Over-50

You Didn't Get Rich - So

The current Gilded Age has created a myth: Chasing wealth will bring BigInfluence.

That's mostly wrong.

Sure, moneybags Michael Bloomberg could run for U.S. president (and afford to finance all that himself).

But it will be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who will have the more profound impact on just about every system, and not only in the U.S.

Her secret sauce is that she doesn't chase wealth. Probably never will.

After all, the freedom to be BigInfluence really comes from having nothing to lose.

Remember how rumpled-look Ralph Nader brought in the consumer movement via the courts, Nader Raiders, and a bookouting the unsafety of GM cars.

Nader didn't give a damn about money for himself. He cared about having consumers spend their own money wisely - for safe products. 

Matt Drudge established his BigInfluence conservative site Drudge Report in a studio apartment. He may have money now but he is likely more focused on his digital reach than his lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Arianna Huffington, who quite enjoyed and still enjoys the good life, is a fading presence. Her HuffPost, which she invented to compete with Drudge Report, has become yesterday. Huffington's recent shot at getting back onto the radar has been the sleep movement. Good metaphor for where she is.

In 2003, I stopped chasing money.

In fact, I took a vow of poverty.

Those reading my blog posts describing my lifestyle as a type of medieval monk corrected that term. They indicated I had adopted a mindset of renunciation. Today that's called radical saving or minimalism.

Since then, I had four years (2005-2008) as a kind of celeb pontificating about the legal concept of public nuisance.

Yeah, I really had acquired enough BigInfluence to get ordinary people thinking about public nuisance. Here is my recent article on the subject, published in Odwyerpr.com.  

BigInfluence has a long tail.

In May 2014, I perceived that four former college classmates had done me very wrong. I shared that with my followers around the world. Here is that chronicle and pain, insight, and residual PTSD.

Later it was even more satisfying to shake off the rest of that miserable past at a all-women's Roman Catholic College with my post, which went viral and still is taking on steady traffic, "Pedophile Nuns & The Fat Girl from Jersey City."

However, not chasing wealth can be monetized (although you will never be rich.)

Once I opted out of being an obedient scribe for the ConservativeElite, I adopted an out of the box mindset and style for communications.

Enough marketers saw the value in taking that path less traveled. There has been a steady stream of assignments for risk-takers who have a product, services, cause, or themselves to sell.

Of course, there will always be those chasing money. They will assume they are the movers and shakers.

Their public relations staff will arrange photo ops for them as Davos Man and Davos Woman at the World Economic Forum.

Smirk Smirk.

Ocasio-Cortez is The Disruption.

Not since Steve Jobs gave the world a user-friendly personal computing apparatus will human beings again gain such new options about every facet of their work and personal lives.

Takeaway: Take the money or go for the impact.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Tucson, AZ - No Longer Paradise for Retirement/Semi-Retirement (or budget-challenged)

Blame the middle class in California who could no longer afford the high cost of living there.

They have been migrating to southwestern Arizona.

In the process, they are transforming what was once the affordable paradise for retirees and the semi-retired (as well as those fleeing the extreme careerism of the Northeast Corridor) into a location that is increasingly pricey.

In April 2014, I bit the budget bullet, took the I-95 ramp out of New Haven, Connecticut, and headed to the Vista Montana rental complex in Tucson, Arizona. Rent was peanuts. Actually I cut the cost of keeping a roof over my head by half. I also eliminated the property tax on my car and reduced the car insurance by a 100 bucks.

Days of heaven.

My objective was to pay off debt and rebuild my communications business as a telecommuting one. That all happened.

The only bump in the road, totally unexpected, was a traumatic encounter with a former college classmate who had retired in Oro Valley, AZ. Here is the amazing that one bit of darkness. I still have PTSD flashbacks. Yeah, really.

The first time the rent was raised was by $50 a month.

The second time it was another $50 a month.

The real estate market was recovering and the price of houses was also making the Tucson Metro area no bargain.

I saw the handwriting on the wall.

The rent keeps fluctuating at Vista Montana. Today (1/20/2019) rent for a studio apartment starts at $530. Add on utilities. Those can run high in terms of air-conditioning in the 122 degree heat. Add on also rent for pets. Also there is the bill for internet. 

