Age Wave Insights into the Oldest Baby Boomers
What was fascinating when we did our Age Wave study of baby boomers and looked at the crosstabs is that there were not a lot of huge statistical gaps (some subtle differences yes) between the oldest and youngest boomers.The MetLife Mature Market Institute released this week a study of the 'average' 62-year-old baby boomer (born in 1946). Some interesting results: Relationships:The average 62-year-old American:- is married to the same spouse, who is 60.- has 2.4 children over the age of 18, who are not living at home- neither parent is alive, so they are truly empty nestersHealth- They are in very good health and feel that their own health status and the age at death of their parents and grandparents most influences their own life.Education- They have at least some college education.Finances- Has a household net worth, excluding home value, of $257,800. Their home is currently worth $297,000.Housing- They own their own home and they do not plan to move from their current residence.Identity- They like the term 'baby boomer' to describe themselves- (This one’s a big disconnect) They feel they have done a good job of ensuring a steady stream of income for the future, and in planning to live their early retirement years to the fullest. At the same time they feel that they have done a only a poor to fair job of saving and investing for their children’s future, and ensuring coverage of their own long-term care costs.- They do not view themselves as being 'old' until they are 78. Retirement- They plan to be fully retired by age 66, and they like the word 'retirement' to define their next life transition.
Senior Housing Market Trends
In an earlier post we discussed 10 senior housing development trends for 2008. Another big change is the size of apartments or condos.Consider these stats from the National Apartment Association:In the 1950s, the average size of a new single-family home was 983 square feet. By 2006, that number had more than doubled, reaching a record 2,469 square feet. Today, 39 percent of new homes have four or more bedrooms (At Changing Aging, we ask, who sleeps in all those bedrooms?), almost double the rate of 20 years ago, and 26 percent of new homes have three or more bathrooms, nearly tripling the rate in 1986.In the 1980s, many senior housing developers created an influx of studio apartments. While many people want to rightsize from a single family home, they still desire ample privacy and space. Now you are seeing multiple bedrooms, full kitchens, dens, offices and other features such as robust fitness centers that weren’t in senior housing just 10 years ago.More information on senior housing development trends can be found in our white paper: A New Day and New Trends in Senior Housing Development.
Women Are Looking Differently at Exercise and Successful Aging
According to the current national statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16.7 percent of people ages 45 to 64; 23.1 percent of adults 65 to 74 and 35.9 percent of adults ages 75+ are inactive. In fact, only 6 percent of women over 75 report doing any type of physical activity.That has to change and it is changing thanks to new strategies and outlooks on longevity.Many women whom I work with at the Ecumen community of Parmly LifePointes grew up with doctors who thought that exercise could harm them. Many women were taught never to get sweaty. That was 'unlady' like. They’re thinking differently today.
Doctors are now telling us to 'exercise' and some older women honestly don’t know where to begin. Exercise simply hasn’t been part of their life. A good place to start is a swimming pool. Because of water’s resistance, we can work out harder and burn more calories, but feel no pain. Water supports the body and is very successful with arthritis and for people who are overweight.The next step may be a walking program and perhaps a gentle weight lifting program. Weight bearing exercise improves balance, functional strength for everyday activities, better sleep and a boost in attitude. 
We’re seeing a lot of people taking up exercise and other successful aging strategies at our new Vitalize! Wellness Centre. Our 2008 resolution is to keep our commitment to active aging by encouraging all adults to take charge of their health and life.Patricia Montgomery is Wellness Director at Vitalize! Wellness Centre at Ecumen’s Parmly LifePointes community.
Baby Boomers Should See The Savages
Have you seen the movie The Savages?It’s an irreverent look at family, love and mortality through the experiences of two baby boomer children trying to find nursing home care for their estranged father who has dementia.Many of America’s 78 million aging baby boomers should see it. Check that: anyone who is aging (all of us) should see it. The challenges the kids face in this movie are very real:- How to find the right care setting for their father … their options are limited as his assets are gone. His kids need to find a nursing home that will take Medicaid.- How to juggle jobs and regular life while trying to be there for one’s parent.- How to move a parent out of their home half way across the country and bring them closer to the child’s home.As I watched the movie, I thought about a couple things that would potentially make life easier for all involved:- A concierge service that the son and daughter could hire to help them figure out their choices for their father.- A small household setting where caregiving professionals specialized in dementia care rather than a huge institutional nursing home where the father had to share a room with a stranger.- Electronic medical records that could be easily transferred from the father’s previous home in Arizona to a physician and to caregivers in New York.I’m sure there are many other things that could make The Savages and life off-screen better. It’s 2008. It’s time to invent them.
