Over-50

Harder to Make Ends Meet on Social Security

You're not imagining it.

Despite the boost of 1.6% in your Social Security check in 2020, you are having it harder to make it through the month. That's primarily because, as MarketWatch reports, that increase is lower than the current 2.3% inflation rate.

Inflation is being driven by the uptick in the price of keeping a roof over your head, gasoline, and healthcare. In the latter, the scary thing is the cost of medications. 

The good news is that there are solutions to bridge the gap between Social Security and what you really need to survive financially as you age.

Here are eight tips:

•  Work. Even a part-time job at a grocery store, fast food outlet, or call center can add $1,000 a month. Some jobs, such as call centers or grading standardized tests, can be done right from home. You can also start a very small business. There is no excuse for not continuing to earn income. Here, free to click open, is my book on how to land, hold, and move on to better work, at any age Download Outwitting ageism.
•  If you are keeping the family home, you have the option of co-living, that is, taking in boarders who provide skills and services you need. You get rent, plus someone to do the landscaping. Screen carefully.
•  Relocate. You probably can't afford to live where you built your career. To research different locations, just key in on a search engine phrases such as "Toledo, Ohio - Apartments for rent." That will give you a ballpark idea of the cost of living there. Also there are international locations. For those, key in "Ecuador - Apartments for rent." A starter guide for considering exiting the U.S. is International Living. 
•  Ask if businesses provide senior discounts. Usually you have to ask. That could be 10%, for instance, on a hair cut.
•  Consider if you need to own a car. Or can you get by on renting one now and then and Ubering it? According to NerdWallet, maintaining your own auto runs more than $8K a year, if you drive about 15,000.
•  Use the public library. That means you will never have to pony up the money for books, music, movies, and often even workshops in everything from digital to job search.
•  Senior citizen centers are worth checking out. They aren't what you imagine them to be. You could save a bundle on meals, training, entertainment, and wellness. Also you can enlarge your social network. 
•  Stop eating out, even fast food. Invite friends to a conversation over a cup of coffee. 

Radical frugality or minimalism is a growing movement. And not only among those eligible for Social Security.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

So, What State Should You Choose for Retirement?

Retirement is "expensive."

That's even if you choose to relocate from where the cost of living is high to so-called affordable utopias like a coastal town in Mississippi. Even if you have savings/investments. And even if you are frugal.

That's because, in standard retirement (not semiretirement) you aren't earning income from work. Also, factor in inflation. In addition, there could be the extraordinary extra bills which tend to come with aging. Those include medical costs not reimbursed by insurance and a child who again becomes financially dependent.

A new report from GoBankingRates adds some scary statistics to all that. It documents how much you will need, in addition to your monthly Social Security check, to make it through 26 years of retirement and withdrawing 4% of your savings each year. The funds requirement is broken down by state.

The lowest cost state is Mississippi. There you will need $667,000.

The highest cost state is Hawaii. There you will need $2 million.

What are the implications from this GoBankingRates study?

Here are just a handful:

• Delay retirement as long as possible. And maybe never fully retire. That builds up your nest egg. Also, semiretirement keeps bringing in money.
• Don't assume there is any "smart" relocation per se. No matter where you move the cost of the living in the U.S. isn't cheap. Remember, the average monthly Social Security check is about $1,400. That could eventually be reduced. 
• Investigate the cost of living and the personal fit in locations outside the U.S. Currently, Portugal is a favorite. To find out the facts, International Living provides a good start. 
• Don't take on new debt. You may never be able to pay it off and wind up in bankruptcy. The court could garnish your Social Security check.
• Reduce fixed expenses. A major one is maintaining a car. The annual cost of that NerdWallet puts at $8,469.
• If you've been laid off or forced into early retirement, focus on how you can get back to paid work. Here, free to click open, is my book on how to land, hold, and move on to better work, no matter your age Download Outwitting ageism.

