Over-50

Perk of Aging - Giving Up on Trying to "Be An Adult"

Buzzfeed nails it. It publishes all the groans about becoming an adult. 

Yet, in order to succeed in our careers during our peak earning years and guard the return on our investments, most of us had actually to try to "Be An Adult" or create the illusion we were one of those responsible creatures.

Deviation from that was unforgivable. Others mandated we all be as miserable as they were.

Sure, celebrities like Paris Hilton can get away without doing that. But the rest of us, once we completed our fun formal education, had to accept that was that: We had to, as the cliché goes, "grow up."

Then, we aged. Usually we didn't have to be at the top of a game any more. Our wealth was more or less set at X amount or Y. 

Ironically, it also helps us detox from adulting because we become invisible. Increasingly the younger generations as well as marketers glaze ignore us. No longer are we inspected daily to determine if we are fulfilling all the specs for the adult life.

And, somewhere after 50, 60, or 70, we acquire the mindset freedom to understand we didn't have to "Be An Adult" any more. We also wonder: Was all that supposed maturing really necessary to support ourselves? Or did we just buy into the experts' mandates - and our mothers' nagging? 

In a sense, at our age, we can return to the idiosyncratic ideologies and lifestyles of our student days. 

For example, remember how poor we were? Unlike Millennial and iGens we weren't encouraged to take out the max allowed on student loans. Instead we bunked in firetrap boarding houses, spent hours with one cup of coffee, and did what it took to shun debt of all types. Yeah, remember, we had real friends.

Currently, more of us are admitting, no, we don't agree with you or are even shutting you out of our lives. One day someone from my mid-career called. I said I couldn't talk since aliens had just landed their spaceship on the lawn and I had to welcome them. Look at me now, I thought to myself. I don't have to put up with those on a professional network, not any more.

And some of us may have actually adopted minimalism, that is consuming the bare minimum. Enough is enough. It's the more of less.

Since we probably don't have and/or don't want those big jobs or major assignments we no longer need the brandname attire, attache case, and upscale car.

Telecommuting for 99% of my business, I fashioned myself for last winter at the Austintown, Ohio Goodwill for $34 dollars.

When the 2010 car goes, next will be a motorized bicycle which doesn't require the insurance company middleman, at least not in most states. I have had living in fear of the insurance industry since I had to buy my first car to get to a job I hated. It wasn't until I launched my own business that I adjusted to having to work.

With such little stress, who needs exotic vacations? If my business continues its moderate success, I may be able to buy for cash a getaway mobile home wherever my motorized bike will get me. 

And, I'm not scared all the time. Only now and then, before my annual medical tests.

As younger gens observe us not acting like adults are supposed to they may decide they don't want to conform to that either. least, not the way it used to be.

Traditional adulting may be replaced by a hybrid of the joyful student we had been and only what protective coloring is absolutely necessary to earn a good living and build a nest egg. 

Not getting results from your marketing communications? Complimentary consultation – janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

FIRES w/o Happy Endings

The FIRE concept (Financial Independence, Retire Early) has caught fire in terms of a doable goal - and a fantasy.

But those who do achieve that, reports MarketWatch, might discover they are staring into an identity abyss.

On their way to retiring early their primary focus was on funding the FIRE. They gave little thought to what would come next. The result can be an emotional fallout, including anxiety, from having no professional identity. 

In addition, financial worries can continue. After all, unlike retirement at the designated ages, FIRE does not bring with the cushions of Social Security monthly payments and Medicare. There is reason to worry. Personal finance expert Suze Orman contends it requires about $5 million to pull off a long-term FIRE.

There have been a growing number of situations in which those who retired early simply ran out of money. As the media reports, one woman's rental property proved too complex for her to manage. A couple's computer had been hacked and they lost their crypto assets. Also, without Medicare, along with supplemental insurance, medical bills can trigger a bankruptcy. 

Like every other life-changing decision, FIRE has to be carefully thought out - and not only the financial part. Work is what capitalistic America is all about. When not engaging in it, one can sink into invisibility.