Baby Boomers and Beyond: Retirement Revised
A New Age Wave Blog …A new blog for baby boomers and others who are thinking about retirement differently has been launched by journalist and Boomer thought leader Mark Miller. It’s called Retirement Revised and is the companion blog to his weekly syndicated national column Retire Smart.
10 New Years Resolutions for Successful Aging
Do you have New Year’s resolutions for successful aging you’d like to share? We’re all aging right now. And although genes dictate a lot, we also have a lot of control in how we age.Here are 10 resolutions for traveling the path of successful aging.Get a Physical: Find out what your health is like today. What health risk factors do you have? Work on a plan to address them.Exercise Your Brain and Body: Physical exercise (30 to 60 minutes of fast walking a couple times a week) has been proven to reduce the risk of dementia. It also makes you feel a lot better when those endorphins are pumping.Make Meaningful Connections: You just feel better when you have someone you can share with. Animals count.Do Work You Enjoy: Even if you’re retired, and you didn’t like the work you did, now you have time to do work you enjoy. Work also means volunteering.Nurture Your Spirituality: The mind-spirit-body connection works together. Spiritual experiences give greater vibrancy and meaning to our daily lives.Learn and Teach: The people who always seem most vibrant are those who are continually learning. Often those are the same people who help others grow by sharing that knowledge. That sharing feels good, too.Define Your Legacy: How do you want to be remembered when you leave this earth? Write it down. Act upon what you write. Smoking: STOP.Eat Smartly: Mayo Clinic specialist Dr. Edward Cregan says emphasize green leafy vegetables, four to six servings of fruit each day, fish and poultry rather than red meat (in moderation), and attention to unsaturated fats such as olive and canola oil. You don’t have to be a total vegetarian, just be sensible.Plan: Where do you want to live when you are 100? Will home be your home now or somewhere else? If you need care, who will provide it? You can make options realities with planning.
Well: A Successful Aging Blog
The New York Times scored big when it get health writer Tara Parker-Pope from The Wall Street Journal. She has a great story today on Alzheimer’s and how physicians feel that it manifests itself in people’s lives earlier than old age. Here’s an excerpt:Many scientists believe the best hope of progress, maybe the only hope, lies in detecting the disease early and devising treatments to stop it before brain damage becomes extensive. Better still, they would like to intervene even sooner, by identifying risk factors and treating people preventively €” the same strategy that has markedly lowered death rates from heart disease, stroke and some cancers.This is a fascinating story, especially for Baby Boomers who told us in our Age Wave study that getting Alzheimer’s is one of their biggest fears about growing older.Tara also has a great new blog appropriately called 'Well.' It’s focused on what’s so absolutely critical to successful aging … taking small proactive steps to take more control of our own health. We welcome Well to our blog roll.
10 Senior Housing Development Trends for 2008
Look for these 10 senior housing development trends from 2007 to pick up even more steam in 2008 as the age wave gains force:1. Congregational Senior Housing: People want to live in nurturning, vibrant communities. Churches want to extend their ministries, strengthen their congregations and build community. Congregational senior housing, such as the visionary ELCA project in Sandpoint, Idaho is a win-win.2. College Campus Senior Housing: Lifelong learning is a key part of successful aging. Look for more colleges to create intergenerational communities and see the benefits of senior learners and neighbors.3. Increased Technology: Technology is allowing members of the sandwich generation to be greater participants in their parents' lives and care. At the same time, it is giving people more control over their health and independence. Look for increased growth in interactive technology in 2008.4. Memory Care: Every 72 seconds someone develops Alzheimer’s Disease. New memory care households focus solely on the challenges of Alzheimer’s and dementia, while eliminating the institutional style of the past.5. Green Construction: Enviro-friendly and sustainable development is increasing in senior housing and will continue to grow in 2008.6. Catered Living: Combines independent living and al la carte assisted living services. This housing type allows a person to stay in their home even when they need or want more assistance.7. Smart, Innovative Design: Look for innovative designers, such as Michael Graves to increasingly bring their skills to aging and using smart, creative design to improve people’s lives. 8. Livable Communities: More cities are getting hip to integrating senior housing close to other community resources such as transportation, shopping and libraries, rather than sticking them in the fringes next to nothing.9. Successful Aging Centers: Look for wellness centers connected to senior housing that help people of all ages and abilities nurture their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and vocational health. These increasingly serve as larger community resources for successful aging.10: Virtual Retirement Communities: In this model, all the amenities of a senior housing community are brought to an exisiting neighborhood, such as the model Beacon Hill Village. New bricks and mortar might include a very small health center that provides more intensive care when needed.We invite you to download Ecumen White Papers on a range of subjects related to changing aging, including senior technology and senior housing development tips in our online library
Aging Services Entrepreneurs Build Special Employee Investment Fund