Survival and sometimes even enhancing a lifestyle usually come from a combination of the above. For example, I got out of debt and bulked up my investment portfolio by, from 2014 to the present, by:

• Relocating from the pricey New York Metro area
• Reconfiguring my two boutiques - communications and coaching - to telecommuting ones. Since I don't meet prospects and clients in person, age bias is less an impediment. Sure, they can check my age on the internet but few do.
• Reducing fixed expenses such as owning a car. Not counting any repairs which would have come up, that represents a monthly saving of $350.
• Not financing any big-ticket purchase such as a customized bicycle.
• Eliminating former "treats" such as eating out. Friends meet friends at Starbucks for coffee. 
• Depending on the public library instead of Amazon for books. 

If you want to share your story of managing the financial aspect of aging, please contact me Jane Genova at janegenova374@gmail.com.

Coaching, lecturing, and writing/ghostwriting thought leadership content on human resources and careers.  Especially those over-50.

For individual coaching – sliding scale fees. Complimentary initial consultation. The special area of expertise is the displaced over-50 professional. Please contact Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Radical Frugality: Hang Out at the Toledo County Public Library

Founding father Ben Franklin had been the primary mover in establishing a way ordinary people had access to books.

That was the public library.

Since that time - the 1730s - the public library has become a lot more than books. Essentially, it's a Third Place, where human beings like to hang out, in addition to their homes, work, and school.

Currently, there are more internet stations, CDs, and DVDs than books. Outreach includes training in everything from how to search for a job to operate Microsoft Office. Groups book the community room for activities such as presenting the secular-humanists point of view.

Obviously, all this requires money. If the funding is less than needed, then the local library system can deteriorate. The brand becomes a joke. People use it less. The media can pile on.

That's why smart public relations is a must-do to keep the flow of funding going. Funding sources usually include:

Federal, state, and local grants

County/city allocations

Levies and referendums

Property taxes

Donations.

One of the best examples of a public library which knows how to tell its story is the Toledo, Ohio Lucas County Public Library. 

Glance at the check-out receipt. At the bottom is, in bold type, the statement:

"You just saved approximately ____ by using your Toledo Lucas County Public Library today."

For me, on 12/28/19, the amount was $140. I had checked out:

Against Empathy

Utopia Is Creepy

What I Wish I Knew When I was 20

Sober curious

Fat, Forty, and Fired

You Are Awesome

Given that I relocated to Toledo at the end of August 2019 and had checked out an average of six books weekly that means that, as the Toledo County Public Library documents, I have saved about $2,240.

Those savings can be channeled into buying more from local merchants. You bet, the public library helps drive Toledo's economy. 

Not long ago I treated myself to one of those specialized bikes from Wersell's Bike Shop, located on W. Central Avenue. The perk from shopping local versus online from a major ecommerce retailer is personal service.

When the bike was making funny noises, Wersell owner Jill had her team repair it w/o charge. An institution in Toledo since 1945, Wersell creates the infrastructure for a biking culture. That enhances the city's green ethos. In turn, that adds to its national profile. 

Another brilliant promotional tactic is the library's seasonal "Program Guide." In print (how cool), the 69-page brochure lists, by branches, all the activities for that time frame. The January - April 2020 one, on pages 17 through 19, has for the Kent branch these categories:

Young Children (0 -5)

Kids (5 -10)

Teens (13 - 18)

Youth

Adults (18+)

All Ages

For adults, free digital courses range from an introduction to Canva to Google Sheets.

A third way Lucas County Library puts itself out there is through its ability to nurture old-fashioned word-of-mouth.

When I mentioned that I would go to Barnes & Noble to try to find a map of Toledo, a neighbor told me that the LaGrange branch stocks those (free) in the lobby. You got it, again I saved money.

In a lecture on architecture, several attendees noted the contours of the West Toledo branch. Go look at it, they told me. 

And, when I needed a book for an upcoming assignment, the local client told me to forget Kindle. The Lucas County library system acts fast on getting to us books not at that particular branch, even new ones. More money saved.

When The Recession finally hits, public libraries throughout America will find their funding in play.

Before that, they can be proactive.

They can analyze how Toledo positions and packages itself as the go-to community resource. They can import aspects of that model.

Public opinion probably has become more powerful than government, leaders, and even wealth.

Smart global ghostwriting, with niche social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

You Have Permission to Stop Faking You're Still the High-Earner You Used to Be

Our lives started out in the conformist Eisenhower era. So, it's predictable that many of use still require "permission" to stop doing what is expected.

What's expected in America is to be successful. The more extreme, the better. Millionaire status just doesn't do it any more.

