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In the Red March 4, 2021 by Mary Jacobs - At age 50, Sarah Smith found herself divorced, bankrupt and saddled with debts inherited from her ex-husband. When her two children chose to attend private colleges, she took out student loans. Now, at 66, Smith (not her real name) still…
Will Lifelong Learning Change the Way We Age? October 7, 2020 by Mary Jacobs - Six years ago, Laura Rich signed up for a continuing education class in Chinese art history and archaeology at Stanford University. Her children were grown and she was wrapping up a full-time stint on the local school board. “Most of…
The True Cost of Growing Old in America February 5, 2020 by Jan Mutchler - The US population is aging at such a rate that within a few years, older Americans will outnumber the country’s children for the first time, according to census projections. But rising rents, health care and other living costs mean that for many entering their retirement years, balancing the household budget can be a struggle.
When Should You Take Away an Older Person’s Cell Phone? November 23, 2019 by Judith Graham - At first, Robert Zorowitz, MD, thought his 83-year-old mother was confused. She couldn’t remember passwords to accounts on her computer. She would call and say programs had stopped working.
Looking for Work after 50? Are You Also Out of Luck? June 6, 2018 by Mary Jacobs - At one point in her career, Amy Anderson supervised more than 50 people and managed a multimillion dollar budget for a Fortune 500 company. But after losing what she calls her “last good job” in 2013, she had no luck…
How to Deal with Your Digital Afterlife January 10, 2018 by Mary Jacobs - Sara Ivey, 63, calls it one of the few gifts of cancer: time to plan. When her husband, Jerald Sluder, was diagnosed with advanced melanoma, the Dallas couple had time to organize his affairs before his death in December 2016…
Grandpa Gets Around…Using Uber April 4, 2017 by Mary Jacobs - When Kerri Couillard founded Babierge, she expected the business would mostly attract young families who were traveling. The Albuquerque-based fledgling company connects people who need baby gear for a few days with those who have equipment to rent. Couillard was…
Retirement Can Wait—Boomers Embrace Entrepreneurship April 4, 2017 by Robert Miskimon - As boomers anticipate retirement, the American economy sputters. Employer-employee loyalty has gone the way of the tail-finned car. Many lost jobs are gone forever, taking with them, for many, any assurance of a comfortable retirement. The difference between how much…
Will You Be Able to Make Ends Meet Once You Retire? April 4, 2017 by Flora Davis - At first glance, you might think New Jersey was doing pretty well in 2010. According to federal guidelines, only 7 percent of its residents age 65 and older were living in poverty. But a study primarily funded by the Silver…
Their Lifelong Savings Could Be at Risk March 28, 2017 by Pamela Yip - Barbara Macari’s husband, Frank, always handled the investments in the family. Then one day, Frank, a real estate broker, gave his wife the shock of her life.
Patient Advocates: Pathfinders in the Complex World of Medicine - When a life-threatening staph infection sent Dominick Buttiglieri, 64, to the hospital, his situation quickly worsened—and his wife, Deborah, soon felt overwhelmed. “His organs were shutting down, and the doctors weren’t giving us much hope,” she said. Dominick was in…
Discrimination Is Intersectional. Activism Can Be Too - … What 2020 brought home for me was that being anti-ageist means supporting every movement for equal rights. It’s a big ask, but we cannot dismantle ageism without dismantling ableism, and racism, and sexism and all the rest, because these systems reinforce…