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Economic Refugees - Don't Get Yourself into a "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" Pickle

According to the Social Security Administration, the number of retirees receiving their monthly checks outside the U.S. zoomed up 40% between 2007 and 2017. And the media such as CBS calls those on the receiving end around the world "economic refugees."

Like all refugees, they fled their roots to find a better kind of life.

But instead of coming to the U.S. as so many from Europe did in the early 20th century, they are heading out of the U.S. to low-cost nations such as Ecuador and Mexico. 

Many of those suffered investment reversals, especially during The Crash of 2008. Others just have had with hustling. They don't want to chase after part-time jobs and gig work after they finish up their official careers. Then there are those who have had it with American values. Yes, they can truly re-start their lives without the pressure of having to be wealthy - or, at least appearing that way. 

The best way to navigate this decision is to use vacations from work to travel to those distant places.

Reading about it isn't enough. The film "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" made that point. Brits who outlived their assets travel to a retirement center in India - without having visited it before. It's an unfinished edifice. 

More common is the disappointment that routine tasks of life, such as fixing broken plumbing, aren't done on U.S. time. Those who are supposed to do the work often don't have a sense of urgency. So, those expecting the kind of service typical in America become unhinged. 

That shouldn't surprise. Even a domestic move from the New York Metro area to the American Midwest usually requires toning down The New York. Otherwise the retiree is going to wind up isolated.

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In Costa Rica, Martin Farber Lives on Social Security + Is Able to Save - But, That's Also Doable in U.S.

There are those who don't want to work for income after retirement. If all they have to pay their bills is Social Security, that might not be possible. Unless ...

The aging who are willing to relocate are discovering that it is not only possible to make it on Social Security but also to save some of their monthly paycheck.

Among them is former car salesperson in America Martin Farber.

His daughter, who have done volunteer work in Costa Rica, clued him in about what that nation had to offer, including a low-cost lifestyle.

After visiting Costa Rica a few times, Farber relocated there in 2014. His biggest expense is the $350 for a roundtrip off-season back to the U.S. now and then. Here are more details from MarketWatch. 

But the relocation doesn't have to be outside the U.S. Usually those wanting to retire and to stay work-free find, yes, they have to move from where they did their career. Whether that was on the coasts or an expensive city like Chicago, the fixed expenses are no longer affordable. 

If they research, they will unlock the bargain locations in the U.S.

For example, Toledo, Ohio, right on Lake Erie, is unusually low-cost. Rent for a one-bedroom in the West part of the city can be under $500. Old cars are okay since neither an inspection nor an emissions test is required. As a midsized city, there is plenty to do that is free or provides senior discounts. For example, becoming a member of the Toledo Museum of Art for seniors is only $40 annually. A major university is also based in the city. 

However, as with everything else, things change. What used to be retiree paradise - Tucson, Arizona - has become pricey. Part of that is because of the influx of the middle class from California who can no longer manage the cost of housing. To them, Tucson is cool enough (not in temperature, of course).

Instead of Tucson, on the border of Mexico Sierra Vista, AZ continues to provide rental bargains, though. At least right now. And dental tourism is available across the border in Nogales, Mexico. Passports are not needed. So, getting dental work performed on the cheap without having it invest in a passport represents an additional saving. Just bring a birth certificate and driver's license. Cross the border on foot, leaving the car in a fast food parking lot.

There also remain bargains in pockets of New Mexico, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. 

For those who are determined to stick in the U.S. here is a check list for relocation:

•  The culture. Can you fit in, without taking on too much protective coloring? Spend a vacation there and push interacting with the natives. Is it possible to make new friends? In itself that tends to be difficult for the aging who don't go to work.
•  Average cost of home ownership or apartment rentals and documentation of the past five years how much taxes have increased or rents gone up. Beware of low teaser rates on rentals.
•  Grocery prices. Those can really eat into a budget, pun intended.
•  Department of Motor Vehicles policies about inspection and emission tests. Fixing up the car to pass can run thousands of dollars. 
•  Availability of public transportation. Ideal is not needing a car. Do Uber and Lyft operate there?
• Healthcare facilities. A small town in X may be dirt cheap but not recommended for those with current serious health problems.
•  Low-cost leisure activities. It's smart to be near a university. 
•  Not highly vulnerable to the extreme weather of climate change.
•  Proximity to cool locations to get away to for day trips. Motels, even the discount ones such as Motel 6, can set back a budget.
•  Work opportunities, in case there is a change of mindset about no longer working. Both Toledo and Youngstown Ohio are low-cost but the former seems to have more jobs at better pay and less age bias. 

