Over-50

Shame on Me: I [nearly] gave up on aging Jason

The Genova Family - 1 human, 2 felines - have much to celebrate tonight.  Bring on the Fancy Feast. 

Shame on me but I had sort of given up on 16-year-old coal black cat Jason.  He had lost weight and was drinking way too much water.  At first, since I fell apart in 2003 after my dogs Joshua and Nicole had died, I was paralyzed with fright.  I did nothing.  Then I did something.

I went to VNA Animal Hospital in East Haven, Connecticut.  I put it to 'em straight.  No heroic measures and no elaborate testing.  If he was in pain, let's get a pain patch. 

That didn't have to be the situation at all.  The vet Linda Colburn went through the cost-efficient options for investigating why Jason seemed to be losing ground.  I took one.  We ruled out cancer and diabetes.  For someone who treasures her animal companions, it doesn't get better than that.

There's no guarantee Jason will live to be 100.  But he does have a good shot at bouncing back from this ailment we assume is a kidney infection.   Antibiotics for about three weeks and then we will re-visit the situation. 

Thank you, smart caring vets like Dr. Colburn.  At midnight, I'm tossing around the catnip.

 

Mary Tyler Moore, 75 Years Old Today

We Baby Boomers will always remember Mary Richards, single working gal, throwing her hat in the air.  She was overly polite but had a strong enough spine to make a way for herself without a man.  Of course, her generation was still deferential to Mr. Man, as she was to Mr. Grant.

Today, the woman who gave us that frontier character is 75 today.  She's Mary Tyler Moore.

Social Security: Taking it early when over-60

In FORBES, Nancy Anderson raises the issue if the over-60, who find themselves laid off should begin taking their Social Security benefits early. 

Because of the new law which went into effect in 2010, you only have one year after you do that to pay the benefits back and not be penalized for filing early.  Before that, you can go along as you needed collecting Social Security and then turn back the clock on all that by total repayment.

Increasingly, those over-60 are feeling the chill out there in the job market.  Maybe they don't have skills which are easily transferable.  Maybe they are based in a location with high unemployment and can't relocate for a number of reasons, including a mortgage under-water.  Maybe they just are unable to get their arms around the new ways of marketing and selling ourselves in the second decade of the 21st century. 

Whatever, they cave.  They are receiving unemployment and to make ends meet file for Social Security.  Usually they don't regret that, even though they will receive less than if they would have waited until, say, age 70, which most of us intended.

There is an option.  That's taking any job.  Most of them will pay as much or more than the monthly Social Security benefit.  For example, in senior citizen complex Bella Vista, New Haven, Connecticut there are jobs as security guards and aides to the elderly which pay more than mininum wage and often have opportunities for overtime.   One resident over-60 did just that until his own health gave out.  Home Depot, Staples, and Wal-Mart make it a practice to hire older employees. 

There's also the possibility of creating a business.  A hairdresser has a brisk one servicing shut-ins at Bella Vista, at a discount rate.  Anyone with a car can run errands, including taking the dog to the vet, for those in all demographics. 

Another solution might be studying for certification or an associate degree in a growing field such as practical nursing or commercial transportation.  Often there are loans for tuition and training.

The secret to being able to pay the bills over-60 seems to be to become willing to migrate out of the box of what had been a career path.  Absorbing the trauma of that is worth it since many of us will live until 80 or 90 and, if our health holds out, intend to keep working.  We just might not be doing what we expected we would. 

2012: Not many resolutions among over-50

Let Gens Y and X embark on grandiose schemes to turn their lives around in the new year. Based on an informal survey among those over-50, we are simply relieved that such a bad year will be over.  And our optimism about the new year is open-ended.

In 2011, we feared a double-dip, as a result of the crisis in Europe.  Even the most confident had moments of doubt that, after losing a job a new one could be found.  Would social security be phased out or cut and would Medicare get a hefty boost?

The worst didn't happen.  Those of us who got smart about marketing in new ways are getting work, both full-time and consulting.

Sacred Goes Out of "Holiday" - We shopped, worked, got paid Christmas

There seemed to be no generational divide on this one.  Everyone I encountered reported that they had shopped, worked, and even gotten paid [via Paypal] this past Christmas.  PORTFOLIO confirms that.

Because of technology and the expectations it creates - e.g. fast response - no holiday will again be considered "sacred."  Sure we can enjoy part of it.  But we had better be prepared to "show up" online for work. 

This Christmas I shopped for used books, transmitted via e-mail 7 hours of work to clients around the world, and collected $180, minus the service charge, electronically.

Wisdom of Age: Wait, coffee table will appear

Wisdom, the kind which comes with aging, is a form of voodoo.  That's what I know. 

I had popped for a couch, after being without one for two years because of what we used to call "neurosis."  I was in great inner conflict about making a mistake in choosing a couch, which after all I had to live with.  From a lack of wisdom, I had tossed the cat-decimated sofa prematurely.

Well, a couch needs a coffee table.  But even used, a coffee table has to  be delivered and that would bump up my monthly expense in December beyond, well, what a wise person would endure.  The solution was to turn this problem over to the universe.  Psychics tell me I'm psychic.  I cast my thoughts out there for a large coffee table which would accommodate two fat aging cats. 

Today, there it was.  Large.  In good condition.  And with secret compartments.  It was out of a PBS mystery.  Senior citizen complexes operate much like the counterculture during the 1960s.  What we don't need, we leave in a place others can assess if the furniture, cooking utensils, clothes, or books meet their needs.  Obviously, someone on my floor in this high rise didn't need the coffee table any more.  Perhaps Santa had brought a newer model.

Heavy enough to look good, not too heavy to drag back to my rental.  The universe smiled on me, for a second time.  The first time was when she put a bee in my bonnet to sell my house at the height of the market and rent.  The cats and I are living maintenance-free ever after.

The Future: So different than what we planned

If I can become a blogger for financial-information company Motley Fool at my age, what else might the future hold - for all of us over-50.

Here is my most recent post for Motley Fool.  It's on News Corp and how things might change there a lot and fast.

Holiday Shopping: Now we know that brick-and-mortar is not where the action is

Americans still love to shop.  But increasingly it's online, according to Motorola Solutions research about who did the buying through what channel and why during the holidays.  FORBES reports that there is plenty of dissatisfaction about shopping in the traditional brick-and-mortar setting.  For example, 41% contend what they wanted wasn't in stock and 42% didn't cotton to the check-out procedures [think lines, which you don't find online].

Those of us considering starting a business might first investigate what parts of it can be put online.  One bad experience in brick-and-mortar will drive consumers online.  I went from store to store trying to find sold-alone backs for my pierced errings.  Those get easily lost.  No luck.  Then there they were online.  Cheap.  And easy to order.  They arrived in no time.  I haven't been in a jewelry store since.

Prince Philip: Aging = democracy in the broadest sense

Christmas won't be the same at the Palace this year.  Prince Philip, age 90, is in the hospital.  He had a stent inserted.  Aging is an entity which might be framed as the broadest example of democracy.  Royalty and commoners all are subjected to its dynamics.

John Edwards: Youth so fleeting

It's a law of nature: whatever grows also grows old.  John Edwards, who once mirrored the youthful JFK good looks, charisma, and vigor, is now aging.  That might have brought a medical problem. Born in 1953, he now has appealed to the court for a two-month delay in his trial  because an undisclosed health condition.

For Baby Boomers our key challenge is to manage aging.  In that Hillary Clinton is among those doing a masterful job.  She seems tireless and unselfconscious of the sagging skin.