the reason for your drug's recall will help you respond appropriately.

Valsartan

Valsartan was originally sold under brand names such as Diovan, Entresto, and Exforge until its patent expired and generic drugs were developed. It is a medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and other cardiovascular health conditions. If you learn nothing else from this article, understand the valsartan is safe. The reason the medications were recalled was due to a contamination of valsartan supplied by certain manufacturers. This affected some, but not all of the medications that include valsartan. The brand-name drugs mentioned earlier, for instance, were not affected by the recall. While you might take a generic drug containing valsartan, your medication may be completely safe and excluded from the recall.

Impurities

This first impurity discovered is called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). It is classified as a likely human carcinogen based on the results of animal studies. As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports, exposure to NDMA resulted in tumor growth throughout major vital organs in animal test subjects, and it's believed to cause liver damage in humans. The second impurity found was N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), another likely carcinogen. The long-term effects caused by exposure to these two impurities remain unknown.

Consumer Response

Following an FDA drug recall, it is important to determine whether your medications were affected. The FDA posts a list of the specific medications recalled. Using the company name, lot number, and National Drug Code (NDC) found on your medication labeling, you can determine if your medication is included on the FDA's list. If you cannot find this information, call your local pharmacist, and they should be able to answer your questions.

If you determine that your medication was recalled, call your doctor immediately. Depending on the condition you are treating, stopping your medication without your doctor's approval could do more harm than remaining on the recalled medication. Talk to your doctor about alternative drugs that could replace the recalled medication, and unless otherwise instructed by your doctor, do not stop taking your medication until you have obtained a replacement. In the case of the valsartan recall, many patients were either prescribed another drug containing unaffected valsartan or an alternative blood pressure medication.

It is also important to mention that once you have switched to a new medication, be sure to pay close attention to your body and any side effects you might experience from the new drug. If you experience any adverse side effects on a medication, be sure to report your experience to the FDA through their MedWatch portal. Should you need medical services to treat adverse side effects of a drug, you might also consider taking legal action to compensate for the medical expenses.

Click here for the Worldwide Valsartan Recall Fact Sheet

Sources:

www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm613532.htm

www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm620499.htm?utm_campaign=09132018_PR_FDA%20update%20on%20ongoing%20valsartan%20investigation%20and%20impurities&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&elqTrackId=AFC65E191707E7C0A35119014755F97D&elq=b95870fbdc1d48d99a96140f25879c9a&elqaid=5073&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=4047

https://newsroom.heart.org/news/more-than-100-million-americans-have-high-blood-pressure-aha-says

www.consumersafety.org/legal/valsartan-lawsuit/

www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/UCM615704.pdf

www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-10/documents/ndma_fact_sheet_update_9-15-17_508.pdf

www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/UCM615703.pdf

www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/medwatch/index.cfm?action=reporting.home

www.consumersafety.org/legal/

Author -

Caitlin Hoff
Health & Safety Investigator
CDC Certified: Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals

Author Bio: Caitlin Hoff writes to shine awareness on important consumer topics that affect people every day. Through her writing, Caitlin hopes to guide families and consumers towards smarter decisions that will improve their overall health. Visit her author page for more information.

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors

www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-79095224262548298832018-10-16T09:30:00.004-07:002018-11-21T08:46:32.662-08:00Famous & 65

October 13 Pat Day, jockey

After retiring in August 2005, Day is still the all-time leading rider at Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course in his adopted home state of Kentucky. He won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey four times over his decades-long career, and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991.

His riding style has been described as patient, much to the chagrin of many critics who dubbed him Pat (I'll Wait All) Day. But plenty of trainers appreciated his gentle hands, giving him 22 rides in the Kentucky Derby. His single win in the race came on Lil E. Tee in 1992 after favorite A.P. Indy scratched. He was sixth on a wet track the year that his mount, Tabasco Cat, would go on to win both the Preakness and Belmont, the two other Triple Crown events.

Day admits to serious drug and alcohol abuse in the early years of his career. In the early 1980s, he became a born-again Christian, earning the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1985 for high standards of personal and professional conduct. Many of his best races were in the latter half of his career, including the day at Arlington Park in 1989 when he won eight of nine races and set a North American record.

Tip: How did old-time jockeys lose weight before their races? They would bury themselves in the manure pile up to their neck. The warmth of the decaying manure would act like a steam bath, sweating them down to race weight.

October 15 Toriano "Tito" Jackson, singer, instrumentalist

Big brother to Michael, Tito Jackson was the third of ten siblings born to steelworker Joe and devout Jehovah's Witness Katherine. When he got caught playing his dad's guitar at age 10 after breaking a string, Joe demanded to hear him perform. His playing earned him his own guitar, and soon after Joe formed a singing group comprised of Tito, Jackie and Jermaine.

The kids performed in grocery stores and at school functions, then moved to talent shows when Tito was 12. About that time, 7-year-old Michael joined in as lead singer and they won the Amateur Night competition at The Apollo Theater in August 1967. Joe started working part-time at the mill and got them a recording contract with Steeltown Records. Two years later, the Jackson 5 signed with Motown Records in Detroit, and the rest is history.

You'll never hear Tito playing guitar on any of the group's records with Motown; all the instrumentals had to be performed by session musicians according to their contract. In 1976 when the group left Motown for CBS Records, Tito began playing and writing songs with his brothers. Tito later performed solo, did some session work himself and managed his sons in a musical group called "3T."

October 20 Keith Hernandez, first baseman

The Burt Reynolds look-alike was a first baseman who played most of his career with the Cardinals and the Mets. His hitting was 31 percent above league average, and he got Gold Glove awards in 11 consecutive seasons, a record for a first baseman.

Hernandez grew up in California, but he's not Mexican, as many assume. His father is Spanish and his mother, Scots-Irish. A standout player in high school, he sat out his senior year over a dispute with his coach. Scouts noted his "poor attitude," and he headed off to Jr. College for a year of play before being drafted a dubious 783rd in the 41st round in 1971 by the Cards. Sometimes it's those late picks that really pay off.

Hernandez shares a birthday with superstar Mickey Mantle, and insisted on having a number that ended in "7" like his hero. Wearing number 37, he won National League MVP in1979, an honor he shared with Willie Stargell, the only time in history two players were awarded the exact same number of points by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He became a regular .300 hitter, and the Cards triumphed in the 1982 World Series, where he hit a home run in game six, and batted in eight runs over seven games.

Despite outstanding play, a dispute with manager Whitey Herzog got Hernandez traded to the Mets in 1983. Herzog said the first baseman had become a cancer in his team and he never regretted the trade. Later, Hernandez admitted it might have been his cocaine use that put him on the outs, and he testified that about 40 percent of players were using the drug at that time. He says he quit using it after getting traded.

Hernandez had a great career with the Mets wearing number 17 (37 had been retired for Casey Stengel), and is widely considered the greatest fielder among first basemen in major league history. With the Mets, he won the 1986 World Series and was named team captain the following year. His reputation was as a "party hard, play harder" pretty boy with a great arm and a vicious swing. However, even the best begin to age, and back, knee and hamstring issues forced a decision not to re-sign him after his contract ran out in 1989.

In retirement, Hernandez has published four books, did some acting work and served as a broadcaster, as well as supporting many charity organizations. He has a special fondness for funding the Alzheimer's Association after losing his mother to the disease.

October 24 James and Jonathan di Donato, open water swimming

Identical twins Jonathan and James di Donato (the Tiger Twins) swam 28 miles around the island of Manhattan to become the first to manage the feat using the butterfly stroke in 1983. It took them nine hours and 43 minutes to succeed. Training included a 16.5 mile butterfly swim from Ft. Lauderdale to Pompano Beach and back. The duo trained three hours a day.

All that training leads to a buff physique, and for these athletes, hard bodies led to becoming finalists in Cosmopolitan's first male centerfold contest. Later in their careers, they set a record distance for swimming the butterfly of 47 miles.

If you'd like to give their record a go, you'll need to get in shape. Their workout routine started by swimming four hours in the ocean wearing drag suits and 1-pound wrist weights. Dryland training included 3 miles of sprint interval runs, plus 20 sets of 50 pushups finished with countless sit-ups using 20-pound weights on their chests.

One last tip: sharks can be a problem in open water swims. The Tiger Twins added soap flakes to their wetsuits to put the beasts off their scent.

Click below for the other articles in the October 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Can Pumping Iron Extend Your Life?

Money - Working Past Retirement

Lifestyle - Age-Proof Your House with Style (and Budget!)

Technology - How Artificial Intelligence is Changing ETFs

Coffee Break - Oldest Trapeze Artist Defies Time and Gravity

Sources:

Wikipedia.org

https://www.si.com/vault/1983/10/17/620377/faces-in-the-crowd

http://dailynews.openwaterswimming.com/2015/05/tiger-twins-take-two.html

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors

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Click here to sign up for the Senior Spirit Newsletter

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-13543202503927742652018-10-16T09:28:00.002-07:002018-10-16T09:51:35.602-07:00Oldest Trapeze Artist Defies Time and Gravity

Have you been feeling stuck in a rut lately? How about challenging a Guiness record for 2019! Think of something really crazy where there won't be much competition. Hmmm. Oldest trapeze artist?

You'll have to be over age 85, because that's how old Betty Goedhart of California is, and she's still at it.

"I love to do things that are kind of ... extraordinary and have really enjoyed doing things that nobody else wants to do," Goedhart says.

She liked watching circus performers in Kansas City when she was young, but she didn't take her first trapeze class until she was 78.

"['I] thought that looked a bit scary, but I could hardly wait to get up there," she says.

Goedhart wants to encourage everyone, but women in particular, not to "think that when they hit the age of 55, they're old. We got a lot more on our journey," she says. "Isn't it fun to do the impossible?"

Click below for the other articles in the October 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Can Pumping Iron Extend Your Life?

Money - Working Past Retirement

Lifestyle - Age-Proof Your House with Style (and Budget!)

Technology - How Artificial Intelligence is Changing ETFs

Famous & 65

Source:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/guinness-world-records-2019_us_5b92b87fe4b0511db3e20070?ncid=APPLENEWS00001

https://www.insideedition.com/85-year-old-betty-goedhart-becomes-worlds-oldest-trapeze-artist-46568

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors

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Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-52898297287679882872018-10-16T09:26:00.002-07:002018-10-16T09:51:42.218-07:00How Artificial Intelligence is Changing ETFs

A new category of exchange-traded funds that incorporate artificial intelligence to predict market outcomes has arrived, along with ETFs composed of AI technology leaders. Should you invest?

The robots have arrived.

They're making decisions in your stock portfolio, and in more and more of the companies you invest in. Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. Is there cause to be wary, or does this present a new set of investing opportunities?

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are a staple of many stock portfolios. With generally lower expense ratios than mutual funds and the ability to maintain diversification by investing in a basket of stocks, they're among the most popular investment vehicles. It's no wonder that AI and ETFs have intersected to create novel products for today's investor.

What Defines Artificial Intelligence

First, let's talk about how to define AI. On a basic level, it's a computer science field that builds smarts into electronic systems. An AI system is capable of perceiving data, learning and then taking action to reach specified goals.

There's no emotion involved. An AI asset management system will never engage in panic selling, and it won't buy high when euphoria strikes the market. It will never go on gut instinct, either. Its key advantage lies in its superhuman ability to process massive amounts of data and make investment decisions based on that information.

AI systems never make the same mistake twice, because they learn as they go. Based on statistical probabilities, they are able to analyze past reactions to economic events and calculate likely outcomes for a stock or industry under present circumstances.

Human investors can benefit from using AI to make better trades. These networks can aggregate large volumes of data to make continuous portfolio adjustments based on various market indicators, while incorporating new signals without human bias.

Top AI ETFs

There are a couple of ways to invest in artificial intelligence via an ETF. You can either invest in companies that are working on AI and robotics projects, or find an ETF that uses AI to select stocks. Here's a list of some of the top ETFs in each category:

Invesco QQQ (QQQ) Focused on the big tech FAANG stocks. Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) headline 104 holdings and nearly $68 billion in assets.

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) Tech tied to AI. With assets of about $22 billion, its top two holdings are Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG).

Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) Broadly diversified with over 350 names and $21 billion. The largest holdings are Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (BOTZ) Small ($2.3 billion in assets) and focused. BOTZ's largest holdings are Nvidia (NVDA) and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), while Japanese companies and those headquartered in Asia make up most of the rest.

Not all AI is Created Equal

It used to be that AI investment systems were considered "black boxes" where information got jammed into a conceptual box that then spit out recommendations. Current systems are much more flexible and suitable for constantly changing inputs and market conditions. Each of them is unique.

When analyzing current offerings among funds, an effort must be made to understand the system being used. Each investment platform design can differ in meaningful ways that affect performance output. An AI system is only as good as the team that designed and maintains it. Investors should attempt to understand what drives the algorithms and which opportunities they are programmed to find.

Use It or Lose Out

No long-term data is yet available to judge how well these systems work. Around 90 percent of electronic data was created within the last two years, and in another couple of years, we will likely be saying exactly the same thing. Investing without using AI will quickly become obsolete.

AI is disrupting the ETF industry by assisting fund managers in making subtle tweaks to their baskets of stocks in search of better returns. There are currently a growing number of ETFs that either promote the use of AI to balance the fund, or are made up of stocks that lean heavily on AI, such as robotics.

ETF management is enhanced by AI without raising expense ratios exorbitantly. While the research that goes into AI development isn't cheap, there are no known cases of a computer demanding a raise or insisting on a bonus.

It's unlikely that AI will replace investment advisors, human managers and fund analysts right away. Currently, it allows them to work more efficiently as the machines do the dirty work of wading through masses of market data. But that could be changing.

Chida Khafua is the co-founder and CEO of EquBot, the first firm to introduce an AI-powered ETF, and the first to offer an AI-powered ETF focused on international equity.

"As AI investment products produce out-performance numbers, we anticipate the same type of shift we saw from taxis to Ubers," Chris notes. "As you consider the future shape of the investing landscape, ask yourself this question: Are there taxis in your portfolio?"

Click below for the other articles in the October 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Can Pumping Iron Extend Your Life?

Money - Working Past Retirement

Lifestyle - Age-Proof Your House with Style (and Budget!)

Coffee Break - Oldest Trapeze Artist Defies Time and Gravity

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.investopedia.com/investing/top-etfs-capitalizing-artificial-intelligence/

https://www.nasdaq.com/article/say-hello-to-artificial-intelligent-etfs-cm916955

http://time.com/money/4993744/robot-mutual-fund-beating-stock-market/

https://www.thestreet.com/technology/how-artificial-intelligence-is-disrupting-etf-industry-14638427

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
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Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-42196191670520118132018-10-16T09:17:00.004-07:002018-10-16T09:51:49.328-07:00Age-Proof Your House with Style (and Budget!)

Prepare to age in place while avoiding that dreaded "nouveau nursing home" look that makes you cringe.

Many of us are getting older, and looking around our current home makes us realize that it's not going to fit our needs in future years. Perhaps our parents are aging, and it's only a matter of time until we need to take them in under our roof to keep them safe and comfortable. Or maybe we're looking to downsize, and we want to do some remodeling on the "new" house before we move in so that it fits our needs for the rest of our life.