Since many of us baby boomers had met that expectation for success, we know how it looks, walks, talks, and spends. So, it's a piece of cake to pretend we are still at the top of that big game.

We take on that acting role when that game, for too many of us, got hacked.

Simple aging could have done it. This is no country for old men and old women. Yes, it's worse for women.

And/or technology ate our specialization.

The brass replaced us at one-third our compensation with a 31-year-old.

Our nest egg went kaput in 2008.

No one is buying McMansions and we can't cash out to retire and save face.

The network we depended on retired or died.

Divorce wiped us out. 

Yet, as Elizabeth White outs in her book, there is a compulsion to pretend we are still those high-earners or soon will be again. That pretense is primarily to ourselves. That expose of our illusions is "55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal."

I would have called the book "Magical Thinking Post-50."

The energy needed to play that role prevents us from putting together a fresh path to earned income and another type of lifestyle. 

The good news, White hammers, is that once we let go of fake, possibilities bloom. Yes, she gives us permission to ditch the assumption that we will again be who we had been professionally. Of course, that could happen. But the odds don't favor that.

Meanwhile, recent research documents that once we are knocked out of the box, only one in 10 of us will ever earn what we had been.

Free help is available.

At the public library you can withdraw "Necessary Endings" by executive coach Henry Cloud.

Grab someone you trust and kick off the grieving process for the former you. Yes, you need someone to bear witness to your pain.

Here, you can download at no cost, how to exit your comfort zone. You bet, you need to do a 180.

And, here you can also click open at no cost, how to land, hold, and move on to better work, no matter your age Download Outwitting ageism.

It was when I stopped chasing what I used to earn that I began to again make decent money. For instance, I lost the desperation in my sales pitch. Well-paying assignments came my way.

In addition, I relocated from where I had owned the This Old House and a cottage at the shore. There were no explanations to provide to anyone when I had traded down to minimalism. 

Currently, every month I can sock away funds into an investment fund. Of course, we should continue to invest post-65.

If I wanted to retire, I could afford to. But I don't want to.

Because I am not pretending to be who I was I can find joy in who I am now. A shocker? The same kind I experienced when the corporation cut me loose and I launched my own business. It was a stunner that I was a natural entrepreneur.

Do you have a story to tell about de-faking it? Please send it for possible publication to janegenova374@gmail.com.

Takeover: Less usually turns out to be much more.

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

How The Fat Girl Saved Her Life (and didn't develop diabetes)

Diabetes is a nasty disease.

According to the American Diabetes Association, 9.4% of the U.S. population has it. That percentage will probably increase. 

In 2014, I was heading that way. Quickly.

Actually, the medical doctor's eyes popped when he glanced at the lab results. "You are on the border of diabetes," he said, sternly. And he added that the other numbers didn't look too hot either.

What flashed through my mind was the old neighborhood in Jersey City, New Jersey. There, a woman had lost both legs to diabetes.

Also, my sister Anne Murga-Ring had specialized in diabetes treatment at the former Christ Hospital in Jersey City. That included providing lots of education about that condition. I knew. 

I did something about this. Several somethings.

This wasn't my first rodeo in suffering the consequences of indulgent eating habits.

Some might recall there had been a time when it was a mortal sin, some considered unforgiveable, for a female to be overweight. I had been such a sinner.

"No one will marry you," the they warned.

At Seton Hill College, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, it seemed to always be about my weight.

In my first corporate job - Gulf Oil - it was also about my weight. But less directly since that kind of issue was against the law.

When my father was dying, relatives standing by the deathbed did note, "You lost weight." 

Finally in 2014, I made the decision to eat right and stay eating right. I researched pre-diabetic conditions. For almost six years I have been on a low-carb, low-fat eating plan. Hard at first, yes. It does affect mood stability, at first. But just standard living now.

Another something was relocating from the careerist Northeast Corridor. I packed up the dog and we headed across country to Tucson, Arizona. There, no one gave a damn there about careers. If you paid your rent and didn't vomit drunk in the courtyard on Saturday night, you were okay in their book. I began to like myself. It took time but that mutated to the ability to love myself. 