Aging professionals watching their pennies, the retired/semi-retired, and members of any generation needing to get on their financial feet may decide to rule out Tucson.

If they still are focused on AZ, rents are less a 90-minute drive south in Sierra Vista, AZ. It's near the Mexico border, which opens up the world of dental tourism.

However, it might be time to rule out AZ entirely.

What I did in September 2016 was zero in on Ohio. Right now I rent a large one-bedroom, with all utilities included and with pet rent covered, for $618 a month. That's in Austintown, OH, a small town near Youngstown and a 90-minute drive from Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

My next location, where I could settle in, could be the Toledo, OH Metro area.

Rents are low.

The advantage is being near Lake Erie. To my surprise, that body of water really does have waves and those waves crash against the rocks.

About an hour's drive away is university town of Ann Abor, Michigan with so many low-cost activities for those who are budget-challenged.

The takeaway here is that with so much change going on, no one concerned about money can rely on outdated information about what regions are affordable and which aren't. The research starts on the internet. Key in, for example, Tucson, Arizona - apartments for rent and media coverage of how the area has become all too popular. 

One good option for living well on a limited budget is to become an expat. Mexico, Belize, and the Philippines are affordable. At least at the time of this writing. But, you bet, everything changes. 

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Remembering Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker - Lessons for Current Times

The two-hour "20/20" resurrection of the Jim/Tammy Faye Bakker scam made many of us reflect on the grifters of today.

Like the Bakkers, they are peddling all sorts of salvation. Those range from the promise of a return to supposed American exceptionalism to extreme wellness. As with how the Bakkers positioned and packaged their message, their current counterparts are quite earnest and wildly optimistic. And those who buy in can expect prosperity. It is all about the gospel of abundance.

The sad aspect, though, is that Tammy Faye seemed to be a true victim. Not until she developed cancer did she seem to develop a sense of self. Until then she could be held hostage to any strong presence entering her life. 

That leaves viewers of the "20/20" programming with a dire warning: Become your own person. Otherwise, just like the followers of the PTL Club and Tammy Faye herself, you are an easy target for exploitation. That could well develop into a meme for the 2020 presidential campaign.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sel

Hey, Remember When We Used to Do Facebook ...

Facebook can't catch a break.

In so many circles of influence it's been the night of the long knives. Those range from regulators in the EU to thought leaders in the U.S.

The latest blade aimed at its heart is the new book by former insider Roger McNamee. The title is "Zucked." Here it is covered by Axios. And, here is an excerpt in Time. Here it can be ordered from Amazon pre its February 5th official publication date. Already on Amazon it ranks 6,584.

Among the most damning assertions McNamee makes about Facebook is that, overall, it is responsible for more bad than good.

After all that has been alleged about Facebook's machinations during Campaign 2016, McNamee might be, well, on the money. 

In addition, there is the issue of the supposed increase in narcissism and decline in the ability to interact in-person, especially on job interviews. How many of us felt forced to unfriend a friend who posted way too many selfies and photos of cutes their grandchildren were up to!

The future of Facebook will be shaped by how much reach hatchet jobs like McNamee's have. If Congress and regulatory agencies are all-ears, Facebook could be nearing the expiration date on its shelf life.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

How Not to Do an Attempted Comeback

The dark drama of the Les Moonves alleged sexual miscount gets a sequel. 

The Wall Street Journal reports that instead of going away, Moonves is challenging the CBS board of directors' decision to deny him the possible $120 severance package. He is taking the option, specified in his severance package, to have the dispute submitted to arbitration. 

This was expected. Moonves' lawyer - Andrew Levander of Dechert - denied that his client was guilty of any inappropriate sexual behavior.

The revival of the Moonves show is an ugly development for CBS. As it searches for a new CEO it wants a fresh start. 

But this move by Moonves could also impair his own comeback. He could be perceived as an obstructionist. Who wants that type in their business? 

The usual first step in a comeback after a scandal is to lay low. 

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Student Loan Debt Overwhelming Older Americans Too, Not Just Millennials

Student loan debt totals about $1.5 trillion. 