But … we're secretly a little worried, or maybe a lot worried, that the end result will make our cozy home look like nursing central, with an IV bag and portable bed the only missing items. "I'm too young for that!" we think, no matter our age. We still want to entertain friends, dance to the radio, have a glass of wine and play Twister with the grandkids. So what do we do?

Age-proofing is no longer synonymous with linoleum floors and industrial-strength grab bars. Thank goodness! There's a whole new world of products that cater to tasteful design, and may even enhance the coolness factor of your current abode. Who doesn't want a teak shower seat?!

Hire an Expert

If you want a professional look, hire a professional remodeler. No matter who works on your home, your contractor and any sub-contractors should have a license (so they can pull permits from the municipality or county), insurance (to back up their work) and a bonding certificate (to pay up if they steal from you or fail to perform contracted work). If they can't show you these documents, show them the door. Otherwise, you may be out of luck with inferior workmanship, failure to pass code or even someone who takes your deposit and leaves town.

Find a pro who has done aging in place remodels many times, can show you before and after photos and is willing to provide references. Ask if the project was done on time, without cost overruns. One way to vet local contractors is to use Nextdoor to ask your neighbors their opinion, or pay a small fee for an Angie's List recommendation. Be a savvy shopper. Home Advisor is in business to sell advertising and offers absolutely no guarantee to the consumer.

You might also want to contact some Certified Aging-in-Place Specialists (CAPSs). These are remodelers, designers, occupational therapists and architects who have gotten specialized training from the National Association of Home Builders. Talk with several on the phone, then ask your favorites for an in-home consultation. Hire someone who can work in your timeframe and budget.

Finally, we have nothing against a local handyman who has demonstrated his ability to do the scope of work you have in mind. Before you hire him, read our advice, above, and make sure he fills the bill on all counts.

Around the House

Generally, you'll need more light as you get older. Installing automatic lights at outside doors helps illuminate your path at dusk and early morning. Check your indoor lighting, too. It's often less expensive to buy additional lamps than to install lighting. In closets, try something like this motion-detector LED light bar for under $20, or a Luna tap light for less than $10.

Reduce furniture and clutter throughout your home for greater freedom of movement. About three feet is enough room for a wheelchair or walker to get through. Consider lowering switches for greater accessibility by people of all heights. Rocker light switches are easier for arthritic hands than those requiring pinching or grasping. Switch circular doorknobs to lever hardware and benefit even if you're just coming in from the garage with hands full of groceries.

In the laundry room, front-loading machines on pedestals are the easiest to access. Switch from liquid detergent to powder to reduce weight. And for safety at the sink or in the bathroom, lower the heat on your hot water heater to a maximum of 120 degrees to avoid burns.

Rethinking the Stair Lift

Like many homes, yours may not have a full bath on the main floor. This may force you to think that your only option for a move-in parent who can't climb stairs is to install a chair lift. These can be pricey, whether you buy or rent.

One alternative is to consider turning a main floor living room, den or family room into a bedroom space. A shower rod outfitted with new curtains may be all the investment you need to provide privacy, or try some inexpensive room dividers from IKEA, Bed Bath and Beyond, or Pier 1.

Use the money you save from the stair lift to add a wet room or shower to the main floor bathroom. Many contractors have become experts at this trick, so the improvements look high-end. It should add value to your home when and if you sell, as an added benefit.

Around the Kitchen

A shallow sink is ideal, with the faucet on the side, rather than at the back, for easy access. Adding pull-out shelves can be a lifesaver for people with diminished eyesight or mobility. You can find these shelves at home improvement stores. "D" shaped handles are the easiest for most people to grab. Hardware that is on the large side will be easier to grasp, opening up a wide range of stylish options.

Appliances should have easy-to-read knobs and dials with big, high-contrast letters and numbers. Even better are those that display information with an intuitive image. Illuminated water and ice dispensers are a boon on the fridge, as is a long door handle with multiple gripping points. Top-mount models with the freezer (used less often) underneath are also a good choice.

If you're in charge of a new build, or remodeling old cupboards, consider raising the height of countertops, or leave space underneath for a wheelchair to fit. Standard countertop heights are not ideal for people of different heights, or for different uses. For example, it may be easier to roll out biscuits on a high counter, and leave the rest lower.

Principles of Universal Home Design

Universal design is a simple concept. Products and environments should be friendly to all people, whether or not they have special needs. It goes hand-in-glove with aging in place. More and more homes are built with these principles in mind, to cater to a growing segment of the population. Review these tenets of universal design, and think how your own home stacks up.

Equitable use. A group of people with diverse abilities would find your home equally easy to use.

Flexibility of use. Individual preferences (such as right-or left-handedness) are accommodated.

Simple, intuitive use. Lighting systems, appliances and bathrooms don't require special knowledge, language skills or concentration to understand and use.

Accessible information. The design says it all, regardless of ambient conditions or sensory abilities. Pictures or audible or tactile methods communicate information.

Tolerance for error. The design is forgiving, minimizing hazards and the consequences of accidents or fatigue. The most-used elements are most accessible.

Low physical effort. Efficiency and comfort dictate design.

Adequate size and space. Room is provided for approach, reach, manipulation and use, no matter the size, posture or ability of the user.

Bomber Bathrooms

There's no room more important than the bathroom for aging in place. We use them all day long, and they have wet zones, which increase the possibility of slips and falls. But we also want them to look beautiful, and giant grab bars don't jibe with that image. Fear not; accessible bathrooms have come a long way.

Let's start with the shower bench. You can have one built right into your custom shower. Add some waterproof cushions to pad your tush. If you prefer the flexibility of a removable bench or seat, there are plenty of options besides the plastic and steel version at Walmart (which is plenty serviceable in a pinch). To take it up a notch, try something in teak that tickles your fancy and goes with any décor. Teak wood can take the abuse of daily hot showers and still look good. If you're pressed for space, try this <a href="https://jet.com/product/Clevr-36-Double-Seat-Folding-Shower-Bench-Teak-Wood-Modern-Finished-Chrome-Wall-MountedFoldable/77ae5840573c4ee18d2128fbb43e64a9?jcmp=pla:ggl:nj_roc_gen_home_decor_a1:home_decor_bath_other_a1:na:PLA_1061539418_50861293103_aud-303405841869:pla-335907960684_c:na:na:na:2PLA15&pid=kenshoo_int&c=1061539418&is_retargeting=true&clickid=4a3e3afe-3bde-4698-b4dd-66e74499b4b7&kclid=4a3e3afe-3bde-4698-b4dd-66e74499b4b7&gclid=CjwKCAjw2rjcBRBuEiwAheKeL9jEtoEYyIJcy59TCGzX3QnHXMJlMDLngQAicovvmBXiYYn32S6TKRoCYYEQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">fold-up version.

Know what else you need? A handheld shower head, especially one that travels up and down a pole to adjust the height of the spray, helps reach every spot. They're getting to be ubiquitous in toney homes, so it's easy to find a model to fit your style for under $200.

Now, about those grab bars. They can serve double duty as towel racks, and they don't have to be as big as your arm in stainless steel. Check out Moen grab bar styles, just to show you what one company offers. Choose your style and choose your finish. (Our favorite is the Old World Bronze). To be sure, some of the models are a bit … hospital bathroom style, shall we say? But we have choices!

You might want to increase the height of your vanity (sinks and counters, for those of us who didn't know we had a vanity). Standard installation is 31 ½ inches, including the countertop. If you're on the taller side, try having them put in at 34 ½ inches, which is standard counter height in the kitchen, to prevent from hunching over to wash your face. Caveats are for short people and those in wheelchairs. Wheelchair-accessible counter heights are 34 inches maximum as specified in the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.

As muscle mass declines, standing and rising from the sitting position can become difficult. Make your life easier with a "comfort-height" toilet. They're 17 to 19 inches high, versus the standard 16-inch potty. And there are companies out there making them beautiful! Choose one that is an exact style match to your pedestal sink, or one that blends into your contemporary scheme. There are even toilets that disguise the little wiggle drain in the porcelain so you don't have to be reminded what that luscious piece of art is really for. Check here for your favorite comfort toilet style.

Glass walls and doors are the rage for opening up a smaller bathroom space, but they're a pain in the comfort toilet zone to clean. It's unlikely that you'll want to squeegee those walls when you're 85 (although if you can't see they're coated in water spots, you might not care). So if that's an issue, or if you just hate cleaning those dang doors right now, try an open shower. If you have the space, remodelers can put in one that has a gradual slant toward the drain and no curb to step over. While you're at it, wire in a light above the shower and one where you step out.

Porcelain wall and floor tiles are super durable and easy to clean. If you hate grout, ask for porcelain floor tile with a rectified edge. These allow for tiny grout joints as small as 1/16 inch, and you can still use presealed grout. Your flooring needs to have high slip resistance, whatever you use. Look for grooves, or feel the texture. Tile is rated by measuring the coefficient of friction, which can usually be found on the manufacturer's website. Check the three categories of tile slip resistance here.

Now you know that your home can be stunning at the same time it's ready for you to age in place. No matter what your taste, the kitchen and bath can have increased functionality without losing any of your style. Changes can be made all at once or over time, depending on your budget. Making your home safer may allow you to live independently for many years longer, and perhaps for the rest of your life.

Click below for the other articles in the October 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Can Pumping Iron Extend Your Life?

Money - Working Past Retirement

Technology - How Artificial Intelligence is Changing ETFs

Coffee Break - Oldest Trapeze Artist Defies Time and Gravity

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-age-proof-your-home_us_5942d034e4b01eab7a2c41f4

https://www.hgtv.com/remodel/interior-remodel/how-to-age-proof-your-remodeling

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/60576589/list/11-ways-to-age-proof-your-bathroom

https://www.hgtv.com/remodel/interior-remodel/universal-design-principles

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2017/05/23/10-ways-to-prepare-your-home-for-aging-in-place/?utm_term=.8f32be8a3187

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors

www.csa.us

Click here to sign up for the Senior Spirit Newsletter

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-71573174875744018302018-10-16T09:02:00.003-07:002018-10-16T09:51:55.754-07:00Working Past Retirement

More "retirees" are working into their 70s and 80s. Here are the surprising statistics on senior employment, and how working late in life affects everything from mood to mortality.

Blanca Almonte retired at age 65 and moved to the West Coast to live with her younger sister. She'd immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of 12, and gone on to earn a master's degree in social work. Almonte played a pivotal role in the founding of Family Focus, a Chicago-area nonprofit dedicated to helping the parents of young children.

 "We bought a house, got a couple of dogs and did a lot of gardening. But it just wasn't enough," Almonte recalls. "It took me a while to figure it out, but I was missing a sense of making a difference."

After a year of leisure, she went back to work at a California non-profit helping foster kids find their forever homes. Ten years down the road, she is still on the job. The extra money funds home remodeling and travel. Now, at age 75, she enjoys perks like taking Fridays off.

Statistics Point to a Growing Trend

Higher levels of education may be fueling the trend to work later in life. Only 15 percent of men between 60 and 74 had a college degree in 1985, but in 2011, 32 percent did. Figures for women are lower but reflect the same rise. High-status workers tend to be the norm among older Americans; 61 percent of workers ages 62 to 74 in 2009 held doctorates or professional degrees. Only 28 percent of the group had stopped their education after high school.

The hottest demographic in the labor market today are those working into their 70s, 80s and beyond. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports this will be the fastest-growing group in the near future. For example, the rate of employment among those age 75 and up is expected to more than double from 5 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in 2022. Meanwhile, participation among younger groups is predicted to flat line or even dip.

Perhaps 85 is the new 55; America is embracing 225,000 workers 85 or older in the last 12 months, the highest number on record. In fact, their ranks have doubled since the Great Recession. What sort of work are they doing? Everything from ranchers to crossing guards, salespeople to truckers. They're not concentrated by race, ethnicity or region, but tend to hold jobs that are less physically demanding.

Below, the occupations of workers who are 85 and above:

Vice President of EP Wealth Advisors in West Los Angeles Clint Camua remembers one of his clients who worked into her 80s, and two jobs at that.

"She worked as an assistant to a judge from 7 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m.; then, she would go to the race track and be a security guard, carrying a weapon," he recalls.

She didn't need to work, although the financial benefit was huge. Her savings continued to grow until she got sick and moved into an assisted living facility, where she is still socially active at the age of 91.

Top Reasons to Continue Working

Social integration. Retirement is initially extraordinarily exciting. "At first, there is a honeymoon period where people go on vacation and spend time with their grandchildren," said professor Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist and director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University. "But it wears off."

"In general, people who engage in organized work have higher age of mortality," Pillemer said. "Working leads to other outcomes that are beneficial."

After a lifetime of routine and regular human interaction, retirement can feel isolating and lonely. Human interaction, even if it's just with colleagues, can affect mental health and in turn, physical health. Loss of work can correspond with a slide in relationships. A recent study found that working after retirement age could produce feelings of happiness when friends were at work.

"People who stay active socially, physically and intellectually have less chance of developing dementia," said Dr. James Warner, an old-age psychiatrist at Imperial College London. He added that "the biggest single risk factor for becoming depressed in the elderly is social isolation."

Economic improvement. Two problems are solved when older people continue to work: the retirement savings crisis, and the need to keep seniors engaged. "It's difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle on an old-age pension," Warner added. Things like keeping the house warm, eating well and going on holidays require income at any age. These are all small things where a little extra money will benefit you, he said.

Patrick Thomson, senior program manager from the Center for Ageing Better, agrees. "With extra income, you also delay drawing down on your pension or savings."

Sense of purpose. When someone loses their defining role in life, it can contribute to worsening mental and physical health. A sobering report from the Institute of Economic Affairs correlates retirement with decreased mental and self-assessed health. Some results indicated the probability of suffering clinical depression increased by 40 percent.

"The meaningfulness and sense of purpose that older people have in their lives are also related to survival," said Professor Andrew Steptoe, director of the University College London Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care. "The findings raise the intriguing possibility that increasing wellbeing could help to improve physical health."

Physical health. Retirees benefit from physical activity, like everyone. Even if they commute to work and move around on the job, that's better than sitting at home. And that physical activity is tied to mental well-being and therefore, happiness. One caveat to note is that all of the described benefits are only applicable when people choose to work in their later years. "If you're forced for economic reasons to work when you don't want to ... that's not a good outcome," Pillemer said. "It's a balance," Warner said. "It shouldn't become an expectation. It should be encouraged."

Click below for the other articles in the October 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Can Pumping Iron Extend Your Life?

Lifestyle - Age-Proof Your House with Style (and Budget!)

Technology - How Artificial Intelligence is Changing ETFs

Coffee Break - Oldest Trapeze Artist Defies Time and Gravity

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.aarp.org/work/working-after-retirement/info-2015/work-over-retirement-happiness.html

https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/45/6/850/2499210

https://www.cnn.com/2017/05/04/health/working-after-retirement-age-health-benefits/index.html

https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/baby-boomers/articles/2018-08-03/never-retire-why-people-are-still-working-in-their-70s-and-80s

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/07/05/a-record-number-of-folks-age-85-and-older-are-working-heres-what-theyre-doing/?utm_term=.5af855769ae0

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors

www.csa.us

Click here to sign up for the Senior Spirit Newsletter

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-59889658864758854602018-10-16T08:54:00.000-07:002018-10-16T09:53:25.566-07:00Can Pumping Iron Extend Your Life?

Several recent studies point to the same conclusion: Weight training can help you live longer.