A very nice story in today’s St. Paul Pioneer Press about colleagues being there for each other and investing in each other.Thanks to everyone who has made this special employee investment program possible, especially Ecumen charitable contributions team members Mary Ann Dorsher, Robin Krois and Jean Robson, and the many Ecumen team members who contribute so generously.If you’d like to support Ecumen’s work in 'creating home' for America’s seniors, please go here. Happy Holidays from all of us at Ecumen.Workers support each other in crisesEcumen provides payroll-deduction fund for employees to contribute to - and turn to in need.By Julie Forster, St. Paul Pioneer PressJennifer Redman was devastated when southern Minnesota floods heavily damaged her Owatonna home in August.The first floor - her family’s main living area - filled with seven feet of water within an hour. Today, she’s still trying to make the house livable for herself and her family and recover from the $68,000 in damage the storm caused their home.Help came from an unlikely source: Her employer, Shoreview-based Ecumen, cut her a check for $2,500. It’s a gift from her fellow employees that she doesn’t have to pay back.The Family Helping Family program at Ecumen, an operator and owner of senior housing and services throughout Minnesota, enables employees to help their co-workers through financial emergencies by making regular payroll deductions to a special fund. It’s an unusual program aimed at helping co-workers who face home foreclosure, a medical nightmare or other crisis situations that pop up suddenly. No one has to contribute to get an interest-free loan or grant, and most of the requests are approved within a day.Redman, who works in Owatonna managing senior apartments, used the money to replace the blown windows on her house. Now she has a percentage taken out of her check each pay period, not because she has to repay the grant, but to help her co-workers when they face some kind of financial crunch. 'It can really come back in a big way to help you,' she said. 'I realize that what happened to me can happen to anyone.'Rising gasoline and heating costs, diminishing home values and the skyrocketing rates on adjustable-rate mortgages all are taking their toll on workers' paychecks these days, said Mary Ann Dorsher, the Ecumen executive who shaped the employee-giving program. 'Those costs are rising much more rapidly than salaries in general, so as a result people do not have the savings they’ve traditionally had. In a moment of crisis they are really caught.'People whose houses burned down this year also received money. About a dozen people who needed money to help keep their homes out of foreclosure received loans and grants. Some receive money to pay for classes to help them advance in their careers. In other cases, they need a car to get to work.More than 300 employees contributed to the fund in 2007 through one-time gifts or regular deductions from their paycheck, sometimes of as little as $1. Any of the company’s 4,000 employees are eligible for grants or loans. All they have to do is write a one-page note on why they need the money and the amount of the request. After a 15-minute interview, Dorsher, who is the nonprofit’s vice president of charitable contributions, and two other colleagues make a decision on the application; they have approved 98 percent of the requests. They don’t mull it over; the key is getting money to the recipient swiftly.This week, for example, a nurse’s aide in northern Minnesota found that her furnace was leaking carbon monoxide. The furnace had to be turned off immediately, leaving the woman without heat. She had to choose between buying a new furnace and paying the mortgage. In a panic, she called Ecumen at 10 in the morning. A few hours later, the check for $2,500 was in the mail. 'A lot of people just don’t have that additional $2,500 above and beyond what they budget for,' Dorsher said.A year ago in December, there were a few applications for $500 to $700. But this month a small flood of applications rolled into the office, Dorsher said, and the requests are much larger, in the area of $2,500 to $3,000. The total amount of grants and loans this year is expected to exceed $200,000, a tripling over three years. By year-end, more than 200 loans will be given out. Next year the amount of giving likely will increase, Ecumen said.Wendy Traffie, a housing manager at Lakeview Commons in Maplewood, needed money recently to cover the closing costs on a home. Overwhelmed by a death in the family in late summer, she misunderstood the closing date and thought it was further out. 'A little bit of communication skills would have prevented it,' Traffie said. She was in a bind she hadn’t banked on. She received a $1,200 interest-free loan that she paid back. On her staff this year, 26 people have received loans or grants.Because the need keeps growing, Dorsher and others are working hard to try to raise new contributions each year. New money and loans that are repaid, along with a modest return on the fund investments, help keep the fund thriving. The emergency fund is operated within the larger Ecumen Foundation that has $11 million in assets. The portion going to emergencies is invested with a professional brokerage firm in easily accessed liquid assets.A nonprofit organization affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Ecumen generated $117 million in revenue last year and operates more than 60 senior housing and assisted-living homes in Minnesota and surrounding states. Given the increasing shortage of caregivers and the high turnover rate, the emergency fund program also helps Ecumen differentiate itself as an employer and keep good employees, said Eric Schubert, Ecumen’s spokesman.'Obviously we can’t give out stock options, but there are creative things we can do, and this is one of those,' Schubert said.
Should We Put Up Our Dukes Against Aging?
Do we really need to fight aging? Does aging need to be cured?What do you think?