Monday, April 28, 2008

Retirement: time to do what you haven’t done yet

Older Americans are generally happy and more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior.

That’s the key finding of a massive study done over 26 years by University of Chicago sociologist Yang Yang.

The study, based on periodic face-to-face interviews with 28,000 people from 1972 to 2004, found that older Americans have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said. His study was published in the April issue of American Sociological Review.

However, get ready for the next group of people about to become “older Americans:” the baby boomers. According to the study, baby boomers are the least happy.

Linda George, Duke University aging expert, said that while older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, baby boomers aren’t lowering their aspirations at the same rate earlier generations did.

“They still seem to believe that they should have it all,” George said in a New York Times article about Yang’s study. “They’re still thinking about having a retirement that’s going to let them do everything they haven’t done yet.”

My translation: the boomers are going to be rebooters!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Many boomers not planning “traditional” retirement

Baby Boomers seem unwilling to give up work and follow a “traditional” definition of retirement.

In a survey commissioned by Bell Investment Advisors, an Oakland, California-based wealth management firm, 26% of Boomers reaching 60 in 2007 said retirement means "pursuing personal interests and passions without regard to making money, such as charitable work."


Another 20% said their definition of retirement is “nothing changes, I hope to work as long as I am able to.”

Boomers who believe they have enough assets to retire comfortably are most likely to say they will pursue their personal interests and passions, while those who believe they don't have enough to retire or retire comfortably will work as long as possible, the survey said.

To explore out what affluent Baby Boomers are thinking and doing about retirement as they reach this milestone birthday, Bell Investment Advisors commissioned the Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) to survey Boomers turning 60 in 2007. ORC conducted a telephone survey of 500 men and women born in 1947 with investment assets of $1 million or more. The survey consisted of 17 questions to assess attitudes and determine financial preparedness.

Bell Investment Advisors provides personalized financial planning, investment management and career planning services.
http://www.bellinvest.com/index.html

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Wanted: Math, Science and Engineering Professionals

I'm departing from the usual practice to bring you this message, which came in an e-mail today from AARP California. I think it's self-explanatory.
* * *
Rewire, Don't Retire!

AARP is proud to alert you to a unique opportunity for retiring or retired math, science and engineering professionals - the opportunity to share your passion for math or science as a California public school teacher. The EnCorps Teachers Program, launched by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2007, is collaborating with AARP and California employers to recruit professionals as math or science teachers in fall 2008.

Through a selective application process, highly qualified retiring or retired employees of participating EnCorps Corporations, inlcuding Bank of America, IBM, Qualcomm, Northrop Grumman, Intel and others will be chosen to teach in California classrooms. To support AARP's members, EnCorps is hosting online information sessions on Thursdays at 12pm PT.

Please RSVP to info@encorpsteachers.org mail to:info@encorpsteachers.org to receive sign on information.
This is an aggressive timeline and an exciting opportunity.

Next Application Deadline: April 18, 2008
Final Application Deadline: May 9, 2008

How do I find out more? Go to www.encorpsteachers.org to see if your current or former corporation is participating

Sign up for the next web-based information session

Apply now!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Personal Trainer links now posted


Back in February I promised to add to the Resources section of www.rebootyou.com information that will help you find a qualified personal trainer.

It took me longer than I intended, but the information is up. Here's an excerpt:

Many people select a trainer by joining a health club, and there are many solid, reputable clubs with highly capable professional trainers. You may want to enhance your selection process by doing some research on the web: we recommend that you check out two organizations that certify trainers: the American College of Sports Medicine (http://www.acsm.org/ and the National Strength and Conditioning Association (http://www.nsca-lift.org/).

The ACSM claims to be the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. The organization’s website says it “continues to look for and find better methods to allow individuals to live longer and more productive lives. Healthy people make a healthier society.”

The ACSM has a locator function to help you find an ACSM trainer near you at
http://forms.acsm.org/_frm/crt/online_locator.asp.

The NSCA “develops and presents the most advanced information regarding strength training and conditioning practices, injury prevention and research findings… By working to find practical applications for new research findings in the strength and conditioning field, the association fosters the development of strength training and conditioning as a discipline and as a profession.”

The NSCA also has a locator function at
http://www.nsca-lift.org/trainers/locator.
You have nothing to lose but a few pounds and some of that flab!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

You gotta check this out!


OK, no beating around the bush with a long lead-in. Just know that a documentary film, “Young@Heart,” about a group of 80-ish rockers whose singing and dancing smashes the notion of a generation gap, opens today in New York and Los Angeles.