Maybe you were a weightlifter, way back when. Or you used to do pushups and sit-ups … but that was a long time ago. Now, you keep fit with a daily walk or bike ride. That's enough, right?

Fitness professionals and health workers know that whether you're in your teens or 80 years old, strength exercises are crucial. They help build muscle and bone mass, and research has found that they not only help you live better, but longer.

Strength Training is Essential

"Strength training isn't necessarily the first thing that pops into people's mind when they think about activities they should be doing when they're older," says Dr. Jennifer Kraschnewski, an associate professor of medicine, pediatrics and public health sciences at the Penn State College of Medicine. "But the truth is that very good evidence [is available] to show that 80-year-olds are just as able to improve their muscle mass as 50-year-olds. And this can be done reliably over a very short period of time – something as short as two to three months."

Kraschnewski led a large study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, that followed more than 30,000 adults aged 65 and up. Data from a National Health Interview survey found a little less than 10 percent met the standard of at least two sessions of strength training per week, whether it was from lifting weights, using machines in the gym or performing calisthenics. Over a period of 15 years, participants who reported meeting the guidelines had a 46 percent lower chance of dying from any cause, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, than the rest of the group.

Other research supports the findings. Strength training is correlated with a reduced risk of death for groups ranging from those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to women, according to studies published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Blood sugar regulation is enhanced when muscles get bigger, which helps to clear out excess glucose, decreasing your risk of diabetes. Larger muscles also help your body reduce inflammation, and then there's the increased stability, strength and balance that lower your risk of falling.

Seven Benefits of Strength Training

There's a reason weight training is so good for you. In fact, there are seven of them!

It increases your metabolic rate. Your body uses more calories all day long when it has more muscle mass. A pound of muscle burns an extra 50 calories a day when it's just resting.

It makes bone mineral denser. Although your bones don't increase in size with strength training, they do become denser to help fight off osteoporosis.

It builds muscle. A study of people who lifted weights for 25 minutes a day, three times a week, showed a gain of up to three pounds of muscle mass in just eight weeks.

It makes you feel better. Hormones and neurochemicals get released that trigger feelings of happiness. Endorphins, adrenaline and dopamine help fight stress, too.

It decreases muscle loss. Normal aging results in the loss of about a pound of muscle a year from the time you turn 30, but strength training counteracts this phenomenon.

It prevents a reduction in metabolic rate. Resting metabolic rates don't dip when muscle mass is increased. Muscles need more calories for fuel, instead of your body storing them as fat.

It spurs glucose metabolism. Regular weight training can bump glucose metabolism by 23 percent, lowering the odds for adult onset diabetes.

Short Sessions Get the Job Done

So, how much time are we looking at here? Do you have to go to the gym? Never learned how to use free weights? Don't know what a free weight is? Patience, grasshopper, it's not hard to get started. First, the time commitment.

"Typically, two to three exercise sessions a week for 20 to 30 minutes are enough for most people to develop results," said Kraschnewski. "Our studies have demonstrated older adults can double their strength in just 12 weeks."

That's what you wanted to hear! It's always a good idea to have a chat with your doctor before you start exercising, by the way, but we're not talking about marathon sessions to get results. You don't have to use weights, either.

You've Got Options

"In general, there are safe exercises for everyone, but it may require tailoring for your specific conditions," Kraschnewski said. "Strength training can be done at home and many exercises don't actually require equipment."

Yep, that's right. Pushups, sit-ups and leg squats all use your own body weight to force your muscles to grow. Remember Jack LaLanne? Check out LaLanne's old show on YouTube. The man could make a jumpsuit look good, and he taught exercises using nothing but the furniture you have at home. By the way, he was three years shy of 100 when he died in 2011.

Another idea is to use resistance bands in your home-based program. They resemble giant rubber bands and up your effort level when you push or pull to stretch them out. Yoga is another way to get in a strength workout.

But don't rule out the gym, either. Consider getting a coach to create a routine that will give you the most benefit. Many gyms will instruct you on how to use their equipment so you feel comfortable. Free weights, which are dumbbells and other weights not attached to an apparatus, are great for balance and strength but do require more technique. YouTube videos and mirrors can provide backup to a good instructor.

The main thing is to get started. "Older adults have the ability to achieve strength similar to those decades younger by engaging in simple strength training routines," Kraschnewski said.

Remember that you can't keep lifting the same weight and expect to get stronger. The goal is to gradually move up to heavier weights, and add repetitions, varying your workout. Here's a tutorial on how to get started. If you like his Beast Mode t-shirt, you can get one here.

Finally, expect some soreness. It's what happens after a good workout, and it means that your muscles got the message they need to bulk up. Pain from an injury is a different matter. A torn ligament can set you back for months. That's why form is so important.

Combined with regular aerobic exercise, strength training can help you live a longer, fuller life that is active to the end.

Click below for the other articles in the October 2018 Senior Spirit

Money - Working Past Retirement

Lifestyle - Age-Proof Your House with Style (and Budget!)

Technology - How Artificial Intelligence is Changing ETFs

Coffee Break - Oldest Trapeze Artist Defies Time and Gravity

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.bluezones.com/2018/03/science-says-older-adults-should-consider-strength-training/

https://www.health.com/fitness/seniors-pump-iron-live-longer

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201403/pumping-iron-can-help-you-live-longer

https://health.usnews.com/wellness/fitness/articles/2018-06-26/could-pumping-iron-help-you-live-longer

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29089346

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

Click here to sign up for the Senior Spirit Newsletter

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-16047248448296750112018-10-08T10:38:00.001-07:002018-10-08T14:51:52.075-07:00Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

What is Loneliness and Social Isolation?

Loneliness and social isolation are in direct contrast to the basic human need for love and belonging. Social isolation effects everyone at any age but continues to become more prevalent in older age and can be detrimental to both physical and mental health.

All over the globe, social isolation rates continue to increase, particularly in older adults. According to a recent AARP report, social isolation and loneliness is present in more than 8 million people in America over the age of 50. According to the study, 35% of respondents said they were isolated and 45% responded they were lonely for 6 or more years (AARP, 2017).

Loneliness and social isolation is complex to say the least. Regardless of the definition, social isolation and loneliness can contribute to the deterioration of overall physical and mental health. Those 60 and older who identify themselves as being lonely were 59% more likely to experience a decline in their ability to perform basic activities of daily living. (Perissinotto et al., 2012)

Some of the most staggering data indicates that loneliness was as robust predictor of early death as alcoholism, smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and stronger predictor than obesity or a sedentary lifestyle. (AARP, 2017)

Identifying Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older adults

There is no direct or easy way to address social isolation and loneliness. It is important to understand the various factors older adults face that puts them at risk for loneliness. Risk factors can be grouped into these categories –

Events – exp. Loss of a spouse/partner, close friend, living alone, life transition

Physical – exp. Sensory or mobility losses or chronic illness

Psychological – exp. Mental health problems ie. Depression, dementia, etc.

Socio-economic – exp. Low income, limited financial resources, rural living

Professionals working with older adults need to be aware of these factors and be able to identify loneliness and social isolation even in healthy clients to slow the progression of social disconnect. Screening questionnaires are very important in identifying these factors. The UCLA loneliness Scale and DeJong Gierveld Loneliness Scale are examples of questionnaires for loneliness and can be found here -

UCLA Loneliness Scale

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Creative and Artful Engagement

Participating in creative and artful activities can offer older adults more opportunities to become more active within their community and decrease social isolation and loneliness. Engaging in creative activities have been shown to stabilize heart rate, regulate hormone levels, and increase hormones associated with feeling good. In addition, decreases in pain level, improved mood, improved physical functioning, and positive neurological changes found when older adults participate in various art forms (Cohen 2000).

Engaging individuals in the arts throughout the life course may serve as primary prevention tool in combating and preventing social isolation and loneliness before negative health effects can take hold.

Check out the full article by Tobi Abramson in our latest CSA Journal 70 – Special Edition in the member portal here. https://www.csa.us/page/CSAJournal

Information on the Author
Tobi Abramson, PhD, has worked for the past 30 years as a licensed psychologist to improve the mental health of older adults and their families. She is currently the Director of Geriatric Mental Health at the New York City Department for the Aging and a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine and consults, conducts training's, and writes about geriatric mental health.

Sources

J. De Jong Gierveld and T. Van Tilburg, Research on Aging 2006, 28, 582-598.
AARP Foundation (2012). Framework for isolation in adults over 50. Retrieved from https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/aarp_foundation/2012_PDFs/AARP-Foundation-Isolation-Framework-Report.pdf
AARP Foundation (2017). A profile of social connectedness in olderadults. Retrieved from http://www.aarp.org
Cohen, G. D. (2000). The Creative Age. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY.
Penninx, B.W., Guralnik, J.M., Ferrucci, L., Simonsick, E.M., Deeg, D.J., & Wallace, R.B. (1998). Depressive symptoms and physical decline in community-dwelling older persons. JAMA, 279(21), 1720-1726.
Perissinotto, C. M., Stijaci Cenzer, I., & Covinsky, K. E. (2012). Loneliness in older persons: A predictor of functional decline and death. Arch Intern Med, 172(14), 1078-1083/

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

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Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-2867772674803380562018-09-26T08:14:00.000-07:002018-09-26T08:18:04.234-07:00Mesothelioma Awareness Day - September 26th
Is Telehealth the Answer Senior Patients Have Been Waiting for?

The process of gaining access and undergoing medical treatment can be unbearable, but as technology advances, the number of treatment options available to patients increase. The current option dujour is telehealth technology, and while it may seem like a fad, the results speak volumes and senior patients are very much on board.

Telehealth: A Definition

According to the Med News Ledger, telehealth, or telemedicine, enables "interactive communication between a patient and healthcare provider at a different place, and supported by audio and video equipment along with integrated medical devices, enables the clinicians to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients remotely." The global market for telemedicine is expected to reach nearly $64 billion by 2022, led by the United States and Europe. That market will be aided by the growing number of large employers planning to offer telehealth coverage. Of those surveyed, 96 percent plan to offer telemedicine for employees in states that allow it.

Seniors and Telehealth

But what does this burgeoning technology mean for the senior demographic that is largely now out of the workforce? Telehealth means freedom. Through the use of this technology, seniors are able to stay in their homes longer while keeping up to date with their health care needs. This option, in turn, keeps them safe and appeases their concerned loved ones and caregivers. Nine in 10 adults, age 40 and over, report they would agree to the use of telemedicine for either themselves or an aging loved one, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Telemedicine could be a saving grace for the 62 million people lacking access to adequate healthcare services in the U.S. - many of them seniors. For those patients, aid can't come soon enough. It is anticipated that by 2020 there will be a shortage of as many as 45,000 primary care providers.

The shortage of doctors is a direct result of the growing senior population - which is expected to skyrocket as the baby boomer population ages. "In 2050, the population aged 65 and over is projected to be 83.7 million, almost double its estimated population of 43.1 million in 2012," according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The senior demographic of 2050 will be better versed in technology and current reports are suggesting that many of them will prefer to "age in place" as opposed to move to an assisted living facility.

This improved autonomy can lead to decreased rates of depression, a common side effect of being uprooted and moved from the place they've called home for decades. Telehealth monitoring enabled one senior living non-profit in Pennsylvania to reduce the number of patients moving from a senior living community into nursing homes from 20 to 12 percent. The success here signifies there's opportunity to further implement monitoring across the country, giving the senior community the ability to age safely in place with proper medical attention.

Telehealth options supplement the rising need for care with easy access to medical services, help save more lives, and lift the heavy burden of travel and other associated costs that are currently on patients. According to an AJMC report, adoption of telemedicine practices "could collectively save U.S. nursing homes $479 million annually by reducing transportation costs related to in-person physician office visits."

Telehealth and Cancer Care

Telemedicine offers patients the ability to receive necessary treatment either close to home or in the home. This alleviates the need to travel each week, or even each day, to doctors offices or hospitals that may be hours away. This may be especially useful for those battling rare diseases like mesothelioma cancer, when specialists are needed but are few and far between. Telemedicine enables doctors to collaborate on cases with those more specialized, including those outside their practice, state, or even country. In addition to monitoring and treating the primary disease, other services, including nutritional and psychiatric advice, can be utilized to help patients with all their healthcare needs.

Patients, senior or otherwise, living in areas where access to care is the most scarce could see the biggest impact from implementing telehealth practices. For example, populations most in need of increased access to cancer care include Native American nations, Southern states, and non-urban populations.

Telemedicine has been used in Kansas cancer care since 1995. The University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) has two cancer clinics in rural Hays and Horton, Kansas. Telehealth has been leveraged to help with diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care for patients. Through the use of interactive televideo systems, video cameras, and internet protocol, KUMC oncologists are able to communicate with nursing staff at the clinics.

Telehealth and Chronic Conditions

While improving cancer care is impactful for seniors, a majority of health issues within their demographic stem from chronic conditions. The National Council on Aging (NCOA) reports that more than 92 percent of older adults have at least one chronic disease. Fortunately, telehealth can be used effectively in disease management practices. Studies have shown that patients with diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and congestive heart failure have had success using telehealth to service their continuous care needs.

In particular, one study found that through the use of telehealth for patients with congestive heart failure decreased hospital readmission. Remote monitoring using telehealth technology can alert medical care teams if chronic symptoms worsen and allow for immediate intervention which can improve outcomes. The monitoring also enables physicians to receive a more robust, and accurate, medical history to inform changes to care plans.

There is still more to do to streamline telehealth and remove other barriers to entry that currently prevent patients from using these services. One of those barriers is the financial cost associated with receiving care.

For the senior demographic specifically, a large barrier to telehealth use is the knowledge gap. According to a study conducted by HealthMine, "almost 90 percent of seniors recently surveyed said they either don't have access to telehealth through their Medicare plan or they don't know if they have it."

The lack of awareness shows that the chief problem is not that seniors are against using the technology, but that healthcare providers need to emphasize the positives of this option and assist patients in becoming acclimated to the digital systems.

Promising Use of the Health Technology

Even with there being more work to do, roughly two-thirds of Americans in 2015 were willing to speak with their primary care physicians via video. Doctors who were surveyed asking the same question had nearly identical responses. In general, interactions involving the patient-centric way of communicating have increased dramatically, from about 350,000 visits in 2013 to an expected 7 million this year.

Put simply telehealth can reduce tedious wait time, save both patients and doctors money, reduce rehospitalization of patients, provide peace of mind for caregivers, and offer patients more autonomy.

For the sake of all patients, every advancement should be thoroughly investigated, including blossoming technologies like telehealth. Using all the tools possible, including emerging treatments and modes of implementing them, can hopefully improve quality of life, patient prognosis, and lead to better outcomes for all seniors.