Meanwhile, to get ready for the relocation step, here, free to download, is my book on exiting a comfort zone. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on aging.

 For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The displaced over-50 get back to work. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

 

Aging W/O Family, Like My Sister Anne Murga-Ring - Hey, That's Totally Doable, Frees Up Holidays for Travel

In November 2003, my younger sister Anne Murga-Ring and I became estranged. I was 58, at the time: young old. 

But even then I got it: I was w/o family, at least the nuclear kind. Parents and older sister had died. Relationships with cousins and their children, always frayed, had split their seams. I felt unhinged. After all, the ethnic ethos in America is All in the Family.

Now, experts on aging confirm that my distress was appropriate. They warn that navigating aging can be more difficult w/o family. Increasingly, more of us are winding up just that way: flying solo and often flying blind.

What's coming up is the 16th anniversary of that estrangement. In my thinking and in how I conduct my personal and professional affairs plenty has changed since then. 

Let's cut to the chase. What I have discovered is that a satisfying secure life can be put together while getting older w/o any family members. 

This is what I know:

• Actress Betty White, who has become advocate for older Americans, has hammered that aging isn't for sissies. This stage of a life represents as challenging a rite of passage as transitioning from formal education to the world of work. Therefore, I had to and continually still have t0 invest time and attention in figuring out what are the obstacles and opportunities in no longer being young. The number-one problem was denial. The major advantage was breaking open to forms of satisfaction beyond a career.
• Estate planning doesn't mean creating an inheritance for siblings. My beneficiary is an animal cause.
• Lawyers can be contracted to handle every detail. That ranges from whether to pull the plug to closing down all matters after I die. Sure, there's a fee. But there is also always a kind of fee in the complex maze of family relationships. 
• Holidays can represent startups. Mine has been to use them to see the USA in my Chevrolet. That need not be expensive. Discount Motel 6 takes dogs free. LOV, my four-legged son, enjoys the holidays as much as I do.
• Developing a small circle of trusted allies is mandatory. They provide early warning systems of what is going wrong. During the past two years that network has included a millennial. She flagged me that I had to end my preoccupation with money. I had "enough." And enough is enough. In the book "Making Toast," Roger Rosenblatt pointed out how little we really need later in life. 
• For those of us still determined to keep working, an executive coach is useful. From mine I "needed permission" to turn down assignments I didn't sense were a fit. Sure, I have down cold the Pareto Rule (80% of revenue comes for 20% of clients). But the residual insecure parts of me still required permission.

Not that getting older has been a wonderful "growth" experience. However, the process took on the quality of an adventure when I got the hang of transcending my own comfort zones. Here, free to download, is my book on all that. 

As my communications clients were observing how I was mastering aging, w/o family, they asked me to assist them. Where they especially found guidance useful was the professional identity piece. They wondered: How could they play better the cards they still held and how could they manage to get different ones? Yes, it's possible to be a Late Bloomer. Look at Betty White, Clint Eastwood, et al.

I have added over-50 coaching to the menu of services I offer.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on aging.  

 

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The displaced over-50 get back to work. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Aging - Sensing You're No Longer Who You Used to Be Professionally

Professionals over-50 come to me for career coaching or ghostwriting a book for them primarily for this cluster of reasons.

They sense they're no longer at the top of their game.

They fear others also perceive them that way.

And they observe that their competitors are younger than they are and armed with tools, such as technical wizardry, they don't have.

After listening to them, I usually have to agree that their professional identity is in transition.

Probably everything has changed and continues to change. And they may never recapture the extreme mastery they had of their former game.

