Topic: Boomers

Seven Tips for Boomers Turning 65

This year the oldest boomers are turning 65 years of age and more than 10,000 will become 65 every day for the next 19 years! Better go out and buy those "happy 65th birthday" cards now!

Turning 65 is an important milestone. At 16 you went down to the DMV to get a learner's permit. At 18 you signed up with the Selective Service. At 65 there are some important things to do, too.

This article from US News and World Report provides a helpful "to do" list for anyone turning 65 this year. For example, you want to:

• Sign up for Medicare within 7 months of your birthday.
• Develop a retirement spending strategy. (You are required to start spending down your 401(k) or IRA at age 70.5.) 
• Make yourself invaluable at work (And, perhaps, negotiate a new work schedule.)
• Make a plan for the next stage of your life. (Coming of Age's Explore Your Future can help.) 

 

New Public TV Initiative Seeks To Corner Boomer Market

Some time ago we mentioned Retirement Living TV, a channel targeting people 50+. It looks like the idea is catching on. PBS has just announced that they will soon launch "Next Avenue," a multi-platform initiative designed to be "a virtual life coach for baby boomers." It is hoped that the project will "challenge them to see the opportunities that life holds after 45." A national effort based in the Twin Cities, Next Avenue will feature a website, e-newsletter, local special events and TV series, specials and interstitials.

Is it just me or does this sound a lot like Coming of Age?

Referred to by some as a "Sesame Street for grownups," PBS hopes that this "audience-centered" initiative will achieve the same level of loyalty from boomers that its daytime educational programming has gotten from children.  

It sounds very exciting to this boomer. 

Brokaw's Documentary Leaves This Boomer Disappointed

I was looking forward to Tom Brokaw's 2-hour documentary on the boomers that aired earlier this month on CNBC. I was hoping that Brokaw would bring the same passion and appreciation to his exploration of my generation as he did when writing about my father's, the men and women he called "The Greatest Generation." But, I'm afraid, it wasn't to be. Throughout the program Brokaw seemed unimpressed and his presentation superficial. Maybe Brokaw wasn't the best person for the job. He's in his 70's after all, closer in age to the boomer's parents than the boomers themselves. And the boomer spokespersons he chose, Tom Hanks, for example, just didn't do it for me. There was way too much focus on Woodstock and nothing at all on feminism, the environmental movement and humanistic psychology. When the tables were turned on Brokaw and he was asked what he thought of the boomer legacy he responded with a one word answer, "unrealized."

If you missed the program you can still view it here. Come to your own decision. But if you ask me, "Tom Brokaw Reports: Bommer$" was...well...unrealized!

10 Things You Didn't Know About Baby Boomers

Do you think of boomers as "aging ultraliberal flower children from the 60's?" Surprisingly, it was actually the children of boomers who overwhelming supported Barack Obama in the last election. Boomers were equally divided between the two candidates. How about this one. Did you know that some boomers are planning on moving in with their adult children in order to make ends meet? Find out more about this always unpredictable generation in this recent article from U.S. News and World Report.

Not To Miss Boomer TV!

If you are a boomer you might want to tune in to Life (Part2), Sundays at 1:30 p.m. on WHYY-TV. Hosted by former New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte, Life (Part 2) explores how boomers are bringing to aging the same spirit they used to redefine youth in the 60's and 70's. Not a convenient time to watch TV? Then catch all the episodes you have missed by going to the show's website. You will find video on a wide range of subjects such as encore careers, reinvention, dating in mid-life and boomer marriage. You just might get an idea or two that will enrich your second half of life.

The Summer of Our Disillusionment

This past summer was a wake-up call for those of us who are boomers. We lost in quick succession several icons of our generation (Michael Jackson, Farrah Falcett, Mary Travers) plus notables from the older generation with whom we grew up (e.g. Walter Cronkite, Edward Kennedy). It's becoming harder and harder, isn't it, to maintain that boomer illusion that we will remain "forever young?"

This article from the New York Times explores the meaning of these recent losses for the bommer psyche. Particularly thought provoking are the thoughts of Marc Freedman. He points out that this summer was perhaps the first time when we became simultaneously aware of the shortness of time but also the opportunity to still have an impact after 50 as demonstrated by those other boomer celebrities such as Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Al Gore. "Never before", Freedman says,"have there been so many people who have so much experience and the time left to do something with it.”

Boomer Commencement Speakers Strike a Somber Tone

This year's graduation speakers, many of whom are members of the Boomer generation, reflected on the mistakes and missteps of their age-group and addressed the challenges of the present financial picture for graduates. Graduates considered the messenger ... and wondered how their elders were going to pitch in and help clean up the mess.