Sources
http://mednewsledger.com/news/telemedicine-market-global-insights-and-trends-2018/9847/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder/2018/04/16/regulators-cant-seem-to-tamp-down-telemedicine-and-thats-a-big-sign-of-change/#3746d68b5429

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/06/07/491490.htm

https://www.nejmcareercenter.org/minisites/rpt/physician-shortage-to-quadruple-within-decade/

https://www.census.gov/prod/2014pubs/p25-1140.pdf

https://www.cnbc.com/2014/01/13/telemedicine-keeps-seniors-out-of-nursing-homes.html

https://www.ajmc.com/contributor/julie-potyraj/2016/04/telemedicine-a-game-changer-for-senior-healthcare

https://www.mesothelioma.com/mesothelioma/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cncr.23229

http://www.cancernetwork.com/oncology-journal/teleoncology-extends-access-quality-cancer-care

https://www.ncoa.org/wp-content/uploads/FactSheet_HealthyAging.pdf

https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/telehealth-will-only-benefit-seniors-if-they-know-its-available

Blog posting provided by

Rachel Lynch, Press and Media Coordinator, Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance

Society of Certified Senior Advisors

www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-79603686721040383722018-09-17T13:57:00.003-07:002018-09-17T14:32:55.552-07:00Seven Top Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

The surprising array of health services Medicare won't cover, and how to get what you need without blowing a bundle.

Every day, 10,000 Americans turn 65 and begin Medicare coverage. At last, they have health care coverage for life! But what many don't realize is the array of services they'll still have to pay for on their own.

Original Medicare consists of two parts, A and B. Part A covers hospital stays, skilled nursing, hospice and some home health services. However, it does come with a $1,340 deductible per benefit period, and benefits are capped.

Part B covers doctor visits, outpatient services (think flu shot) and medical equipment. Singles who bring in less than $85,000 (double that for married couples filing jointly) a year pay $134 a month with a $183 deductible. Typically, you pay 20 percent of services after the deductible is met. Be aware that Part B premiums are based on tax returns from two years prior (your 2016 return for Medicare benefits in 2018).

Prescription drug coverage is provided through Part D, or you can opt for a Medicare Advantage Plan (also known as Part C) through an insurance company that will cover Part A, Part B and Part D.

Despite all the things Medicare covers, it is not a head-to-toe plan. The average couple who retires at age 65 will wind up spending another $280,000 on health care throughout the rest of their lives. Here are the gaps you'll need to watch out for:

Vision

Medicare will cover glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration. But for the routine vision checks most of us require, you'll be paying out of your own pocket. Ditto for eyeglasses and contacts. Initial exams can cost $200, with repeat exams averaging $125. Glasses from the neighborhood eyewear store can be an eye-popping $200-$400.

Cover vision costs. For help with the cost of eye examinations, check around for the best deal. Some opticians run specials, such as a free exam with an eyewear purchase. Costco and Sam's Club offer inexpensive exams that may justify the price of a membership. Check your local Walmart for the cost of an eye exam, too. Don't forget about a local university with a program for opticians; they may offer extremely low-cost service in return for student practice with a real client.

Online stores may have much better prices than brick-and-mortar shops. Check Eye Buy Direct for their frequent buy one, get one specials. Zenni Optical can ship you a pair of glasses for under $12, and you can add options like anti-scratch coating. Warby Parker lets you try on their frames at home for free before you buy.

To order online, you'll need to have not only your prescription for lenses but also eye size, bridge size and temple length. If you have a pair of glasses you already wear, you can likely find the numbers printed on the frame. Or, use the handy guide at Frames Direct to get the measurements.

Hearing

Half of seniors above age 75 have disabling hearing loss, but you'll have to hand over greenbacks for hearing aids since Medicare doesn't cover them. And hearing loss is not something you want to let go, because your brain loses its ability to interpret the signals sent by your ears as you lose your hearing. Wait too long, and hearing aids won't help.

The average price of just one hearing aid runs about $2,300, or up to $20,000 for specialized models. Ouch! The FDA is in the process of evaluating and rating personal sound devices, which sell for much less. Be aware that some of these devices are junk, but look at our recommendation for a good one in the paragraph below.

Cover hearing aid costs. Some Costco stores and health fairs offer free screenings, but that doesn't help with the cost of hearing devices. However, a recent study found Sound World Solutions CS50+ personal sound amplifier to be nearly as good as an expensive hearing aid, although it costs only $349 online. Check out the full study results to find other devices that performed nearly as well.

Dental

PACE Program for Eligible Seniors Covers Costs

The Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) offers medical and social services to needy seniors, typically those who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid benefits. If you are eligible and choose to enroll, a team of health professionals will provide coordinated care. Generally, this team becomes your primary health care providers, and network options are limited.

For many participants, the prime advantage of this comprehensive care is remaining in their community instead of in a nursing home. Because program financing is capped, health care providers are able to provide all services the participant needs, regardless of whether or not they're covered under Medicare or Medicaid.

PACE is administered under Medicare, but varies by state. Also, participants have to meet the following criteria:

• Age 55 or older

• Live in the service area of a PACE organization

• Eligible for nursing home care

• Able to live safely in the community

Visit the website to find specific information for your state.

The average cost per senior for annual dental care is a whopping $685, and specialty visits will tack on more. Nearly a quarter of seniors ages 65 to 74 have severe dental disease, quite likely because dental care requires paying out of pocket. Medicare doesn't cover preventive cleanings and x-rays, nor fillings or root canals. If you need dentures, you'll have to cover them, and ditto for oral surgery to combat gum disease.

Medicare does cover treatments that are essential before someone can undergo another procedure that is covered. For example, extracting a decaying tooth prior to having open heart surgery. Yes, that's it, so keep your toothbrush and floss handy!

If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, you may have some coverage for routine visits to an in-network dentist. Advantage plans are all different, so contact your insurer to find out if you have a dental plan. Additionally, some Medicare/Medicaid dual-eligible plans offer limited coverage.

Cover dental costs. You may be able to qualify for treatment at a local dental school for a reduced price since students will be working on you. You can also see if your dentist will give you a cash discount or provide a payment plan. For cleanings, you can go to a new dentist and take advantage of advertised special deals for first visits. The latest research shows you really only have to visit once a year to get the same benefits provided by recommended twice-yearly cleanings.

Finally, consider traveling to get care at a lower price. Medical tourism for dental care is fairly common, with top destinations including Mexico and Costa Rica. Both countries accept U.S. dollars, and you may even be able to get reimbursement from a Health Savings Account if you have one. It's easy to search for a dentist online. If you're still nervous, search for one who attended an American or Canadian dental school, and check their reviews.

Long-term care

Custodial care (also known as "assisted living"), the routine care that usually pushes many older adults into nursing homes, is not covered under Medicare. This is a big one, since a 2017 Genworth Cost of Care Study found the median cost of a private room in a nursing home is about $97,500 and the same room in an assisted-living facility costs $45,500. With average retirement income for all Americans over 65 averaging $31,740 per year, you can see the math doesn't add up.

Home care (for companionship, light housekeeping and cleaning, etc.) for seniors who are aging in place is also not a covered benefit.

Cover long-term care costs. Not everyone is going to need long-term care, but what if you do? There's no way of telling ahead of time if you'll get lucky, or break a hip and end up in senior living. You can buy a long-term care insurance policy that will help cover costs. Premiums average $3,560 annually for a couple in their 60s to get a policy with payouts of $150 daily, which is less than the $220 daily average expense. One caveat is that this coverage is usually obtained well before you need it, while you're still insurable.

Check if you qualify for VA benefits as a former military personnel or a family member of one. Finally, you may need to spend down your benefits to qualify for Medicaid, which covers you in certain facilities. You may be wise to consult an attorney regarding how to preserve wealth; doing this as early in the process as possible may give you more options.

Home health may be covered under Medicare, either as an inpatient at a skilled nursing facility (SNF) or as an outpatient. Home health always involves a skilled provider such as an occupational, physical or speech therapist, or a nurse, and this care may be limited to a number of sessions.

Medical care outside the U.S.

You're on that dream vacation in Australia, and you trip over the wastebasket in your hotel room. Or a shark bites your arm. Or that salad you ate yesterday is causing severe distress. Doesn't matter; Medicare doesn't cover you abroad. Heart attack? You're not covered. Need to be airlifted from your rafting expedition? Not covered.

Cover care overseas. A Medicare Advantage plan often covers emergencies worldwide, but may not pick up the tab for routine care. If you have a basic Medicare plan (Parts A and B), you can purchase an optional Medigap policy for travel. A 65-year-old male would part with between $159 and $236 for a plan that would handle up to $50,000 while you're outside the U.S., or add on an additional standalone plan for more coverage.

Before you buy a plan through Medigap, check out travel insurance that is offered through a plethora of insurance companies. Investopedia offers a short tutorial on travel insurance options with a few recommended plans just for seniors to get you started.

Observation

Say you tweak your knee and go to the hospital, which admits you for observation for a few days. Afterwards, you need rehab for your injury. Rehabilitation involves skilled nursing care, which is covered under Part A if you've been admitted to the hospital for at least three days. But if they only admitted you for observation, you're out of luck and rehab will come out of your wallet.

Cover rehabilitation. Always ask the hospital to admit you. In some cases, they may refuse. Be aware that going to the hospital and even spending the night does not always mean you've been officially admitted. Read more about your hospital status and Medicare coverage here. For about $35 (and up) per month, you can get a hospital indemnity plan that covers up to $600 per day for a certain number of days.

Alternative treatment

If you count on massage, acupuncture or chiropractic treatments to keep you in optimum health, don't expect Medicare to foot the bill. Medicare doesn't reimburse for your Chinese herbs, either. However, the word is that some Medicare Advantage plans may cover services such as naturopathic therapies in the future. Before paying out of pocket, always check with your insurer to see if a service is covered.

Cover alternative treatment. Massage schools are a great way to get cheaper treatment. Many offer student massages once a week. Most massage companies have package plans for a reduced rate, or get to know your favorite therapist and ask discreetly if they offer massages for a reduced rate at their house or yours. Ask your chiropractor or acupuncturist if she has a reduced cash price. Lastly, invest in a foam roller and see if you can go longer between sessions, or replace a session with a yoga or Pilates class covered by Silver Sneakers.

In sum, the most important thing you can do before you schedule a procedure is check with Medicare, or your Medicare Advantage insurer, to see if a procedure is covered. Secondly, check around for deals before you buy services or aids. Finally, make sure the hospital (which should be in-network if that's a requirement) is coding you as "admitted" and not "observation." It's a good idea to have a friend or family member aware of your needs so you have an advocate to accompany you.

Click below for the other articles in the September 2018 Senior Spirit

Money - How the New Tax Law Influence Charitable Giving

Lifestyle - MYTHBUSTER: Too Old to Learn?

Technology - Online Budget Planners Save Money and Time

Coffee Break - Looking at People over 100 for Clues to Longevity

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/03/02/4-surprising-things-medicare-doesnt-cover-and-how.aspx

https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/retirement/T039-S001-7-things-medicare-doesn-t-cover/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/03/medicare-doesnt-cover-everything-heres-how-to-avoid-surprises.html

https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/ltss/pace/index.html
Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-28334794619795100222018-09-17T13:27:00.000-07:002018-09-17T14:33:02.856-07:00Famous & 65

September 1 John Zorn, musician

Think you've never heard of him? John Zorn has racked up hundreds of album credits as a performer, composer and producer in a broad range of music genres, from classical, to rock, through jazz and even surf music and metal!

He's also been lauded by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers." Zorn arranges, composes and produces records, in addition to playing sax, pipe organ, drums, double bass, keyboards and a little clarinet, too. He even established his own record label, Tzadik, in the 90s.

Tzadik has allowed Zorn to promote new musicians outside of the mainstream, as well as a prolific catalog of his own recordings. He tours all over the world, often performing at festivals, and continues to compose for concerts, opera and film.

September 11 Tommy Shaw, musician and singer (Styx)

Guitarist, singer and songwriter Tommy Shaw got his start playing with local bands in his native Montgomery, Alabama. When vocalist/guitarist John Curulewski abruptly left Styx right before a nationwide tour, Shaw was called in to audition. Once they listened to his demo tape and heard Shaw could sing the high harmony for "Lady," he was hired. "The guitar never came out of the case," he recalls.

Shaw wrote and sung on six of the band's eight singles written before 1979. He wrote "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man" as well as singing "Sing for the Day." Shaw also wrote "Mademoiselle," "Shooz" and "Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)." But it was his promotion of "Come Sail Away" (written and sung by Dennis DeYoung) that got the band noticed nationally.

Ironically, it was when the DeYoung hit "Babe" premiered in 1979 that the band began to fracture. Shaw was loyal to the band's progressive/hard rock roots, and he hated catering to pop radio. He also detested the DeYoung-staged Kilroy Was Here tour, even though it was during this time he wrote his only Top 10 hit, "Too Much Time on My Hands."

Eventually, the band broke up and Shaw recorded as a solo artist, opening shows for The Kinks and Rush. But eventually Styx reunited and Shaw joined in on and off as he also performed with his band Damn Yankees. Shaw is married to his third wife, Jeanne Mason, and is a strict vegetarian.

September 12 John Williams, American archer (1972 Olympic gold)

John Williams is the only person, ever, to hold all three archery world titles at the same time! No wonder he pulled the bow for the first Olympic archery medal for the U.S. in 52 years. How did he get his start?

Naturally, he was part of the famed "Shooting Williams Family." I quote: "Like so many others from his generation, he spent time at the local archery range with his mom and dad." Hmmm. I got an archery set as a kid and promptly sailed one over the fence where our neighbor was relaxing on a lounge chair. Ended my career right there.

But Williams began shooting in the men's division when he was 14 and just killed it. In 1984, he was named an Olympic coach, and ran with the torch in 1996. He also worked as a product manager for Yamaha Corporation's archery division.

September 16 Jerry Pate, golfer

When you win the U.S. Open as a rookie like Jerry Pate did in 1976, it's hard to go much higher. He had enjoyed a great amateur career, and played on winning U.S, teams for the 1975 Eisenhower Trophy and the Walker Cup. He managed to tie teammate Jay Haas for low amateur at the U.S. Open that year, just before turning pro.

After his Open win in 1976, he also edged out Jack Nicklaus to claim the Canadian Open title. His dominance in the sport led to his selection as Rookie of the Year and Co-Player of the Year. But it's always hard to stay at the top. Six more tour victories came between 1977 and 1982, including several titles around the world. His last big victory was the Tournament Players Championship in 1982, which Pate celebrated by tossing course designer Pete Dye and the PGA tour chief into a lake next to the 18th green, before jumping in himself.

Shoulder injuries curtailed Pate's career. He became a broadcast analyst and went into business with a golf course design firm and turf and irrigation company. Not one to rest on his laurels, Pate returned to the University of Alabama for his bachelor's in administrative science, graduating alongside his daughter, Jenni.

September 27 Benjamin Gene Brown, runner (1976 Olympic gold)

Benny Brown is remembered for running the second leg in the 4x400 Men's Relay at the 1976 Olympics, when the team won gold. Brown won the 1975 NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship at 440 yards for UCLA, then placed fourth in the U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for the team.

Brown was an active participant in the U. S. Corporate Games and a part-time coach for Cal State Fullerton's track team while working for Hughes Aircraft Company. Brown was killed in a car accident at the age of 42.

"He was one of the greatest quarter-milers that ever lived," said Jim Bush, Brown's former UCLA coach.

"He got very mad at me once," Bush said. "I put a slower runner in the mile relay and Benny got the baton when he was 50 yards behind the leader. He caught him and won the race. He told me after, 'Don't you ever do that again.' I told him he ran the fastest time he ever ran the 440 [yards]. Everyone just laughed. This is a great and sad loss."

Click below for the other articles in the September 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Seven Top Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

Money - How the New Tax Law Influence Charitable Giving

Lifestyle - MYTHBUSTER: Too Old to Learn?