Stress also was reduced by the lower cost of living. My rent (I had sold my house in the 2004 real estate boom) was about a half what it had been in Connecticut. So was the car insurance. 

The third something was movin' that body. I make a religion of working out. Eventually, I donated the cars to Kars4Kids. I now live in Ohio where you can walk everywhere. Where I can't walk I use my trike (adult tricycle). According to those calculations, one Sunday I rode off 802 calories. 

The fourth was meditation. Nothing too sophisticated. I learned the ropes at a Buddhist temple, then incorporated the practice into my daily ritual at home.

Yesterday, the doctor's office said all my numbers, including for glucose, were within normal range.

Yes, it is possible to get well and stay well. There was no tongue-lashing about my weight. It wasn't bad for "someone my age." No longer do I shop for clothes in the plus-size stores. 

I have no idea what other medical conditions will hunt me down. What I do know is that some health tragedies are avoidable. As for the trauma left over from being a fat girl, that has a long half life. 

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Strong November 2019 Jobs Report - What That Means for Us

Sure, in parts of the global economy, GDP might be slowing down.

But, here in the U.S., at least according to the November Jobs report, things are still okay. Last month, 266,000 jobs were created. Also, unemployment remained low. Here are more details from BusinessInsider. 

So, what does that upbeat news mean for us?

Maybe not much.

We are in a special category.

Research documented how vulnerable we are to being forced out of our jobs and then, if we land another one, it will probably pay less. For instance, ProPublica found that more than 50% of us will lose our positions and only one-tenth of us will move on to work situations which pay comparable wages. 

In my coaching, I have noticed that those over-50 who thrive are the workers who accept that brutal reality. They don't sour when losing a job or spot age bias in hiring. They just keep at their search for work. Often that entails going about the hunt in ways different from when they were young adults and entering middle age. Here, free to click open, is a guide to landing, holding, and moving on to better work, at any age Download Outwitting ageism.

Another reality is that no matter what the economy is doing our ability to cash in big could be constrained. Currently, Millennials are not buying out McMansions. So, at least for now, we can't realize the windfall profit we anticipated from selling our houses.

In addition, the opportunities may be out there for earning income but our energy level might not be sustainable to take advantage of all that. You bet, we get tired.

A third fundamental as we age is that it is likely that we have to live on a budget. Just because there is a super special for living room furniture doesn't mean that this deal is one we should leap at. No longer can we do what we want when we want to. After all, our nest egg might have to last until we are 100+.

Takeaway: The overall economy becomes, in myriad ways, irrelevant.

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.

 

We Are Giving America a New Model (you bet, joy is possible)

The dominant media meme, as well as the number-one topic in conversations, is: Money.

That's America, at least in capitalistic circles.

The experts keep providing supposedly solid advice on following the money.

With the Dow Jones skidding, there are the recommendations for this stock, not that one. Sure, municipal bonds might be a good idea but here's what to watch out for.

And, incidentally, according the latest Zillow report it's not the ideal time for baby boomers to put that house on the market and try to cash out. Better put off retirement plans. Leaving the career path currently will prevent your following the money.

English majors and those picking up art degrees, including the performance kind, are made to feel foolish. Obviously, they didn't think money. A better course of studies would have been information science, business or healthcare. Yes, media outlets, properly shame them. 

There are myriad other oughts on following the money. They have the force of a religion.  

Anything outside Economic Man and Economic Woman doesn't matter.

And it hasn't since it became possible (although not probable) for Everyman and Everywoman to acquire wealth. Yeah, Rich Dad/Poor Dad. You want to be to be in the loop of rich one, therefore do X, Y, and Z. If you didn't do X, Y, and Z, you didn't live your life right. 

Can that mindset be blown up? Can we not follow the money?

Call it an informal research experiment.

Some baby boomers, who had made all the seeming right moves, have that moment of clarity. They get it: Extreme smart moves about money haven't paid off, not in wealth, not in happiness, not in wellness. There are too many moving parts to the 20th and 21st century economies.

So they have shifted their values into another kind of box. That's ignoring money. That's possible through minimalism or going about life like a medieval monk.

In his memoir about loss, Roger Rosenblatt might have kicked off what could be a movement. His daughter, a young medical doctor, died suddenly, leaving behind three small children and a husband who is preoccupied with his own grief. Rosenblatt and his wife come to help.