No surprise, The Wall Street Journal, whose major niche is business, has focused on the implications of that growing number. Its primary focus are the findings of the Federal Reserve research. Here you can read the study.

The two key findings are:

The debt is correlated with the 9% decline in home ownership among those 24 to 32 years old during the time period 2005 through 2014. That percentage could increase now that housing market has softened in myriad locations.

Students carrying student loan debt also feel forced to leave rural areas in order to have the earning opportunities to meet their monthly nut on the loans.

Of course, none of this is a surprise. Everywhere we older professionals go we encounter new graduates whose life choices are being determined by the loan debt. In addition, they are nervous about holding on to their jobs so they won't have to default on their loans. 

When it comes to youth, this is a national emergency.

But youth isn't the only category overwhelmed with this burden. The December feature in The Wall Street Journal discussed how those over-60 have taken on student loans to study for degrees later in their careers. If age bias prevents employment or dooms them to low-paying jobs they are really in a financial pickle.

Those older Americans who aren't keeping up with student loan repayment could find their work checks and Social Security docked.

What many articles on the impacts of student loans don't mention is that some degrees, by time they are completed, are unmarketable. After the financial crash of 2008, a significant number of new law graduates couldn't land jobs practicing law. What else was available during those hard times usually paid peanuts. Meanwhile some had to deal with a monthly repayment of $700. 

I had my own dark night of the soul with a degree that couldn't be marketed. In the early 1970s, the demand for college humanities professors tanked. When I had begun my doctoral studies the government had projected growing need for those kinds of professors. By time I was doing my dissertation, everything had changed.

Of course, I had student loan debt - and an academic credential employers outside academic didn't respect. It took me about five years to pay off the loan. It was about six years before I was hired by an energy corporation for a communications position that paid well.

When it comes to the combo package of student loans and not highly marketable degrees there should be this takeaway: Treat every decision about enrolling in a degree as an investment one. The ROI has to be calculated in strict terms of what is the likely payoff in earnings.  

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

 

Surprise Victory for American Labor - Unanimous SCOTUS Ruling about Right to File Class Action Lawsuits v. Going Arbitration Route

Mandatory arbitration has been a flashpoint in American labor relations.

In order to be onboarded, many employees have to sign employment contracts agreeing to binding confidential arbitration instead of the right to take their complaint to court. If it were not for the arbitration clause in their contracts, they would have had the option of having a law firm put together a class-action lawsuit. 

Recently, Google workers, after a walkout, got the arbitration provision tossed for sexual misconduct complaints. 

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court ditched it for contract workers in the transportation industry. The case was "New Prime v. Oliveria." The ruling was unanimous.

The litigation started out as a class action lawsuit by drivers against the trucking company.

On the front lines of that ruling has been supposed rigid conservative Neil Gorsuch. He played with the historic definition of "employment" and showed that in current times that umbrella term could refer to contract workers. Here is a copy of Gorsuch's opinion.

Therefore, since truck drivers operate across borders - that is, participate in interstate commerce - they qualify for the exemption in the Federal Arbitration Act. Here are more details from Slate.

This win in the transportation industry can embolden those in other industries to also challenge their employers' mandatory arbitration clause.

In California, employees are bypassing those clauses through use of the Private Attorneys General Act.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Everything Changes, Including Popularity of a Sport

In the mid 1990s, we ambitious professional women were encouraged to learn how to play golf. Sure, it was a difficult sport and not cheap. But the networking opportunities were positioned and packaged as growing and growing. 

That was then.

Millennials never took to the sport. Maybe it's too slow a game, without enough of comprehensive workout. Maybe it's too complex to learn. There is also the cost. It's a generation born into stagnant wages.

Whatever the reason, golf is no longer a must-do for business or a recreational activity looked forward to.

As Candace Taylor reports in The Wall Street Journal, since golf became not cool, there have been lawsuits against members of golf-oriented social clubs who stopped paying their steep dues. Initiation fee can be as high as $70,000 and monthly dues $1,000 or more. 

Way back then when golf was popular and a prime business networking tool, it make good professional, social, and recreational sense to buy a house in a development surrounding a golf course. Usually the house was sold at a premium price and membership in the "club" was mandatory.