Technology - Online Budget Planners Save Money and Time

Coffee Break - Looking at People over 100 for Clues to Longevity

Sources:
Wikipedia.org
http://articles.latimes.com/1996-02-03/sports/sp-31863_1_olympian
http://www.archeryhalloffame.com/John%20Williams.htm
Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-63836588215225218402018-09-17T13:23:00.001-07:002018-09-17T14:33:10.136-07:00Looking at People over 100 for Clues to Longevity

Veritas is studying the genes of very old people to figure out how they manage to avoid the diseases that fell their counterparts.

Veritas Genetics is interested in extremes. The company is taking a look at the outliers of the human experience, whether it be for memory, old age or other skills. It wants to know if there's a genetic component to living an exceptionally long time.

The biotechnology start-up, situated north of Boston, can map the human genome for a price: $1,000. That's nothing compared to what Apple founder Steve Jobs paid only seven years ago. While battling pancreatic cancer in 1911, Jobs shelled out $100,000 to sequence his genetic code.

That kind of economy enables Veritas to study people like Nelson Dellis, who has won the U.S. memory championship four times. That's interesting news considering how many people are coping with memory loss from aging and disease. The company has also worked with former NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski and free diver William Trubridge, who can dive more than 330 feet deep on a single gulp of air.

"I think studying these extreme cases is a really interesting approach," said Robert Green, a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a consultant to Veritas. "In some ways, the notion of extremes is so fundamental to what we have learned and ever learned about in medicine."

One of the company's areas of study is extreme old age. Headed by Veritas' co-founder and chief scientific officer Preston Estep, the team has collected DNA from over 50 people who are more than 110 years old.

"We want them to be as old as possible," Estep said. "But we also need a large enough sample to get a sufficient statistical power."

With only an estimated 1,000 such people in the world, Estep has begun to study those who've lived at least 105 years. Another interest is in families where the siblings have all become centenarians. Participants don't have to pay anything, thanks to a collaboration with the Personal Genome Project. That company is working to sequence and publish the medical records and genome data from 100,000 volunteers.

One barrier to the research is the difficulty finding birth records for some claiming to be at least 100. Birth certificates were not as common then, especially in certain areas around the globe.

Estep can't say what they'll discover. That comes with the territory. However, in the recent past scientists have taken data from two women with exceptionally low LDL cholesterol and found a rare genetic mutation common to both that spawned a drug imitating the effects of the mutation. Who knows? Studying genetics may eventually provide the clue to longer, healthier lives.

Click below for the other articles in the September 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Seven Top Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

Money - How the New Tax Law Influence Charitable Giving

Lifestyle - MYTHBUSTER: Too Old to Learn?

Technology - Online Budget Planners Save Money and Time

Famous & 65

Source:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/19/veritas-wants-to-sequence-dna-of-the-extremely-old-and-young.html

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-36177148253732074612018-09-17T13:12:00.004-07:002018-09-18T08:02:33.291-07:00Online Budget Planners Save Money and Time

Money manager apps can make your life easier. We take a look at several different managers and tell you which one we think is best for various tasks.

Do you still sit down with a pencil and a sheet of paper to make your budget, calculator at your side? Have you thought about switching to one of the computerized budget systems, but figured it would be too much of a hassle, or no better than your old system? Think again.

There are various free or inexpensive tools and apps to help you pay your bills, save money or even plan and maintain your personal budget and track your investments. Thanks to online banking, they're quick to set up and easy to use. Plus, they have an array of security features you can view.

Whether you're a seasoned pro at managing your money, or a newbie taking control of your finances for the first time, an online money management system will make your life easier. These tools are a whole lot simpler than trying to fill in a spreadsheet by yourself, and the pages are already set up.

Mint

Our overall winner is the wildly popular (for good reason) Mint. It performs a broad variety of tasks with minimal hassle for the user.

Billed as a "personal financial management service," Mint can import all of your bank and brokerage accounts in one place, as well as monthly bills (such as utilities, rent or mortgage) and various sources of income. You create a picture of your income streams (required minimum distributions, Social Security, small jobs, consulting, etc.) and also your anticipated monthly expenses.

Mint enters your expenses from credit cards and bank withdrawals, cashed checks and online payments. They automatically appear in a related category, which you can change if needed. For instance, it wasn't groceries you bought at the supermarket, but gas for your car. It's easy, and you can tell Mint to always place something in a particular category, such as ongoing payments to a local clinic as "charity" instead of "health care."

In the Overview tab, Mint shows your financial health in a snapshot. On the left are bank accounts, brokerage accounts and the net worth of your car and home (regularly updated with a number from Zillow). Financial accounts are updated every time you log in. Bills and your current credit score are in the middle, and on the right you'll find a line-by-line picture of your budget, with a vertical stripe indicating how much of the total allotment you've already spent.

It's simple to eyeball your budget for overages and savings. If you're under your budget on any item for the month, it appears in green. Meet your expected expense, and it appears in yellow. Go over, and see the result in red. If you spend $20 on a category where you've budgeted $60, a third of the grey line will fill with green.

Mint boasts a robust platform. Your credit score is enhanced with six categories, broken out to show how much they impact your score, how you're doing in each and what you could do to improve. Reporting is another win for Mint. A colorful pie chart breaks down spending in every category for any period you choose. Not sure you're claiming all your business purchase deductions? Click on that category for the year to double-check. Wonder if you're really spending more on pedicures now than three years ago? Check it out. Caveat: Mint only knows what you've been spending since you've been using Mint. It can't retrieve previous information.

One more feature sweet as tea in Georgia is the one that allows you to save for specified long-term goals. Maybe it's a savings account for your granddaughter's college education, or a trip for you to Prague, or both. Enter them in the goals budget, and Mint will tell you how long it should take to achieve each. Save more or less, and Mint tells you how you're doing. Your goals appear in a box on the budget page that automatically lists the monthly savings needed as expenses, so you're not tempted to cheat.

To top it off, Mint is absolutely 100 percent free. It works on the web, Android and iOS, so you can always access your account. Security with the data you're sharing is tight; you can read about how Mint protects your information here. It can even handle two-factor authentication.

Mint is dang good, but it's not perfect. What's not to like? While it is a broad program that is easy to use, it's barely supported. It claims it offers email support, but feedback from users is doubtful at best. Mint was acquired by Intuit (think TurboTax) in 2009, and since then techies bemoan the difficulty entailed in getting a response from the company. This means that if you encounter a problem, you may need to paddle your own way out. And innovation has come to a virtual standstill since the buyout. But with millions of users, it's likely you'll sigh with relief every time you launch the program and know you don't have to check in with every bank, broker and biller to know your financial health ever again.

EveryDollar

Can You Trust the Credit Score on your Budgeting Service?

Budgeting tools such as Mint show you what they say is your credit score, and even update it automatically. The score impacts how much you'll pay to finance a car or get a home equity line of credit (HELOC) for home improvements.

With so much riding on it, we wondered if it's the same score you'd get by asking the big three credit companies, Transunion, Experian and Equifax. Everyone is entitled to a free annual report from the companies to monitor any false reports or information that's out of date.

"The score that Mint provides is a VantageScore or an Experian Score, which are competitors to FICO," according to Thomas Eyssell, associate dean and director of graduate studies in the Department of Finance and Legal Studies at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. "The VantageScore and FICO scoring algorithms are somewhat different and can provide different scores."

In fact, Eyssell suggests, the systems have five basic differences.

Scoring. Although both gather similar information to determine a score, they collect it in different ways.

Requirements. If your credit history is short (under six months), you won't have a FICO score, but you may be able to prove credit worthiness with your VantageScore.

Late payments. FICO treats all late payments the same, while Vantage dings you harder if you were tardy on the mortgage.

Credit inquiries. Say you're car shopping, and several dealers have made hard inquiries into your credit worthiness. Both FICO and VantageScore bundle these inquiries (which count against you), but FICO uses a 45-day period, whereas VantageScore only allows two weeks.

Low-balance collections. FICO ignores unpaid balances under $100. VantageScore doesn't overlook any amount until it's paid off.

As a researcher in credit score accuracy among older adults, Eyssell recommends ordering the annual credit report as a precaution. His studies show that many seniors have inaccuracies on their credit reports they never suspect.

Email support is standard on the free EveryDollar platform, or you can pay $99 a year for their Plus service that comes with a phone call from a real person.

EveryDollar is the birth child of vaunted money manager Dave Ramsey, he of the frugal habits and aversion to debt like it's radioactive. So it's a bit surprising that you can buy the Plus version with a credit card, and link either platform to credit accounts. Maybe Dave saw the light of cashback cards, every tightwad's friend when they are paid off monthly. At any rate, you can connect all of your financial accounts to EveryDollarPlus. However, they're not on the main screen.

The initial release of EveryDollar is sparse on reporting features. That may change with future versions as users provide feedback. Where EveryDollar shines is in the ease of its budgeting tool. Broad categories and subcategories are listed on the screen for you, so you scroll through without failing to account for Rover's annual vet visit or Susie's trip to the dentist. All you have to do is punch in numbers to get your budget in place. There's also a place for income, so money coming in and money going out appear on the same page. Can you do it all in ten minutes like the site claims? Yes, according to the majority of users.

One other way EveryDollar beats Mint is in the quality of its design. Maybe it's just because Mint hasn't had a facelift in so long, but EveryDollar has a fresh appeal that you may find engaging. On the other hand, many of us resent it when a "free" offer lures us into its costlier cousin. It's hard not to think that at $99 a pop every year, Ramsey is the big winner here.

You Need A Budget (YNAB)

At $5 a month or $50 for a year, you'll have to put YNAB in your budget expense category. For those who favor a very hands-on approach, the cost may be worth it. YNAB claims that it can help you find money you may have missed, because it forces you to categorize every expense yourself, rather than doing it automatically like Mint.

Each day (or however often is necessary), you'll import and assign a tag to each expense. The idea is that you'll stay focused and disciplined because you have to account for every dollar. YNAB is also serious about protecting your data, and you can find their security protocols here.

YNAB doesn't anticipate monthly expenses like Mint does. Instead, you start with how much money you currently have and then begin importing transactions. The app will only import them for you if you ask it to. The basis of YNAB is a zero-sum budget, accounting for every last dollar. It may be a good choice for someone having issues with regularly going over budget. Rather than anticipating your budget, YNAB takes it a day at a time and forces you to make adjustments as you go. Mint allows you to track expenses with minimal effort after setup, while YNAB buries your nose in every expense.

YNAB has a tool to help you save for goals, but it works a little differently than the one in Mint. For YNAB, you choose one of three options: saving a specific total amount, saving enough to achieve your goal by a certain date, or choosing an end date and goal amount to allow YNAB to tell you the amount you'll need to save per month to succeed. This sounds doable until you realize YNAB won't, say, automatically calculate the dollar amount of interest on a credit purchase you're paying off.

Another difference between YNAB and Mint is their focus. Mint shows you your total financial status, while YNAB focuses like a laser on your monthly budget and spending. YNAB won't show you your credit score, nor will it tabulate your net worth or value hard assets such as real estate or a car.

Like Mint, YNAB works on various platforms, including the web, Android and iOS, so you can access it from a desktop computer, laptop or your smartphone.

Click below for the other articles in the September 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Seven Top Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

Money - How the New Tax Law Influence Charitable Giving

Lifestyle - MYTHBUSTER: Too Old to Learn?

Coffee Break - Looking at People over 100 for Clues to Longevity

Famous & 65

Sources:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/budgeting-saving-tools/
https://scottalanturner.com/everydollar-review-everydollar-vs-mint-comparison/
https://lifehacker.com/budgeting-software-showdown-mint-vs-you-need-a-budget-1764607246
https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/get-my-free-credit-report
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/12/21/fico-vs-vantagescore-5-differences-you-should-understand/964591001/
https://www.youneedabudget.com/
Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us

Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-581456950318844592018-09-17T12:41:00.001-07:002018-09-18T08:06:01.679-07:00How the New Tax Law Influences Charitable Giving

The new tax law is a game changer for taxpayers. There are several things to consider, whether you're making a small gift or willing your entire estate.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act makes it harder for many average Americans to claim the tax deduction for charitable contributions. Although the deduction for donations hasn't changed, you must itemize to be eligible to claim it, and the bar has gotten higher.<o:p></o:p>

The new law eliminates the personal exemption, but standard deduction amounts for 2018 will increase substantially to $12,000 for individuals, $18,000 for heads of household, and $24,000 for married couples filing jointly and surviving spouses. An additional standard deduction of $1,300 for the aged (65 and older) or the blind also applies.<o:p></o:p>

To deduct charitable contributions, you'll need to itemize your deductions instead of taking the standard amount. In essence, your itemized deductions should be more than your standard deduction. What constitutes a qualifying expense for itemizing? Here are the most common Schedule A itemized deductions, followed by how the Tax Act revises them:<o:p></o:p>

Mortgage interest. Beginning with loans originated on 12/15/17, you can only deduct the interest associated with up to $750,000 mortgage debt, down from $1 million. Older loans are grandfathered in. Home equity loan interest is no longer deductible.

State and local taxes. Sales, real estate and income taxes have lost their full deductibility. They are now subject to a $10,000 cap on any combination of state and local taxes.

Charitable giving. There are no major changes to charitable giving rules, although it's now more difficult for the majority of tax filers to claim a charitable gift deduction, as outlined in this article.

Medical and dental costs. The adjusted gross income (AGI) threshold was lowered for 2017 and 2018, when itemizers can claim unreimbursed eligible medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent. The threshold climbs back to 10 percent in 2019.

While the personal exemption has disappeared, the higher new standard deduction will make a tough hurdle to clear for many taxpayers. A recent congressional report anticipates the new law will cut in half the number of homeowners using the mortgage deduction, from 32.3 million in 2017 to an estimated 13.8 million in 2018. Similarly, the number of homeowners who itemize is expected to drop from 46.5 million last year to 18 million in 2018.<o:p></o:p>

For those able to itemize, donations to charity have minor changes. Cash gifts are now deductible up to 60 percent of gross income (previously 50 percent), and gifts of stock remain deductible at up to 30 percent of income. You may still use charitable deductions for up to six years before they are lost.

How to Pick a Charity

The way you evaluate a charity is likely all wrong.

Take it from Dan Pallotta, who raised $108 million for HIV/AIDS research, and another $194 million to fight breast cancer. After bad press about how much money was spent on overhead to put on their cycling and walking events, his organization closed its doors.

"Three hundred fifty employees lost their jobs because they were labeled overhead," says Pallotta in his revolutionary TED talk. Worse, the charities lost one of their biggest fundraisers. "This is what happens when we confuse morality with frugality."

Pallotta says the way we've been taught to think about charity is dangerously unhelpful, particularly the use of a single yardstick—overhead expenditures—as the sole or most important evaluator.

"The things we've been taught to think about giving and charity and the nonprofit sector are actually undermining the causes we love … Our social problems are massive in scale, our organizations are tiny up against them—and we have a belief system that keeps them tiny," says Pallotta, author of the book Uncharitable. "We have two rulebooks—one for the nonprofit sector and one for the rest of the economic world. It's an apartheid."

Don't ask about the size of their overhead, says Pallotta. "Ask about the size of their dreams."

