Unbelievably good deals

This is a terrific little reference book. "Unbelievably good deals and great adventures that you absolutely can't get unless you're over 50" by Joan Rattner Heilman, 2007-2008 edition, McGraw Hill, 2007, will set you to dreaming about what you're going to do with all that free time when you are retired. There are 19 chapters on travel, education, sports, shopping, etc. Chapters 2-12 actually deal in some way with travel--lodging or airfares, tours, cutting costs, etc. This author doesn't want you to pay sticker price for anything. Always ask about a senior discount.

If you are a single man over age 45 and a great dancer, consider being a "host". You can cruise for (almost) free, working 3-4 hours a day. All you have to do is not get romantically involved with any of the passengers.

This summer at Lakeside I met a kite-flying teacher who was wildly enthusiastic about the Evergreen bed and breakfast club, which is featured in this book. It's for people over 50, has 3,500 members and 2,000 host locations. A couple pays $15 for each overnight stay. The club dues are $60 (single) and $75 (couple). Check www.evergreenclub.com.

Recommended automobiles

Jonathan Welsh of the WSJ recommends the following cars if you've had a knee replacement: 4 door Ford 500 (Taurus), Chevrolet Impala, Buick Lucerne and Dodge Charger or Chrysler 300. Can't imagine trying to get into a Charger with bad or stiff knees.

More stuff, more stress

A few years ago, a well-heeled girlfriend told me that her 80-something mother was living in a tiny trailer in Arizona with a minimum amount of furnishings. She'd told her family, "When I die, just push it over the cliff." She wasn't poor; but she'd learned what most of us do after awhile--your possessions own you, not the other way around. In an article, about "Stressed out Moms" Ingrid Schlueter writes,

One factor seems to be expectations going into marriage. Newlyweds of my parents’ generation had very modest expectations financially. My parents started out in a basement apartment in Des Moines, Iowa that didn’t have much in the way of amenities. They graduated to a studio apartment later and then to a three bedroom flat where my brother, sister and I spent our early childhood years. From there it was a very simple, three-bedroom Milwaukee bungalow. No family room, one bathroom, old, basic kitchen and bath. The carpet when we moved in was the original and that goes for the linoleum as well. Mom made it all comfortable and homey, and we kids didn’t know that we lacked a thing. That’s where my parents lived until I was married.

Today, few newlyweds start out this way. Home ownership is seen as essential for many, even if it requires both husband and wife to work outside the home. It’s a dangerous way to begin because once the couple starts relying on two incomes to live, it is very hard to stop when a baby comes. Then the couple begins the stressed out years of trying to find and pay for exorbitant childcare, while strangers get the privilege of caring for their baby. Add a couple more children to the picture, and you have a lot of outgo for that same two-income couple and the race to meet all the demands begins."

That's exactly the same thing our Irish bus driver John (50 and the father of 5) said about the younger Irish generation setting up homes and getting mortgages. It's not a local problem. [See my Ireland trip log]

Cross posted from Collecting My Thoughts

Adorable baby gifts

If I had to buy a baby gift, here's where I'd go on the internet.

Thirty years ago

Thirty years ago I would have never dreamed that topics like retirement, 401-k plans, osteoporosis, nutrition or exercise could become so interesting. My reading tastes have changed completely--in fact, on Thursday I think I'll tell you 13 things about JAMA.

Cross posted from Collecting My Thoughts.

Saved by a case of poison ivy

We've known each other about 40 years--were neighbors when we were both apartment dwellers in 1967. At an art show this morning she told me she'd had a cervical something-ectomy, didn't get the exact term. She's an avid tennis player, but had called her doctor for some poison ivy treatment, and in passing mentioned that she had a tingling in her neck--sort of felt like little bugs crawling around. He told her he would schedule an MRI, which sort of surprised her. Well, she had bone spurs on her spine, but had felt no pain except the tingling. One wrong move on the tennis court or a fall, and she might have been paralyzed. She immediately had the surgery and was recuperating most of last summer. Now she has two small rods supporting her neck, but everything is fine, and she's back to making her art work and playing tennis.

I looked up "bone spurs + tingling + neck" and learned that, "In persons 60 and older, bone spurs are common. Only a little more than 40% of the population will develop symptoms that require medical treatment as a result of bone spurs." She really had no significant pain. Pay attention to those tingles, and Thank God for poison ivy!

Sex and the sixty year old

The February 14 issue of JAMA has an article on the sexual difficulties of a 60 year old woman, just in time for Valentine's Day, but I didn't see it until April 1. It seems that Ms. B has diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and asthma now, and when she was younger she had endometriosis, bladder suspension surgery for incontinence and a hysterectomy for uterine fibroids. As might be expected, she takes a lot of medication, has back pain, and is allergic to some of her meds. She doesn't smoke or drink, and works as a psychologist. Oh yes, she didn't go through menopause until 58, so she dates her complaints to decreased desire and less stimulating sex to that. The author isn't specific, but says Ms. B. has some "body image" issues. One of the comments about obesity and sexual issue made me suspect that might be the problem.

I would be out of the mood just listing her health problems, so I can imagine trying to live with them. The article lists all sorts of reasons for sexual dysfunction and what life style or medical changes can be made. However, I found the very last paragraph quite instructive--almost humorous.

PHYSICIAN: How should I bill for a sexual health consultation in order to be reimbursed?
DR. POTTER: . . . Examples of reimbursable ICD-10 diagnoses include: lack or loss of sexual desire (F52.0), failure of genital response (F52.2), menopausal and female climacteric states (N95.1), postmenopausal atrophic vaginitis (N95.2), dyspareunia (N94.1), and orgasmic dysfunction (F52.3).

There are 122 references in the bibliography.

The old to extremely old ratio

There's a proposal to reexamine the health care of the elderly, and not so elderly. It used to be that there were a lot of people in their 50s and 60s to help care for those in their 80s and 90s. For instance, my parents were in their 50s when my mother's parents died, and 70s when my father's died. They were there for errands to the doctor, taking in food, helping with home chores, taking them to church, supervising medications, and visiting them for companionship. And they had brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews and grandchildren also available. People today are living longer (although in my family we always had people living into at least their 80s it seems in every generation), having children later or none at all, and when they do have families, they are smaller. This will have an impact as the boomers age.

"They estimate that in Switzerland, the oldest old support ratio has fallen from 139.7 in 1890 to 13.4 in 2003. They predict that these oldest old support ratios will decrease to 3.5 in Switzerland and 4.1 in the US by 2050." Seen at Medscape.com

Late in life divorce

"One woman in her eighties, married for fifty-three years, woke up after transplant surgery and announced to her husband: 'I don't know how many years I have left, but I do know I don't want to spend them with you.' "

That's probably a bit drastic but Calling it Quits author Deirdre Bair says it's happening. And often it's the ladies making the move.

New treatment for wrinkles

Possibly you were too busy over the holidays developing wrinkles while buying gifts and anticipating bills to notice that the FDA has approved a new treatment for those deep lines--something that lasts longer than Botox and Restylane. It's called Radiesse and is produced by BioForm Medical Inc.

And if you don't care about lines and wrinkles, you might use it to plump your retirement portfolio. Sales are expected to rise 15% annually through 2010--just 3 years away-- to $935 million.