When I lived in Nashville those eight years, while I pursued my doctorate at Vanderbilt, when you were told by a doctor or dentist that you needed some procedure, medicine or treatment, you knew you had some medical necessity requiring action. And so it was that when upon completing my coursework our family moved back to the west coast—specifically to Los Angeles--we were in a state of deep trust that the same would hold true here. Sadly, that has not been the case. For instance, when I went to a new dentist for the first time, he put a 20x magnifying lens to one of my front teeth to show me some wear and tear on the bottom edge that I had never noticed before and that he felt compelled to fix. Reflected back by the enlarging lens, the tooth’s edge looked like the Grand Canyon and I immediately agreed. On went some cosmetic dentistry miracle that required a bit of filing away of what until that moment I had thought of as perfectly normal tooth. It cost some bucks and looked dazzling and if that was the end of the story, I probably wouldn’t be writing about it.

Dr. Susan Love, who has written the Bible about breast cancer, makes an interesting point. She notes that to 'sex up' the news, most of the time a journalist does an article on breast cancer--be it a new breakthrough treatment, advice on getting a mammogram, etc.--they show a young woman, often in her 20's or 30's, who is in treatment. The fact that young women get breast cancer is tragic, and needs to be addressed. However, Dr. Love points out that the vast majority of breast cancer patients are over sixty years of age. Because of this discrepancy between the media perception and the reality, many young women are needlessly terrified of getting cancer at their age. This is an ironic turn of events, given that for once, it isn't the women 60 plus, themselves, who are paying the price of invisibility in the media. This time, our daughters are also suffering. And while we're at it, with so many survivors afoot, walking marathons, running governments, and so on, maybe those amongst us who are beyond are 20s and 30s should take the media reports determined to terrify us with a grain of salt, as well. As my spiritual upbringing has taught me, expect the best, trust yourself and life that you'll be able to handle whatever life sends your way.

Carol Orsborn

From The Boomer Blog Archives: Happy Holidays!

Dr. Susan Love, who has written the Bible about breast cancer, makes an interesting point. She notes that to 'sex up' the news, most of the time a journalist does an article on breast cancer--be it a new breakthrough treatment, advice on getting a mammogram, etc.--they show a young woman, often in her 20's or 30's, who is in treatment. The fact that young women get breast cancer is tragic, and needs to be addressed. However, Dr. Love points out that the vast majority of breast cancer patients are over sixty years of age. Because of this discrepancy between the media perception and the reality, many young women are needlessly terrified of getting cancer at their age. This is an ironic turn of events, given that for once, it isn't the women 60 plus, themselves, who are paying the price of invisibility in the media. This time, our daughters are also suffering. And while we're at it, with so many survivors afoot, walking marathons, running governments, and so on, maybe those amongst us who are beyond are 20s and 30s should take the media reports determined to terrify us with a grain of salt, as well. As my spiritual upbringing has taught me, expect the best, trust yourself and life that you'll be able to handle whatever life sends your way.

Carol Orsborn

On Sundays my mother doesn’t always go to church, and she doesn’t whip up hearty breakfasts for my father. This day is reserved for someone else. On Sundays, she smiles, puts on her lipstick, and glides dutifully into the assisted living home nearby. As she enters, the older adults in the living room slowly look up. Something new is breaking up the quiet of their day. A door has opened, someone has entered and sunlight has filled the room. Mom spots her 87-year old mother, who sits silently dazing ahead, failing to recognize her daughter. And then what my mother has known for so long hits her all over again: she is now the caregiver, my grandmother the child.

In my last blog, I discussed a big issue boomers are tackling: caregiving. The boomer caregiver may think she is “Wonder Woman” (or “Wonder Man”), flying a glass jet to her next vital destination, when she realizes that the craft she is on is beginning to lose steam. An oxygen mask has been deployed—does she take it? Too often she does not.

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What comes to mind when you think of boomers being in denial about health and retirement issues? And more importantly, as a marketer, would it be interesting for you to know that somebody—in fact an entire industry—is making millions of dollars off this generational foot dragging?

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Here’s the premise. Take about a dozen boomers from around the same economic and education level, all married, grown children, mid-to-late fifties, and put them in the same neighborhood. Give them each about 50K to spend. Let them decide whether to spend it on savings, fun cruises or long-term care insurance. That is the first elimination round. Only those who put it into long-term care insurance get to continue.

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I am reminded by Beverly Mahone, bestselling author, blogger, speaker and regular reader of TheBoomerBlog.com that this headline is, in fact, a trick question. As we know, boomer women come from multiple ethnicities, religions, geographies, economic strata and so on and on.

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For many boomer daughters, just as their adult children begin to leave the nest, they are greeted with new demands—the need to find care and support for an aging parent. Navigating the maze of services for older adults (and tackling the patchwork of expenses) is no easy task.

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If you are going to apply for long-term care insurance, I may have just saved you thousands of dollars. That is, if math was never your thing and you are asked this question by an insurance expert screener who wants to make sure you’ve still got all your marbles. Practice up and you may get the preferred rate—or even be accepted into their insurance plan at all.

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…while being screened for long-term care insurance, before making a joke. It could cost you thousands.To pick up where we left off on my earlier blog, you may recall my difficulties counting backgrounds from 20 by 3’s (under pressure) as a test of my mental acumen. To falter could conceivably be part of a picture that could cost one thousands of dollars extra in premiums—or deny you entry into the promise land, entirely.

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FH Boom has collaborated on a research study in conjunction with NMI’s proprietary Healthy Aging/Boomer™ (HAB) research project to give marketers a first glimpse of the Boomer consumer at age 70. Hint: think of boomers at 70 not so much as revolutionaries, but as ‘retrolutionaries’. By this definition, retrolutionaries are the vast majority of Boomer-aged consumers who are aiming to get their monetary expenditures in better alignment with values formed at an earlier stage in their lives. Think the 2016 version of Birkenstocks and the equivalent of VW back in the 60's: living affordably, but with style.

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Despite predictions by economists, policy makers and strategists that Baby Boomers will overwhelm the health care system, a few optimistic voices say Boomers can and will seize the opportunity to refigure, reframe and refocus health care. Healthwise, a Boise-based health information technology not-for-profit, says that the sky may not be falling for this generation, even though the numbers undeniably point toward a crisis.

Some contrarian thinkers say that, rather than swamping and ultimately sinking the healthcare system, aging Baby Boomers have what it takes to reframe, refigure and redefine it. The root cause of the health care crisis can largely be pinned on the impossible complexity of the system. In particular, people with chronic illness must negotiate a thorny maze to get and pay for good care. Within an environment of such complexity Healthwise, a Boise-based health information technology not-for-profit, says giving Boomers more control is the only way to return sustainability to the system. Healthwise proposes solutions that draw on three classic Boomer character traits: self-reliance, resourcefulness, and independence. The game plan breaks out as follows:

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