Pallotta advocates that you think of yourself as a philanthropist, no matter the size of your donation. Over time, your small gifts will make an impact. Begin with a cause you want to influence, and find out who is doing the best work on that problem.

Start with a broad search and narrow it from there, Pallotta advises. You can use websites like GreatNonprofits.org, Philanthropedia and GiveWell.org to begin your search. Use them, he says, but don't rely on them.

Interview your top two or three candidates. Call and ask for a tour or meeting; development departments exist to build donor relations. Ask what progress the charity is making toward its goals, and what metrics it uses to measure that progress. But if the problem it's attempting to solve is big and difficult, consider Jonas Salk a year before he discovered the polio vaccine: dreaming big, but empty-handed.

"Overall, for each charity I give to, I ask myself if I believe in their business model and if I feel they have a bold future ahead of them," Pallotta says.

Charitable Donors Have Options
There are several tax strategies that may help you continue to benefit from charitable giving, even if you can't itemize. Certain strategies keep income off your return, allow you to itemize periodically or return income to you.

Bunching or bundling your itemized deductions. If your qualified donations over a year don't put you over the standard deduction bar, try giving double that amount every other year. This may be enough to put you over the limit for itemizing every other year.

Gifts that provide income. You may wish to make a charitable donation while you still need income. A charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust may be a good solution. These gifts require more substantial funding, which may allow you to itemize in the year they're created. However, only a portion of the contribution is deductible since you will receive income for years or throughout your lifetime. Such a gift may be funded with cash, real estate or stock.

Choosing the right assets to give. Which assets you donate can be very important. During your lifetime, consider giving highly appreciated assets such as stock. You'll avoid taking a tax hit for capital gains on the appreciation, while still claiming the full value of the assets as a charitable contribution. Such gifts can also be used to fund a charitable gift annuity or charitable remainder trust, and will postpone the recognition of the capital gain, which may generally then be paid in smaller amounts over several year.

Donor-advised funds. This method allows you to contribute a large sum in one tax year to create or add to an existing donor-advised fund. That may enable you to itemize if the gift is big enough. In years where you're unable to itemize, you can ask the fund administrator to make charitable distributions. Donor-advised funds don't cost a lot to establish and maintain. You can find out more about them by contacting a charity you wish to assist, or through financial services firms that administer the funds, such as Fidelity or Schwab.

Charitable rollovers or qualified charitable distributions. If you are 70 ½ or older and take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from one or more retirement accounts, you can ask the plan administrator to make a distribution directly to a charity. The distribution won't be added to your taxable income, but you also won't receive a deduction for a charitable contribution. The charity gets more, because the money isn't taxed; you don't lose if you couldn't itemize that year anyway.

Estate gifts: charitable bequests and beneficiaries. Charitable gifts upon death can impact the causes you support. There are many ways to gift part of your estate to a cause. They include: creating an extra share for charity, bequeathing a specific dollar amount or item of property to charity, and designating a percentage of your estate to charity by naming it as the full or partial beneficiary of a life insurance policy, bank account, investment account or any account that transfers by beneficiary designation. Listing a charity as the beneficiary of a traditional IRA account, which can be broken into several smaller accounts for convenience, passes the money to the charity tax-free. Heirs must pay tax on these inherited accounts.

Wealthy taxpayers can benefit from a nearly doubled lifetime estate and gift tax exemption. It went up from 5.49 million per person last year to an estimated $11.2 million, with inflation adjusted for future years. Double those numbers for married couples filing jointly.

Disclaimer: The information here has been condensed from several sources. It is not meant to be construed as tax, investment, financial planning or legal advice. Please consult with your personal advisors before making any charitable giving decisions.

Click below for the other articles in the September 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Seven Top Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

Lifestyle - MYTHBUSTER: Too Old to Learn?

Technology - Online Budget Planners Save Money and Time

Coffee Break - Looking at People over 100 for Clues to Longevity

Famous & 65

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2018/03/15/what-the-new-tax-law-means-for-your-charitable-giving/#34ebd12f4034

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/11/what-the-new-tax-law-means-for-your-charitable-giving.html

https://www.fidelitycharitable.org/guidance/tax-strategies/charitable-tax-deductions.shtml

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/tax-bill-will-slash-the-number-of-homeowners-claiming-the-mortgage-deduction.html

https://trust.guidestar.org/tips-for-choosing-a-charity-a-donors-10-step-guide-for-giving-wisely

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/giving/how-to-choose-a-charity-wisely.html

https://blog.ted.com/how-to-pick-the-charity-thats-right-for-you/

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
<o:p></o:p> Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-46961354607182334102018-09-17T12:32:00.003-07:002018-09-18T11:00:02.411-07:00MYTH BUSTER: Too Old to Learn?

Discover the truth about your aging brain.

Charles Betty earned his Ph.D. after completing a 48,000-word thesis on the reasons elderly expats living in Spain return to the United Kingdom. Ho hum, you say? Betty was 95 years old and a D-Day veteran who earned the Legion d'Honneur for his service. Not to mention, he finished the course while caring for his 93-year-old wife.

He's not alone. Great-grandmother Willadene Zedan finished high school in 1943, then received her bachelor's degree 60 years later for her new career as a doctor's assistant. Mary Fasano became the oldest Harvard grad at the age of 89. Charlie Ball cut his education short to enlist for WWII, but became the oldest Arkansas Tech alumni as an 89-year-old grandpa.

Then there's Wally Taibleson, who first went to college at the age of 70 and has since gone on to earn a bachelor's and three master's degrees, the last at age 90. "As long as you're learning," he says, "you're not old."

How Brains Age

The traditional thinking was that brain connections developed at a quick pace throughout childhood, reaching an apex in the early 20s. Cognition reached a plateau around middle age and then began an inevitable decline. Scientists today know that picture is false.

The brain changes continuously throughout our lives. There's never a time when mental abilities simply hold steady. Instead, certain cognitive abilities weaken as we grow older, while others become stronger.

On a physical level, the hippocampus becomes smaller over time, and the myelin surrounding nerve fibers wears away, slowing the connection speed between neurons. This is what erodes your ability to retrieve information you know, and encode new data.

On the flip side, the branching of the dendrites (extensions of nerve cells) increases, strengthening connections between distant parts of the brain. This allows older adults to better make connections between diverse sources of information. Seniors are superior at seeing the "big picture," and can understand the global implications from various sources. This skill may be the foundation of the proverbial wisdom of our elders. Think of it as being better at seeing the forest while having a harder time finding the leaves.

Aging Brains Retain Learning Plasticity

Lifelong Learning Benefits Older Adults
When we talk about slowing down the loss of cognition, studies are beginning to show some results. As an example, obesity in midlife may increase brain aging by an additional 10 years, and consuming sugary drinks accelerates brain aging. Recently, high blood pressure has been strongly linked to reduced cognition in later life.
Generally, there are six habits that various studies suggest slow brain decline:

Keeping physically active

Pursuing intellectually stimulating activities

Getting plenty of good sleep

Managing stress

Staying socially active

Eating to keep healthy

What can help you tick several of these off your list at one go? Any one of a number of programs that offer mental simulation with social interaction.
Start with your local colleges or universities; they often let seniors audit classes for a small fee, or even free. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) offers courses geared to older adults, without exams or grades. Road Scholar has an extensive array of inexpensive travel/learning programs all over the world. The Freebird Club is like Airbnb, but only for seniors, and is always accompanied by social interaction with your host. You can also volunteer your time with seniors in various ways, while enjoying conversation and serving the greater good.

Older brains may be just as adept as younger ones at learning tasks, according to a study from Brown University. However, the more mature brains of older study participants used a different area for learning than their younger counterparts. The study contradicts a widely-held belief that as we get older, our brains lose the flexibility required to learn new tasks.

Younger learners exhibited plasticity in the cortex, where neuroscientists anticipated seeing it. What surprised researchers was that older participants showed a notable change in the white matter of the brain. The axons, or "wiring," sheathed in myelin transmitted signals more effectively.

"We think that the degree of plasticity in the cortex gets more and more limited with older people," said Takeo Watanabe, Ph.D., the Fred M. Seed Professor at Brown University, and a co-author of the study. "However, they keep the ability to learn, visually at least, by changing white matter structure."

Learn Like a Baby

A new theory suggests that the only hindrance to learning as we age is the way we learn. Toss aside conventional attitudes about declining cognition and start learning like you did as a child, said Rachel Wu, psychology professor at University of California, Riverside. Her paper, "A Novel Theoretical Life Course Framework for Triggering Cognitive Development Across the Lifespan," in the journal Human Development advocates a return to specific learning strategies and habits of broad learning.
"We argue that across your lifespan, you go from 'broad learning' (learning many skills as an infant or child) to 'specialized learning' (becoming an expert in a specific area) when you begin working, and that leads to cognitive decline initially in some unfamiliar situations, and eventually in both familiar and unfamiliar situations," Wu said.
The author defines broad learning as learning that incorporates the following factors:

Open-minded, input-driven learning (learning new patterns, new skills, exploring outside of one's comfort zone)

Individualized scaffolding (consistent access to teachers and mentors who guide learning)

Growth mindset (belief that abilities are developed with effort)

Forgiving environment (allowed to make mistakes and even fail)

Serious commitment to learning (learn to master essential skills, persevere despite setbacks)

Learning multiple skills simultaneously

Stem Cells May Be Key to Future Brain Aging

Recently, the big brains at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York found that, at least in mice, stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus probably control the rate of aging throughout the body.

"Our research shows that the number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines over the life of the animal, and this decline accelerates aging," says Dr. Dongsheng Cai, Ph.D., professor of molecular pharmacology at Einstein. "But we also found that the effects of this loss are not irreversible. By replenishing these stem cells or the molecules they produce, it's possible to slow and even reverse various aspects of aging throughout the body."

By injecting stem cells directly into the brains of old mice, aging was slowed down or even reversed. Researchers said this was one step toward retarding the aging process and treating diseases related to getting older.

SuperAgers

A recent study done by the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago tested a group of older adults, all more than 80 years old, who exhibit exceptional memories, as sharp as healthy people half their age. The study compared these SuperAgers with a control group similarly aged. The brains of SuperAgers shrink at a slower pace than their peers, and appear to endow them with greater resistance to memory loss.

"We found that SuperAgers are resistant to the normal rate of decline that we see in average elderly, and they're managing to strike a balance between life span and health span, really living well and enjoying their later years of life," says Emily Rogalski, associate professor at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (CNADC) at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Ongoing studies are attempting to discern what, if any, biological factors might affect the maintenance of memory in advanced age.

Keeping Your Brain Healthy

Today, we know that just as we should look after our heart health, we need to take steps to maintain healthy brains as well. Reading Senior Spirit may be helping protect your memory right now, according to results from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.

Participants who used a computer at least once a week were 42 percent less likely to develop memory and thinking problems than those who rarely logged on. Activity participation in general was an indicator of brain health as well, according to the long-running research on about 2,000 men and women aged 70 and older. Here's what the study found:

At least once a week Reduced risk

Computer use 44 percent

Reading magazines 30 percent

Crafts (e.g., knitting) 16 percent

Playing games 14 percent

"These activities may enhance synaptic connections in the brain and induce or promote new connections," said study author Ronald Petersen, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. He adds that research is increasingly finding that lifestyle factors may help strengthen the brain to allow it to withstand disease.

Click below for the other articles in the September 2018 Senior Spirit

Health - Seven Top Services Medicare Doesn't Cover

Money - How the New Tax Law Influence Charitable Giving

Technology - Online Budget Planners Save Money and Time

Coffee Break - Looking at People over 100 for Clues to Longevity

Famous & 65

Sources:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/27/d-day-veteran-becomes-oldest-person-awarded-phd-british-university/
https://superscholar.org/10-oldest-people-to-earn-a-degree/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/how-memory-and-thinking-ability-change-with-age
http://www.hearingreview.com/2014/12/study-finds-older-brains-learn-well-young-brains/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319185.php
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/challenge-your-mind-no-matter-what-your-age
https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-2016/how-to-improve-memory-photo.html#slide1
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170503131907.htm
Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.usSociety of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-25907146407358179752018-08-20T11:39:00.002-07:002018-08-20T11:39:43.141-07:00How Seniors Get Taken for All They've Got
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Online scammers, telephone shysters, and yes, family members steal $37 billion a year from America's elderly, and it's only going to get worse.

Think you're too smart to fall for a scam? A new study says 1 in 18 "cognitively intact" older adults is taken in by financial fraud or abuse in any given year.

Declining cognition is responsible for a 33 percent increase in susceptibility to a scam, but healthy adults are often victims, says Patricia Boyle, a professor of behavioral sciences at Rush University of Medicine.

"Many of the victims of financial fraud are not demented or disabled," Boyle says. "Yet for some reason they're still vulnerable—and we're not sure why that is."

Research studies, such as one at Texas Tech University, indicate that fluid intelligence, the ability to think logically and process new information, decreases with age. This cognitive decline occurs at the rate of about 2 percent per year after age 55. Someone who's 95, for example, would have half the capacity they did at the age of 65. Women over the age of 80 are scammers' most common prey.

Assets for the Taking

Baby Boomers have trillions of dollars in personal assets just waiting to be stolen. The greedy, the desperate and the drug-addicted, among others, work to move money out of the older adult's account and into their own.

As America's population ages and the wealthy get richer, thieves take an estimated $37 billion from seniors annually. They're following the money trail, says North American Securities Administrators Association President Mike Rothman.

"This population that's retiring is one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest generation, in terms of their retirement savings," said Rothman, who is also the Minnesota commissioner of commerce. "Criminals know this as well."

In fact, financial abuse of seniors may be grossly underreported. Many victims are too embarrassed, confused or fearful to tell authorities about the crime. A recent study reported by Consumers Digest estimates that government officials only find out about 1 in 25 cases. And a 2016 study by New York State's Office of Children and Family Services reports that losses from elder fraud in New York alone could top $1.5 billion if they were all on the books.

Fraud is a Health Crisis

Are You a Target for Abuse?

Often, the nicest people make the easiest targets.

Fraudsters called Marjorie Jones to tell her she'd won a sweepstakes, and just needed to pay taxes and fees to collect her prize. Jones, legally blind and living alone, eventually paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars and took out a reverse mortgage as fraudsters strung her along. The 82-year-old had always been financially independent. When she had to borrow money from her family to survive, she committed suicide rather than admit she'd been duped. Even her sister next door had no idea what had been happening.

Easy targets for financial abuse can be identified, thanks to a recent study by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Generally speaking, the most vulnerable seniors expect others to be honest, are not as likely to take action if they get defrauded and have a limited knowledge of their rights.

Retired folks are more likely to be at home during the day and available when a solicitor or telephone scam artist makes their move. They are more at risk if they're isolated, lonely, have recently lost a spouse, are unfamiliar with handling financial matters, or are physically or mentally disabled.

Anyone can be scammed, but there are a few things you can do to protect yourself. On the computer, be wary of clicking a link from anyone you don't know. If you posted on Facebook or Twitter that you're headed to Disneyland, a scammer can email that he went last month and here's the best way to avoid lines, accompanied by a link loaded with malware. Noon on Thursday is the most common day and time for sending malicious emails.

Avoid posting your date of birth online. If you do post a birthday, make sure it's not the right one. Scammers who know what town you live in and your birthday can figure out your social security number. Don't accept invitations to be friends from people you don't know. Make sure your computer is protected against malware.