In addition, there is the reality, especially since The Great Recession, of cost-efficiency in organizations. They are at a high salary. The organization decision-makers could determine that is too high. Soon a much lower-paid millennial replaces them.

The irony is that once they embrace those developments, they find the insight and drive to play better the cards they hold and to figure out how to get some better cards.

One professional in a prestigious public relations firm, for example, knew she was losing ground. While her brand still had some clout, she conducted a stealth search for a leadership communications job in a nonprofit. That's where she is now.

A hair salon owner, whose customer base was shrinking, sold the shop when it was still marketable. He didn't get what he had hoped for but it was enough to fund an entrepreneurial effort in selling online specialty hair products. It looks like he could reach the breakeven point within another year.

A nonequity partner in a law firm saw the handwriting on the wall. He was no longer able to bring in enough new business. Unfortunately, he didn't put together a career transition before he was let go in a stealth layoff. But he has been receiving interviews for a variety of positions in which he can leverage his legal background.

Of course, there are the professionals whose careers aren't impacted by the combination of industry change and aging.

But if you're not among them, you can still enjoy a fulfilling professional life. Only it may be different from what you had mapped out in your mind. Here, free to download, is my book on finding your way out of your comfort zone. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on aging.

 For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The displaced over-50 get back to work. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Millennial Student Loan Debt - 1/3rd of Older Americans Not Sympathetic

The generational wars continue.

This time the hostility between those under 45 and those 45 or older focuses on student loan debt.

A new survey by CreditRepair.com, reports MarketWatch, found that 1/3rd of those who are no longer young perceived that enormous financial problem as mostly the fault of the young. Almost 20% believe that Millennials should be working harder to pay it off. And, 25% sneer if the Millennials haven't hunted around for a lower interest rate. 

In coaching those over-50 about remaining in the workforce, what frequently comes up is their puzzlement how the young got into such a pickle. After all, they themselves graduated with maybe a few thousands dollars in student loans, not the $223,000 nut mentioned in the MarketWatch article which Alf Seccomb has to keep paying on.

Specifically the over-50 question:

Why Millennials attended "the college of their choice" instead of the lowest cost state university.

The choice of studying all the time to get the "A" instead of picking up part-time jobs. A job would not only cut down the amount borrowed. It would give real world professional experience which could be put on a resume.

Not investigating which majors yield the highest income. In that way, loans could be paid off more quickly.

However, there are also some of the over-50 I coach who are considering enrolling in an expensive academic program which could also saddle them with loans.

For example, they dream about going for a master degree in a line of study which they see as highly marketable. Usually that represents financial suicide. Because of their age, they may graduate and not land well-paying jobs in those fields. Many tech categories of jobs involve some form of age bias. In addition, that industry, like so many others, might downsize after they receive their degree.

Meanwhile the student loan montly payment goes on and on. According to the Federal Reserve, notes CNBC, the over-50 demographic owes $260 billion in student loans. And the Consumer Financial Proetection Bureau found that 40% of the over-65 are in default on payments. 

The financial reality both the young and aging don't seem to embrace is that there is no necessary correlation between academic degrees and sustained compensation from applying that to earning a good living.

Investing in a oil-industry related field degree might come to folly when that particular industry flips into recession. Today's growth field might be a shrinking opportunity in five years. By time that particular industry recover, age discrimination may operate against the over-50 in being rehired. 

Here, free to click open, is my guide to how to land, hold, and move on to better work, at any age Download Outwitting ageism. 

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on ageism.

 

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The displaced over-50 get back to work. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Election 2020 - Age Rears Its Head

Until last night's Debate of the 10, age among the candidates was primarily underground.

During the debate, to just about everyone's shock, it came to the surface.

Julian Castro laid into Joe Biden regarding his memory. The attack took the form of reminding Biden what he had said "2 minutes ago." On the particular point, though, Castro was wrong.  Here are more details from the Daily Mail. 

With age now on the surface, the older candidates likely will be openly targeted on that issue by younger candidates. 