However, not only has the popularity of golf changed. So have people, their interests, and their budgets. Some have stopped paying dues. They are being sued. Others have requested a refund of their initiation fee. They are being put on a waiting list. That can number 60 applicants. 

In addition, if they want to or have to sell their houses they are facing a perfect storm. Mandatory membership in the club is demanded as a term and condition of purchase. That limits the pool of buyers significantly. In addition, there are fewer buyers to begin with since fewer want to be based around a golf course. If that golf course has been closed down, usually the property is neglected. That's an eyesore in terms of the appearance of the development.

The bottom line has been a plunge in market values. Many had paid a premium price to buy in. Now they are coming to the reality that they have to sell below what they paid - sometimes a lot below. 

Playing golf was not a fad. It was a long term trend. Therefore, those caught up in this legal and financial pickle can't be blamed for recklessness. What is happening more and more simply happened to them: Lots changed.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Promoting Our Businesses/Our Personal Branding - Owned Media/Social Networks Losing Reach

Everything changes. Especially in how to promote products, services, brands, causes, points of view, ideas, and oneself.

Now, it's back to the soul-wrenching experience of getting placements and being quoted in third-party media.

Yes, those are media outlets with gatekeepers. They range from old-line print like The New York Times to digital natives such as TechCrunch.

We have to get back nurturing relationships with the gatekeepers, then figuring out how to pitch. Leveraging our own media/social media has less and less reach. 

Once we succeed with third party media, then we have to repurpose, in OCD manner, that content - through our own media platforms, social media, curated sites, and email. We can also use that clip to pitch to other third-party media. Members of the media pay attention to what other members of the media have published. 

Here is the must-do I published on Odwyerpr.com today on how to get back into the third-party media game - and win, despite the odds.

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.

Japan's Model for Economic Growth: Retain Aging in Workforce

The aging.

Are they a challenge to developed economies or a catalyst for GDP growth?

In the U.S., those over-50 continue to be positioned and packaged as a problem demographic.

Not only are Millennials grousing about aging workers blocking the paths to promotions and then eventually sucking up entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare.

In addition, aging professionals themselves live in high angst about their ability to continue to land high-paying employment. That worry frequently evolves into a fear about getting any work. 

In Japan, the phenomenon of The New Aging is playing out very differently.

It's by hiring and re-hiring the elderly that the nation is, as The Wall Street Journal reports, generating its "second-longest economic expansion since World War II." 

Like many developed economies, Japan is experience a birth famine. Rearing children is expensive. Women are finding great satisfaction through careers. And the social pressure to be married-with-children is becoming totally 20th century.

There are fewer traditionally aged workers. That could have left myriad industries short-handed. Japan figured out that gap can be filled with the over-60 employee. They are both provided with incentives to not retire and to return to the workforce after having retired. 

How Japanese companies are recruiting and managing an aging workforce can provide models for human resources leaders in the U.S.

The New Aging story in America is a mixed bag.

On the one hand, some companies are creating strategies to retain skill sets and institutional knowledge which can exit through retirement.

On the other hand, they are perceived as forcing out the over-60 because of their high salaries and/or their alleged decreased productivity.

Also, they are seemingly playing dirty tricks in recruitment. Among the growing number of lawsuits had been the class action filed against Darden for alleging discriminating against hiring older wait staff. That had been settled with the restaurant chain for millions of dollars.

As The Wall Street Journal documented last month, almost eight million older Americans who want to work are jobless or are stuck in what could be called "the gray ghetto" - that is, low-paying/low-status jobs.

No surprise, those rejected begin to participate in creating their unmarketability. They become breeding pools for dysfunctional mindsets.

Here, free to download, is my book on those monsters of the mind - and how the aging can slay them. Too often, the aging shoot themselves in the foot.

The new game, at least in America, is to embrace the realities of aging and figure out how to transcend them in a search for not only work but better and better opportunities. Here is my book, also free to download, about the rules of that new game Download Outwitting ageism

Get amazing results through out of box communications strategies/content. Complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com. I help, not sell.