Through the book "Making Toast" he shares how little we need as we age.

On his late daughter's property, their accommodations are primitive.

The daily rhythm starts with such a simple task as providing stability for the children through the same breakfast every morning.

He must lose himself in the moment, not angst-filled thoughts about money, not for himself, not for his daughter's children.

MarketWatch, ironically, may have become the platform for not following the money. Its popular "Retirement" section provides detailed accounts how to be able to forget about money in locations both within and outside the U.S. It also does FIRE (financial independence retire early) storytelling. Even those whose FIRE didn't pan out long-term feel joyful about the experiment.

The new Americana can be about experimenting with not following the money. Baby boomers can pass on the developing model to all generations.

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

Betting on the Wrong Horse - Your House Might Not Fund Your Retirement

Younger Baby Boomers and the oldest of Generation Z are in trouble.

That distress could play out if they made the financial bet that their personal residence would, upon sale, provide a comfortable retirement for them. 

The recent Zillow report documents why that was merely a gamble. And it might not pay off.

Three realities operate against the family house generating a financial windfall.

One is the glut of residential real estate which will hit the market as those 60 and over downshift. About a third of houses are owned by those in that age category. That's a lot of property. Also, it could be put on the market when buyers prefer new construction. Or, just not those styles. For example, Millennnials don't like McMansions.

Glut forces lower selling prices. Or prevents the property from selling at all. America could experience the era of aging-in-place just because owners can't unload the property.

The second negative what-is are changing preferences in geography. There are prized areas where there are plenty of good jobs for Millennials. But otherwise, some locations can just become less popular. If the house is based there, the owner might be out of luck. Or, the shift in preferences could be due to a major employer pulling out of town. When GE relocated from Fairfield, Connecticut to Boston, the housing market in that part of CT went poof. 

The third factor is climate change. Owners might have assumed they were in the catbird seat with coastal property. However, the next generation is savvy that the house could be sooner than later under water. Also, increased hurricane activity and other changing weather patterns could make homeowners' insurance expensive or even unavailable.

The good news in this is that owners who are "stuck" with the house don't have to go through the ordeal of adjusting to what follows the sale. Those changes range from simply living differently to having to put together a whole new social network in another part of the nation or the world. 

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Entrepreneurs - Don't Let "Them" Bully You into Podcasting

Trend or fad w/o effectiveness?

That's the question for entrepreneurs who have to allocate resources.

Here, on the bible of marketing communications O'Dwyer, I hammer the reasons podcasting is doomed.

A key takeaway is this: You don't have to be in every medium or on every social network. If what you put out there on LinkedIn, Twitter, and your own blog develops new business and enhances the brand, do more of that. Outcomes isn't a game of ubiquity.

Outcomes are built into Genova Ghostwriting. Contact for complimentary consultation janegenova374@gmail.com.

Mom Was Wrong: Good Health Isn't Everything

Our generation grew up with the adage: If you have your health you have everything.

That isn't playing out among the over-65.

The Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Boston found that good health doesn't eliminate the need for a certain amount of monthly income. Otherwise, daily life will be very precarious.

The reality of the New Aging is about money. That is, having enough of it.

As Yahoo reports, the average for singles is $21,012 a year and for couples $31,800 annually. Of course, in major metro areas like New York or Washington D.C. it's more.

The scary part about that is that if inflation takes off again and given that many of the aging pay bills through fixed forms of income, those averages might no longer be enough. 

That's exactly why the aging have to review spending habits now and save/invest. Yes, we are continuing to invest.

Out might be going to restaurants, vacations, splurging on grandchildren, and even owning a car. More in the aging loop are embracing what's being called The New Minimalism. Strip down to basic needs and forget a lot of those old wants.

A retired couple I interviewed in Oro Valley, Arizona, lamented that they can no longer "have what they want." But they have witnessed what happens to those in their age category who continue to not establish a strict budget. 

Tip: In retirement/semi-retirement, relocate where you can get by without a car. According to NerdWallet, that sets you back $8,469 every year. Dining out should have already become a luxury item. Best of all, pick up a side hustle to bring in additional income. Here is my book, free to click open, on how to land, hold, and move on to better work Download Outwitting ageism

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.