Not getting results from your marketing communications? Complimentary consultation – janegenova374@gmail.com.

Post-Successful Career: Failing Retirement

The toughest rite of passage among successful professionals is moving on to retirement. 

In her book "Retirement reinvention," Robin Ryan discusses how many are failing at that. That is, they can't put together a meaningful lifestyle after their career ends. Signs of the failure range from boredom to a sense of being irrelevant. 

Given the combination of the need for extreme cost efficiency and age bias, what we traditionally classify as a "career," is ending sooner and often abruptly. Jobs are quitting the older professional versus the professional deciding to hang it up. In denial of that reality, many simply haven't prepared for the transition.

The rawness of being thrown up against The Next is nothing new. As Don Draper from "Mad Men" brought out in his iconic Kodak slide show, teenagers mourn the loss of the identity of being a child. Few ever emerge from the years of formal education and glide smoothly into the very different context of work. 

Yet, the expectation is that the passage into a post-career part of a life should be almost an instinctual process. 

Instead it is being put out there for what could be 30 or 40 years without any guidance from the past. Today's retirees are generational pioneers. 

Some, after suffering greatly, are finding a path toward meaning - as well as the added income to make ends meet. The Federal Reserve documents that one-third of those who rode into the sunset have headed back into the workplace. The amazing thing is that they can accept the lower compensation and status of those jobs. 

Another experiment is radical relocation. It's not simply the move from pricey Manhattan to less expensive North Carolina. It's the willingness to start over again in Mexico or Ecuador. They are fleeing the "Cheers" phenomenon of everyone knowing their name. 

A third is training for another line of work. That can range from becoming certified as a substance abuse counselor to long-distance truck driver. Unlike the academic degree route, this way is fast and relatively cheap. 

And, a fourth is wild experimentation. In total openness, former comfort zones are fled. The introvert does the online dating. The extrovert takes a seminar in listening. Everything becomes possible.

The major obstacle to mastering this rite of passage is usually the aging themselves. They tend to shoot themselves in the foot. Here, free to download, is my book on taming the dark forces which keep human beings over-50 from grabbing out for a new kind of satisfaction.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on ageism.

 

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The displaced over-50 get back to work. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

 

Forced to Age-In-Place - No One Wants to Buy Your McMansion

Years ago, Baby Boomers did what they assumed was very smart.

After all, they were the first generation to attend college.

Many became class migrants, that is, emigrated from a blue collar background to white collar. 

The smart decision, they were convinced, was to invest in buying or building a McMansion in the suburbs. That, they calculated, would generate the lion's share of their retirement nest egg. Meanwhile, they had a trophy property their children could be proud to grow up in.

The assumption has turned out to be wrong.

As ZeroHedge reports, the McMansion isn't selling. That means that those whose game plan was to retire/semi-retire, sell the McMansion, and relocate to where the cost of living is lower are having to figure out another way to fund their supposed golden years.

There are a number of reasons why demand for the McMansion is down.

At the top of the list is the change in taste. Millennials prefer smaller totally modern dwellings. McMansions have become long in tooth.

Also, many can't afford to buy that much house.

And, the suburbs no longer provide the kind of lifestyles that have become popular. What's in are locations in which it's possible to walk to everything, not be stuck in a car driving even for a quart of milk. 

Therefore, Baby Boomers who looked forward to a fresh start in a lower cost location are being forced to age-in-place - literally. 

The good news is that there are ways to pull this off and maybe even enjoy the strategy. That's what's called "co-living." The owner rents out private rooms in the house to those who can also pitch in with some chores. For example, one renter will have landscaping skills. Another is a house painter. A third still can drive a car and owns one. All share common areas, ranging from the kitchen and living to the deck and yard.

Some Baby Boomers already lived like during the CounterCulture or in boarding houses in university towns when earning degrees. Of course, the arrangement works out financially. But it also provides a built-in social network. The brutal isolation associated with aging doesn't happen.

Other good news is that everything changes. The McMansion will probably be back in demand. There's just no telling when.

Not getting results from your marketing communications? Complimentary consultation – janegenova374@gmail.com.