Seniors aging in place shouldn't answer the door for strangers. If you pick up the phone, particularly a landline, hang up if the caller plies you with a free offer, especially if you need to make a payment before you can get the prize. Beware of an offer that's too good to be true, such as $100 for taking a survey.

"I knew these crimes were killing people," says Elizabeth Loewy, former director of the elder abuse unit at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. "So many family members told me, 'I can't prove it, but this killed him.'"

In fact, a 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relied on groundbreaking research done two decades earlier by Mark Lachs to highlight elder exploitation as a public health problem. Lachs, currently co-chief of the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weil Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, says victims of elder abuse (including financial exploitation) are three times as likely to die as those who aren't abused.

In 2014, an assistant manager at a local bank became friends with a couple in their 80s and then stole $100,000 from them. To hide her misdeed, the banker said that the husband, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 85, gave her the money. This lie created mistrust and misunderstanding between the couple in their last years together. The wife died in 2016 after becoming bedridden, and her husband followed the next year, only weeks before the banker was sentenced to 10 months in jail.

In many cases, such as the one above, it may seem like the victim gave consent. But that's often a result of deception or manipulation. Victims of financial exploitation are "usually emotionally devastated as a result of having been betrayed," says Page Ulrey, a senior deputy prosecutor at the King County prosecutor's office in Seattle working in the elder abuse unit. Financial fraud is "a huge problem in the sense that it's so profoundly destructive," she says. Victims rarely get their money back.

The first comprehensive legislation to combat elder abuse, the Elder Justice Act, became law in 2010, but was unfunded until 2015, when it was allocated $4 million instead of the original figure near $1 billion. This, in spite of a 2014 elder justice report that warned: "Financial exploitation causes large economic losses for businesses, families, elders and government programs, and increases reliance on federal health care programs."

It's Often All in the Family

Seniors may be aware of scams that come from outside the family, but what happens when it's a relative who's dipping into assets? Many families won't intervene when it's a relative, sometimes because they don't want to believe it, or so their dirty laundry stays in the basket. The family member who's stealing may threaten the older adult, especially if she's in any way dependent on him for care or has a cognitive disability.

Attorney Carolyn Rosenblatt says that most financial elder abusers are family members. But if another family member finds out, they often won't report it because they "don't want to make trouble" for their relative. However, any abuse should be reported.

If a situation is serious, threatening or dangerous, call 911 or your local police to intervene. Otherwise, most states allow you to make a report of abuse confidentially. The first step is to call the Elder Abuse Hotline or find state-specific information at 800-677-1116.

No matter who is initiating elder financial abuse, the only way to stop it is to report it.

Sources

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/elder-abuse-financial-scams-against-29822.html

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2017/elder-fraud-scam-stories.html

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2017/elder-fraud-scam-stories.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/25/elder-financial-fraud-is-36-billion-and-growing.html

https://www.edelmanfinancial.com/education-center/articles/how-does-aging-affect-your-financial-decisions

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-13731598368343014422018-08-10T11:50:00.000-07:002018-08-20T11:50:33.857-07:00Could a Pet Help You Live Better?

Is it wise to add a pet to your life just when you're finally free of obligations? Studies show pet owners benefit, but make sure your pet fits your lifestyle.

Having a pet can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, increase your social interactions and help you learn. Those are a few of the findings from many recent studies on the interactions between pets and older adults.

In fact, a doctor in London has been prescribing animal sessions instead of pills for some of his patients. A general practitioner, Dr. Dirk Pilat refers patients to a team of two guinea pigs, a hen and a pair of rabbits for cuddle therapy. The animals are owned by Ione Maria Rojas, who was inspired by watching her grandfather struggle with dementia. The project strives to achieve "non-verbal communication and authentic connection" in older people.

Pets Lower Blood Pressure

"Dogs and other pets live very much in the here and now. They don't worry about tomorrow. And tomorrow can be very scary for an older person. By having an animal with that sense of now, it tends to rub off on people," says Dr. Jay P. Granat, a New Jersey psychotherapist. That may be why pets are so good at improving the general population's blood pressure. In an Australian study involving 5,741 people, pet owners had significantly lower resting systolic blood pressure and lower cholesterol.

Pets can also help people with diagnosed high blood pressure. In one study of hypertensive subjects, all of the participants were exposed to the stress of solving a math problem and giving a speech. Then, half of the subjects were instructed to get a pet. Six months later, the entire cohort was retested. Those who now had a pet showed significantly lower increases in blood pressure during the stressors compared to those with no pet. Another study showed that the mere presence of a dog in the room while participants gave a speech alleviated the increase in blood pressure.

Dog owners get an added health benefit from walking their pet. A study of adults age 50 and over concluded that dog owners had the greatest health benefit among pet owners. Their body mass index was lower than others, they had fewer diagnoses of chronic and acute illness, and their lifestyles were generally healthier than those of other participants.

Easing Loneliness

Where to Find the Right Dog or Cat

Animal shelters across the country have dogs of all ages and temperaments looking for a good home. A shelter offers many benefits. Employees have observed and worked with the dog daily, so they know if it walks on a loose lead, requires a lot of exercise, is timid or bold, and gets along well with other animals. Shelter dogs are usually vaccinated and spayed or neutered before being put up for adoption. Some also come with a short guarantee of good health, so if your dog comes down with kennel cough, you can take him to a vet at the facility for free medication.

If you don't want a long commitment or the spunkiness of youth, take advantage of a growing trend in the shelter community and pair up with an older animal. Mellow, older and wiser dogs and cats have the advantage of being housebroken or litter trained. Sure, they may need some extra vet visits or care for a chronic condition, but no one understands that better than older owners. Take a look at San Francisco-based Muttville's Seniors For Seniors program. People age 62 and above can find their next canine buddy while skipping the usual adoption fee. And if adoption isn't an option, you might want to consider their cuddle club, where senior volunteers sweet-talk, pet, and yes, cuddle up with older adoptable animals. Many shelters across the country offer similar programs, so be sure to ask if there's a special if you adopt an older animal. Some facilities may even provide support if you need to change your living situation unexpectedly.

Call your local animal shelter(s) to begin looking for a suitable companion, or go online to view photos and descriptions of available animals. If you would like to expand your search, Petfinder lists a quarter million animals that need homes across the country. Maddie's Fund at Petfinder addresses the many issues older adults might have about animal adoption. The campaign works to pair older dogs with older people, offering half off the adoption fee, pet care if the senior must spend time in a hospital or nursing home, free transportation to a veterinarian or groomer, and more!

Another way to look for an animal is with a breed rescue. Rescues are usually private organizations that rehome dogs (although you may also find one for cat breeds) of a certain breed that have been relinquished by their previous owner. People at the organization are familiar with the individual dog and very knowledgeable about breed characteristics.

PetSmart is a retailer committed to finding homes for shelter animals. In fact, customers at PetSmart stores nationwide adopt an average of 1,300 animals every single day. PetSmart refuses to sell "puppy mill" animals that are confined and bred continually for profit, instead offering an opportunity for dogs and cats from local shelters to meet patrons, and often, steal their heart in the process and find a new home.

"Older pet owners have often told us how incredibly barren and lonely their lives were without their pet's companionship, even when there were some downsides to owning an active pet," says Linda Anderson, who founded the Angel Animals Network in Minneapolis with her husband Allen. In fact, studies show positive benefits from a variety of animal associations, from older men in a veterans hospital who were exposed to an aviary containing songbirds, to seniors aging in place with a dog or cat.

Research proves that pets improve your mood by increasing the level of the hormone oxytocin. "This is very beneficial for us," says Rebecca Johnson, a nurse who leads the Research Center for Human/Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. "Oxytocin helps us feel happy and trusting," she adds, which may help humans to bond with an animal over time.

The hormone may have other benefits. "Oxytocin has some powerful effects for us in the body's ability to be in a state of readiness to heal, and also to grow new cells," Johnson adds, "so it predisposes us to an environment in our own bodies where we can be healthier."

Dr. William Banks of St. Louis University studied nursing home patients who spent time with a dog to see if it would encourage them to socialize and reduce loneliness. His team was surprised to find that in fact, residents who spent alone time with man's best friend actually benefitted most.

Increasing Social Interactions

"If I saw you walking down the street, I couldn't comfortably start talking to you if I didn't know you, but I could if you had a dog," says Alan Beck, ScD, director of the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University. "It's an acceptable interaction that otherwise wouldn't be possible." And who hasn't started a conversation with the funny thing her cat did this morning? Even posting the antics of your pet online fosters responses.

People who use wheelchairs say that other people make eye contact with them more often and ask if they can be of help when they're with their dogs, Beck says. One study demonstrated that people in wheelchairs got more smiles and chatted more with passersby when they were accompanied by a dog.

Pets Influence Memory and Cognition

Proximity to an animal can stimulate memories that were previously trapped. "I've seen those with memory loss interact and access memories from long ago," says psychologist Penny B. Connenfeld, who brings her golden retriever mix, Sandee, to work in her New York City office. "Having a pet helps the senior focus on something other than physical problems and negative preoccupations about loss or aging."

Alzheimer's disease patients can take advantage of one of several canine caregiver programs. A service dog can help dementia patients with daily tasks by fetching medication, reminding them to eat or guiding them home if they've wandered away. Studies show that animals reduce the number and severity of behavioral issues in people with dementia by boosting moods and increasing their caloric intake.

Pain Reduction

Many older adults live with chronic pain, but an animal can help take some of it away. In a study of fibromyalgia patients, 34 percent reported pain relief, a better mood and less fatigue after a 10-minute visit with a therapy dog compared to only 4 percent of those who sat in a waiting room without a dog.

Acute pain is also affected by the presence of an animal. One study showed that patients who underwent a total joint replacement needed 28 percent less pain medication if a therapy dog made daily visits to their room.

Unusual Pets

To explore the possibility that animals might produce physical benefits in older adults with dementia, one trial used fish. The study showed that individuals in several nursing homes gained weight after fish tanks were installed. The control group could view an underwater scene without live animals.

Having an aquarium, or just a goldfish in a large bowl, can help with insomnia and conveys most of the benefits listed above, including anxiety reduction and lowered blood pressure. Staring at an aquarium reduces muscle tension and pulse rate.

Guinea pigs, chickens, snakes, pigs and ponies can all have service animal credentials. Some of these may be suitable for seniors aging in place. Any animal with which the senior has a connection will confer benefits.

Is There Any Downside?

Actually, there is one big one. Thousands of people go to the emergency room every year because their pet has caused them to fall. Often, a pet owner has tripped over their dog or cat, but a fall can also occur when a food bowl is placed on the ground, or during play activity. Women are more likely to fall than men, but perhaps because more women own pets. One prevention strategy for dog owners is to get obedience training for your furry friend.

Cats can scratch, and dog owners have to be aware not only of their own safety, but liability in case their dog damages property or bites someone.

Are You Ready to Own a Pet?

Almost anyone can set up a goldfish aquarium in their home, since goldfish don't need an aerator and the warm temperatures of most senior living situations will suit them fine. But pets such as dogs and cats require some hard thinking about whether or not you're ready for the commitment they require.

Have you owned a pet before? If so, you know about how much time they need for play and exercise, on top of feeding and cleaning up. If not, talk to several people who are current or past pet owners. Dogs, in particular, need a lot of time with you and may require obedience training.

Does the pet's energy level match yours? A puppy may not be the right choice for elderly owners. Neither would a very active breed of adult dog. But shelters often have older animals longing for a quiet, loving home. Likewise, if you're not ready for a kitten hanging off your drapes, consider an older cat that will act more sedate.

Can you afford a pet? Dogs can cost thousands of dollars by the time you add up vet visits, cushions and other paraphernalia. If it's one you'll have groomed, factor in the cost. Cats are usually cheaper, and a guinea pig or fish can be quite economic. Also keep in mind that senior living communities may charge a pet fee of hundreds of dollars, and perhaps a monthly fee as well. Whatever kind of pet you want, make sure that buying and caring for it won't strain your budget.

Will you be gone a lot? If you're more into travel than being a homebody, it may not be the time of your life for pet ownership. A tank of fish will probably do fine while you're in Europe, but unless you can afford to send Rover to the doggie play center or to a consistent caregiver, think hard and long about getting a dog. Cats don't need as much attention as a dog (although many cat owners might argue) but they look to you for companionship and entertainment. If you'll be travelling much, consider becoming a foster parent at your local shelter instead of an owner. Commitments are shorter, and you can choose when you'll have an animal.

Sources

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4248608/

https://www.petfinder.com/pro/for-shelters/pets-senior-citizens/

https://www.agingcare.com/articles/benefits-of-elderly-owning-pets-113294.htm

https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/11-studies-that-prove-pets-are-good-your-health

https://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/6-ways-pets-improve-your-health#1

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2012/03/09/146583986/pet-therapy-how-animals-and-humans-heal-each-other

https://www.mnn.com/family/pets/stories/pets-can-help-seniors-stay-happy-and-healthy

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140807180314.htm

https://www.everydayhealth.com/depression/pet-therapy-and-depression.aspx

https://search.proquest.com/openview/01712fbceb4df5f3a5ee8b121fbfbe4d/1?pq-origsite=gscholar

https://web.archive.org/web/20090207160114/http://newsinhealth.nih.gov:80/2009/February/feature1.htm

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5811a1.htm

https://pethelpful.com/fish-aquariums/The-Healing-Power-of-Pet-Fish

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-16634254912553869202018-08-06T09:04:00.000-07:002018-08-17T09:06:18.591-07:00Suicide Is Rising for Older Adults

Within America's suicide epidemic, the rate among older adults is outpacing other age groups and the outlook is bleak.

The recent deaths of celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain were shocking to many. How could two adults who had achieved fame and financial success possibly want to take their own life? But delve into the numbers and you'll find that depression, from which both suffered, is an equal opportunity problem, and suicide among seniors is more common than most people think.

Older Adults Have High Suicide Rate

Seniors commit suicide at an alarming rate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the suicide rate among Americans 65 and over is 15 out of 100,000, while that number drops to 12 out of 100,000 for all ages combined. Those age 85 and older have the highest suicide rate among adults.

"Although this may seem like a small number statistically," says Certified Elder Law Attorney R.J. Connelly III, "given the aging baby boomers and the growth of the senior population, these numbers could increase significantly unless we begin to take this problem seriously."

Adding to the problem, many suicides may never get reported. Mental health professionals are suspicious that up to 40 percent of suspect deaths among seniors may fit into the category of "silent suicide," those that happen due to overdose, self-starvation, dehydration and other "accidents."

Why Is This Happening?

Today's older adults grew up in an era when mental health services were associated with weakness. Asylums were standard places to send people with mental illness, and lobotomies were a legitimate treatment. Not only do seniors want to avoid being judged by their own community, but they may also be hard on themselves and fail to seek treatment for depression. Stigmatization around mental health services can also lead to poor adherence to medication and treatment, even after help is sought.

"Depression is often not well detected in older adults," says Dr. Jo Anne Sirey, a specialist in aging and mental health care. "It's mistaken as a natural part of aging. Depression is not a natural part of aging."

The numbers help tell the story. Up to a quarter of older adults need some form of mental health care, but Medicare reimbursement for psychiatric treatment is only given to 3 percent of this population. The services are simply not meeting the need.