And you can see clips from the movie at this link:

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/405749/Young-Heart/trailers

“Young@Heart,” produced by Sally George and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures, is about the Young@Heart chorus, which started as a collective arts project in 1982 at a center for the elderly in Northhampton, Mass.

“The chorus has developed into a popular local ensemble with an international reputation,” says an article in today’s New York Times. “It has made 12 tours of Australia, Europe and Canada and serenaded Norwegian royalty. Accompanying the singers is a solid core of professional rock musicians who help ground their sometimes wavering voices.”

The movie “offers an encouraging vision of old age in which the depression commonly associated with decrepitude is held at bay by music making, camaraderie and a sense of humor.”

The clips at the link above include a music video of the Ramones classic, “I Wanna Be Sedated.” It will definitely “un-sedate” you!

I can’t wait until “Young@Heart” comes to a theater near me!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

More Seniors Logging On

Older people’s use of the Internet is growing, according to the April issue of AARP Bulletin.

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 92 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 use the Internet; 85 percent of those 30 to 49; 72 percent of those 50 to 64; and 37 percent of those 65-plus.

Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenburg School for Communication in Los Angeles, notes that older folks are attracted to social networking sites.

Older users are less interested in Facebook and Myspace and more interested in communities with such online activities as chess, bridge, poker, Scrabble or dealing with the physical and emotional toll of a disease.

“Whatever the pretext,” says the article, “community has a pull that isn’t limited by age. More than 90 percent of users on both sides of 50 say that online community is “somewhat” to “very” important, and 100 percent of over-50 users report benefiting from their online communities.”

Sunday, April 6, 2008

The magic of "renew"

I don't usually quote myself, but this time I'm going to make an exception. In launching a discussion on the reboot social network (http://rebootyou.ning.com/) I posted these thoughts about the word "renew:"

I just looked up the word "renew" at Dictionary.com, and here are some of the synonyms:

Restock. re-create, rejuvenate, regenerate, reinstate, mend.

Renew, renovate, repair, restore suggest making something the way it formerly was.

To renew means to bring back to an original condition of freshness and vigor: to renew one's enthusiasm.

Renovate means to do over or make good any dilapidation of something: to renovate an old house. To repair is to put into good or sound condition; to make good any injury, damage, wear and tear, decay, etc.; to mend: to repair the roof of a house.

To restore is to bring back to its former place or position something which has faded, disappeared, been lost, etc., or to reinstate a person in rank or position: to restore a king to his throne.

OK, I'm not suggesting we restore a king to his throne, but don't you feel a freshness and energy in that list of words? Especially this sentence: "To renew means to bring back to an original condition of freshness and vigor."

Rebooting is all about renewal. I think in some or many ways we try to renew something every day, whether we think about it or not. Even if it's just getting enough sleep to wake up with a sense of "freshness and vigor." (Don't tell me that's not how you wake up in the morning.)

Even if you're sleepy, a new day is a new day. Having one is better than the alternative. And a new day is a good day to reboot!

Friday, April 4, 2008

"All Kinds of Different Moves"


Scott Simon, Saturday host of National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, Peabody Award winning journalist and accomplished writer, has written a new novel, his second, a political murder mystery set in Chicago and entitled “Windy City.”

In San Francisco today on a tour to promote the book, he was interviewed on KQED Radio’s Forum program by Dave Iverson, sitting in for regular host Michael Krasny.

After an introductory discussion about the book, Iverson asked Simon: “Is there a new book spinning around in your head?”

“Oh yes,” Simon said. “I have a lot of ideas, a lot of novels I want to get written. I like writing novels. It’s fun. You exercise different mental muscles and you’re not repeating yourself…

“I think the important thing is to keep challenging yourself, to do new and different things, so you don’t thread yourself into the ground. This refreshes you for everything. I think it makes you a better artist, which is important for me. I think it makes me a better journalist, for whatever time I spend as a journalist. I also think it makes me a better father and husband, because I’m learning new things.

Iverson: “How so?”

“You’re learning new things. You’re opening yourself up to a wider world. You’re trying new things. You’re keeping yourself flexible and maneuverable.

“Great lesson I learned from the ballet, which I love, and it’s one of my favorite sports, is you can’t keep doing the same moves over and over again without those moves breaking down. You have to do all kinds of different moves to build the whole muscular structure, because that’s what supports you in the moves you want to do.

“And I think that’s true in life, too.”

Profound and muscular thoughts from a very talented individual.