Researchers point to the need for better palliative care for older adults suffering from chronic pain. Longer life expectancies have not been accompanied by more pain-free years. Instead, debilitating and painful health conditions go hand-in-hand with old age more often than we would wish.

Causes of Depression in Older Adults

Some people struggle with depression throughout their lives, but it can become worse as they age. Physical illness exacerbates depression, as does the fear of becoming a burden, social disconnection and an inability to function in daily life.

Suicide notes among adults age 65 and over most commonly mention the unbearable pain of cancer, arthritis or other conditions, according to an analysis of 10 years of data by Dr. Diana M. DiNitto and Dr. Namkee G. Choi. The pair also found references to cognitive and/or functional decline, loss of independence and fear of or refusal to enter a nursing home influenced the decision. Nearly a quarter of these seniors had told someone about their intent, most often a family member.

"It is the combination of one or several of these problems with depression that leads the person to feel trapped, making suicide appear like the best solution," says Dr. Alexandre Dombrovski, a psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh. He notes that alcohol or prescription drug abuse, family discord, financial problems, grief or a recent medical diagnosis can all factor in to an older adult's decision.

A recent study found that older adults in general, and men in particular, regard suicide as an acceptable solution to physical illness. Men over 65 commit suicide more often than their female counterparts.

"Even in the age of political correctness, men are still conditioned to withhold their feelings," says retired licensed clinician and community educator Don Drake. "Aging pushes these feelings down even more as we begin to lose the roles we held in the family structure as our physical and mental abilities decline. Death is inevitable, but for men, discussing our fears about the end of life can be terrifying. For some men, suicide is about taking control of the situation rather than waiting for death to come. For others, the pain of multiple losses and the inability to express these feelings appropriately can also result in suicide. As a society, we need to do better."

Becoming the victim of a financial scam can also cause someone to commit suicide. The shame and embarrassment can be too much to handle. The stories are variations on a theme: the 82-year-old grandmother who was told she'd won a sweepstakes, the 77-year-old who became convinced his grandson had been kidnapped, the 81-year-old man who was promised a $3 million lottery jackpot. All of them got strung along, wound up feeling "like a fool" and chose to die.

Preventing Suicide in Seniors

Seniors from all walks of life and racial groups commit suicide. Native Americans and Alaskan Natives run the highest risk, followed by Caucasians, Hispanics and African Americans. Recent events tell us that having plenty of money offers no guarantee. So what can we do?

Ask someone you suspect is depressed if she's having suicidal thoughts. This helps the person talk about their pain and bring it out in the open.

Avoid looking shocked if someone tells you he feels suicidal. A stunned reaction may cause him to shut down.

Don't offer platitudes or say "It will get better." Listen, tell her you understand and offer concrete hope about help that's available.

Leave the morality lesson behind. Ditto regarding the value of life.

Gently refuse a request to be sworn to secrecy. Seek support and help from agencies that specialize in crisis prevention. Seek support from loving family members, friends, health care personnel or clergy.

Offer hope that alternatives are available without minimizing the problem or the person's feelings.

Take action. Remove firearms, excess medication and anything that you think may help them carry out the act.

Never leave an actively suicidal person alone, unless you have to run to get help. When in doubt, call 911.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255; it's available 24/7.

Death by Firearm

You've considered all the angles around when to take away the car keys. But have you considered where the line might be for taking away the guns?

A retired police officer had a lifetime habit of sleeping with his .38 service revolver next to his bed. But as his cognition receded in his late 70s, he would awaken and think his wife was a stranger. One night, he woke up and pointed the loaded weapon at her.

His doctor learned what had happened and knew he had to act fast. He put in a call to the man's former police partner, someone the man knew and trusted, to convince him it was time to give up the gun. Fortunately, the story ended well.

The connection to guns can be quite strong for older adults. Even after dementia develops, giving up their weapons can feel "almost like an amputation," says, Dr. Michael Victoroff, a family medicine specialist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and certified firearms instructor.

Suicide plays a big role in the gun debate with older adults. Older Americans are more likely to die by their own hand than any other age group, and the majority of these suicides involve a gun.

Guns Create Grim Statistics

Older people make fewer suicide attempts than their younger counterparts, but they die more often. The reason: 4 out of 5 attempts carried out with a firearm result in death.

Seniors use guns in 32 percent of attempts to take their life, and they account for 70 percent of fatalities. Looking at all age groups together, firearms are used in only 6 percent of all suicide attempts, but result in 54 percent of total fatalities.

A drug overdose is only lethal 12 percent of the time, but attempt suicide with a firearm, and that "success" number jumps to 82.5 percent.

Risk Factors Accumulate

"Older people who die by suicide aren't just more likely to die because they're frail and less resilient to an injury than younger people," says Dr. Yeates Conwell, director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Program at the University of Rochester, "but also because they use more lethal methods, and they do so with more thoughtful planning."

Conwell's research shows that depression, psychiatric disease and physical illness are the most common risk factors for late-life suicide attempts. Chronic and severe pain, especially when it prevents someone from living an independent life, can also lead to thoughts of self-harm.

Other indicators are the loss of a spouse, anxiety, living alone and social isolation. Often, it's a combination of these factors that leads to committing an act. "Imagine these to be Venn diagrams," Conwell says. "Their interaction, rather than any one of them, helps us understand why a person might take their life."

Dementia Increases Risk

Nearly a third of Americans above the age of 65 own a gun, and another 12 percent live with somebody who does, according to the Pew Research Center.

At the same time, more and more Americans are joining the "over 65" club. While the dementia rate is declining, sheer numbers of older adults mean more people will develop cognition problems.

"Suicide risk is elevated in people with dementia, but it's more of a factor early in the illness," says Conwell. Later on, "people are less able to organize a suicide attempt and more apt to be under supervision."

White Males Most Likely to Shoot

Older white men account for 88 percent of suicides by gun among seniors. Females over 65 account for 8 percent of suicides by firearm, and that number falls to only 2 percent among older black men.

Why? One reason is that the typical gun owner in the U.S. is overwhelmingly white, male and above 50 years old.

Saving Lives by Prevention

One study showed that handgun access was a much greater predictor of attempted suicide than having a long gun, such as a rifle.

Of course, barriers to access can save lives. Dr. Liza Gold, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, studies suicide among seniors. Her research shows that suicide rates are reduced by 10 percent if the gun in the house isn't loaded, another 10 percent if it's also locked, and an additional 10 percent when the ammunition is locked up away from the firearm.

After decades of clinical practice, Gold knows what to ask if a client is worried their loved one might be suicidal. "If a patient comes in and says he's worried about his elderly father," Gold said, "the most important thing to ask is, 'Does your father have a firearm?'"

Sources

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-fundamentals/201710/older-adults-and-suicide

https://www.connellylaw.com/single-post/2018/06/26/Senior-Suicide---A-Preventable-Tragedy

https://apm.activecommunities.com/pittsocialwork/activity_search/suicide-in-the-elderly/2838?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/health/elderly-guns-suicide-dementia.html

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/senior/measure/Suicide_sr/state/ALL

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-do-we-stop-the-elderly-suicide-epidemic_us_59b0439ce4b0c50640cd641f

https://www.thetrace.org/2016/09/senior-citizen-gun-suicide-rates-cdc/

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-90443941137665407652018-08-04T09:20:00.000-07:002018-08-17T09:20:40.607-07:00Smart Speakers are a Smart Choice for Seniors

Why smart speakers (digital assistants) are a great choice for older adults, and how to choose which one is right for you.

Have you been wondering if the time is right to get an Amazon Echo, Google Home or other similar product for yourself or loved ones? The answer is a resounding "Yes!"

These handy devices can do everything from telling you the time to answering how much an elephant weighs. For anyone with mobility issues, it's the personal help they need … to add an event to the calendar, be reminded who has a birthday coming up, or listen to music, audiobooks or the news, all just by asking.

Older adults with health issues like Parkinson's can have more independence by using a smart speaker. Alexa can add toilet paper to the shopping list or play a favorite Frank Sinatra song. While using a touchscreen may be impossible or too complicated for someone with reduced cognition to learn, voice control is relatively easy.

People with low vision benefit from using digital assistants. See how in this YouTube video: Blind Joy demonstrates how she uses Amazon Echo.

Digital Assistants for Dementia Patients

People with dementia often repeat questions endlessly, get anxious when someone leaves their side or need to be constantly entertained. But ask Amazon's Alexa what day it is, and she'll respond over and over and over, each time as patiently as the last. She can also check what's on TV, give updated traffic and weather reports, or amuse someone with endless jokes and riddles.

Early Onset Alzheimer's struck Rick Phelps in November 2010. He subsequently founded a private Facebook community, Memory People, to promote dementia awareness. In early 2016, Phelps bought an Amazon Echo. A week later, he was so enthusiastic about the experience that he wrote a blog post urging others in the dementia community to buy one.

"It has afforded me something that I had lost. Memory," says Phelps. "I can ask Alexa anything and I get the answer instantly. And I can ask what day it is twenty times a day and I will still get the same correct answer."

Phelps goes on to marvel that after telling Alexa once to remind him to take medicine at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., she reminds him without fail at those times every day. Another service he finds invaluable is Alexa reading audiobooks. "That alone makes this thing worth its weight in gold to me," he says.

All of us can benefit from telling the speaker where we are stashing our passport or an important document! Forget where you put it later on, and instead of searching frantically all you have to do is ask Alexa to remind you where it is.

How Do Smart Speakers Work?

Voice-activated assistants like Amazon Echo or Google Home work wirelessly with a Wi-Fi connection, just like a laptop or tablet. Each device is about the size of a can of soda. Users need an account with Amazon or Google and a smartphone or tablet to get started. Just download the app (Google Home or Alexa) and follow the instructions to connect to Wi-Fi.

To use your new assistant, wake it up by saying "Alexa" for the Amazon Echo or "OK Google" for the Google Home. Then, you can ask questions or give it a command. A female voice responds to your instructions.

Are the grandkids over after school? Your smart speakers can offer a chocolate cake recipe with instructions for each step, help answer questions for a homework assignment or translate into another language.

The voice assistants can distinguish between different voices, so your calendars and medication prods won't get mixed up. Playlists of music stay separate, too. You can find a song even if you don't know the name … just tell your smart speaker some of the lyrics and it will find the song for you.

If your house has smart home features, you can use your smart speaker to turn on the oven at a certain time or run the sprinklers.

Which One Should I Buy?

While we've only mentioned the two most popular above, there are a variety of speakers (which also contain a sensitive microphone) at different price points. Here are some of the most common, with pros and cons:

Amazon Echo ($99) was awarded "best voice assistant" on com for its proficient artificial intelligence on a wide array of questions and task performance. In follow-up mode, Alexa can take multiple commands without being reactivated or woken up. Alexa lets you stream music, reserve an Uber or move through a guided yoga session. Amazon allows developers to create additional services (much like new apps for your phone), and Alexa has more than 30,000 "skills" to suit your needs. She also has the best compatibility with smart-home systems, and is a breeze to buy online. Her close relationship with Amazon means you can ask her about exclusive deals, too! To learn more about the Echo, including a review and demonstration, watch this video.

Google Home Max ($129) earned runner-up status for superior ability to answer questions, performing best on a test of 4,000 questions. Google Assistant can also follow two commands at the same time. Google bows to Alexa on voice apps and smart-device capability, but it's catching up. For instance, it will string together several actions with one command. You can say, "OK Google, good morning," and it will turn on your lights, tell you the weather and stream music. As part of the Google family, it will work with Chromecast and play YouTube videos.

Apple HomePod ($349.99) will please the many dedicated Apple fans who love Siri, which works seamlessly with HomeKit, Apple's home automation service. Activating an automation feature is as simple as giving a normal command, and the feature joins the HomePod automatically during setup. Apple users will appreciate how the ecosystem excels at leveraging strength among all products; they work better together. The speakers on HomePod are the best in the bunch, and Siri shines over the competition in her ability to understand more than 20 languages, compared to Google and Alexa's measly eight. The HomePod currently only supports English, but Siri's capabilities on the iPhone may convince buyers to opt for the Apple experience.

Scroll to the bottom of this page for information about how to choose a voice assistant, and for information about other assistants, such as Cortana and Bixby.

Sources

https://www.wired.com/story/best-smart-speakers/

http://dailycaring.com/amazon-echo-for-dementia-technology-for-seniors/

https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/info-2017/home-assistant-alexa-fd.html

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7668997657346387014.post-10165948118566856832018-08-02T12:07:00.000-07:002018-08-16T12:07:27.946-07:00Travel for Seniors Only

The Freebird travel club offers social interaction with an AirBnB vibe in worldwide destinations while remaining friendly to your wallet… or even fattening it.

Irishman Owen Mangan, a widower in his 70s, loved welcoming guests to his son's AirBnB-style rental in southwest Ireland. He was happy to show guests around and act as a guide. For the first time since his wife died, he didn't feel bored.

"My dad didn't just give them a key. He'd end up taking them to the pub, having dinner with them or even taking them for a game of golf,"says Peter Mangan, founder of travel company Freebird. "I could see that he was really benefiting from these people arriving on his doorstep."

Seniors are more likely to be empty-nesters with unused rooms available at home. They're also more likely to be free to travel, free of the ties of children, jobs and mortgages. It's possible they feel intimidated by travel to unfamiliar places, and lack the funds to pay for fancy hotels.

Peter got stellar online reviews on his property, raving about the personal treatment Owen provided.

"I saw this as very positive for my dad, too," says Peter, "and that this was something clearly way beyond the Airbnb model, where people are often given the keys or staying in vacant properties."

Peter began to research the older adult population during three months of unpaid leave from his job, and soon discovered that they often feel lonely and isolated, longing for the sort of connection his father was providing.

The Freebird Club  was soon born. Billing itself as "a social and travel club for over 50s", club members may offer a room in their home for guests or travel to a host's house. A wide list of countries is available, including the Bahamas, Brazil, Australia and Costa Rica. The website is user-friendly, but club members can opt to make a reservation by phone.

I know what you're thinking: How much is the membership fee? Hold on to your knickers…. It's going to set you back a whopping $31. That's right, about the same as a tank of gas. The fee confirms you're not just an online lurker.

What about safety and security? To join, you must upload a driver's license or passport to confirm your name and age (which are deleted when your identity is verified). Then, you'll fill in a personal profile telling a little about your interests, and how much you'd like to interact. You can opt to play tour guide and share a meal, or just greet guests and offer suggestions over coffee or a glass of wine. Guests can indicate their preference, too.

Before final approval, a Freebird staffer does a phone or Skype interview and you can get started. Peter knows older adults don't check their email five times an hour, so texts are used to alert a host when someone requests a homestay.

Finally, guests and hosts are welcome to use an optional buddy system to ensure safety. Just list a friend or family member to give them limited access to your account, and they'll receive a notification when you book a trip or host a member. That way, someone else always knows where you'll be or who's visiting.

Start planning that trip to visit Luisa in her lakeside chateau in Switzerland… it's booking fast!

Sources

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/healthandlife/ageing-with-attitude-empty-nesters-take-flight-with-freebird-430924.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/airbnb-for-seniors-helps-link-travelers-with-like-minded-hosts_us_57487aa1e4b0dacf7ad4c130

https://seniorplanet.org/the-freebird-club-a-new-airbnb-just-for-seniors/

Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
Society of Certified Senior Advisorshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com