For many of you, the weather in the Midwest in 2008 is not only a distant memory, it was a non-event.  However, to anyone who has been struck by 100 or 500 year floods at any time in their lives, you can appreciate the plight of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  A little more than one year after a 500 year flood decimated their city, residents are still waiting for FEMA and other monies to rebuild their neighborhoods. 

So who’s coming to help?  Retirees to the rescue.  Highly qualified electrical and plumbing contractors are coming out of retirement to complete this essential work at NO COST!  The city is cooperating as well by reinstating their licenses to facilitate their return to the workplace.  There couldn’t be a more happy union then beleaguered homeowners and these contractors with a heart of gold.

Think retirees are all washed up??  Flip the light switch and flush the toilet if you disagree!

Recently I had the opportunity to hear Diane Keaton speak as part of the Smart Talk series.  At 60 something, she has two children, no spouse and is revelling in her singlehood.  She mentioned that there are 55 million women over the age of 50 and 21 million are single.   This statistic was somewhat of a surprise despite the fact that I am currently single.  Single folks are typically ignored/invisible, overshadowed by all the hoopla about family.  Yet divorce rates for all over 50 are increasing and women in particular are preferring to stay single for various reasons.   While those who have been married and divorced make up part of the statistics, nearly half have never been married.  

Lest you think this is just a gender issue, 28.8 million of all households live alone and 16 million of all Boomers are single, representing more than a quarter of their ranks.   The vast majority of our society expects to have family support well into their old age and yet, many of us may outlive our families, if not our friends.  I would urge us to examine the resources available to our solitary populations and enrich the options for singles.  

Want to know why women over 50 prefer to stay single?  Take a few guesses – leave a comment!

A perfect storm continues to gather.  It’s just not the one everyone saw building on the horizon in 2005.  Only a few years ago we feared the knowledge gap created by the departure of 78 million boomers from the workplace, the bankruptcy of social security and Medicare and a skilled talent shortage that would cramp economic growth.  I don’t believe the storm has lessened by any means but I think the nature of the storm has changed. 

Since October 1, social security claims are up 25%.  While boomers intended to stay in the workplace, the challenges of fulfilling that vision can be demoralizing.  In the face of age bias, exhausted unemployment funds, evaporating home equity, elimination of seniority protections and flagging stock market accounts, many who are eligible for early benefits are giving up and claiming social security.  Don’t confuse claiming social security as retiring.   These workers can keep working and would if that seemed practical. 

Withdrawing social security at 62, the earliest eligibility date, significantly decreases the payout.  Although good news long-term for the solvency of the social security program, in the short-run, more claimants represent budget issues at a time when dollars are at a premium.   Additionally, the ramifications of diminished payouts over a long period of time are yet to be clearly understood.  Certainly women who outlive their spouses can be seriously affected as survivor benefits decrease the original social security payment even further.  Statistically, we also know that those who begin to draw from their social security accounts are unlikely to return to the workplace full-time.

I know that employers are trying to creatively cut expenses and keep workers on the job and I urge them to aggressively innovate in this area.  I urge individuals not to give up.  I understand the frustration with today’s workplace but the work world needs our experience, our relationship orientation, our problem-solving practicality and even our jaded Dilbert-like questioning of the status quo.

There are today 44 million caregivers in the US today providing the equivalent of $350 billion worth of care every year.  15% of them have now lost their jobs and due to the escalating cost of care, 20% have moved in with family members to save on expenses. 

I urge our readers to offer resources and suggestions of how caregivers can stretch their dollars and encourage employers to consider this segment of the workforce for your openings.

Recent months have shaken the pillars of trust in the US.   While we cling to our religious faith, we wonder how businesses, financial professionals and political leaders will ever gain back our confidence and, more importantly, our trust.  We appear to be turning to each other for solutions and support rather than employers who continue to push more of us into the street, or Wall Street who can’t or won’t tell us where all the money went or leaders who fight on a partisan level to save their respective parties rather than the nation. 

I’m thrilled at the grassroots movements of Americans to adapt our lives and reach out to help others.  You all make me so proud.  But how are we ever going to feel secure with employers and leaders again?   They may not care if we’re secure but their bottom lines will seriously suffer if people can’t put their all into their work or their workplace.   Consider a workplace where workers’ have reserved their commitment and engagement for themselves and no one else.   What’s the opposite of good to great?

Cheers to Dos Equis for their grasp on diversity!  Their recent advertising campaign features an unusual spokesperson for a beer company – the most interesting man in the world.   He’s not 20-something but distinguished and gray, a dashing James Bond-type. 

Jeers to the profiteers who have rejected working with Pixar to create merchandise based on their new movie UP!  It seems they’re convinced that the public wouldn’t be interested in a main character based on a senior citizen.   You do know there are millions of us out here.  Right??

For decades, those with mortgages looked down their noses at those of us who rented.  Along with the snooty stares grew the perception that renters were less dependable, poorer, ready to move at a moment’s notice, even shiftless.  Perhaps one of the pluses rising from the ashes of the mortgage meltdown is the realization that, at least, many of us were being fiscally responsible. 

Nearly 37 million families rent instead of own property.  While affordability may drive part of their decision, for many its about lifestyle choices.  Renters avoid the hidden costs of having a mortgage; they have proximity to urban amenities; they want to maintain a simpler, less cluttered life; or they want to connect to a diverse group of people. 

Long before the financial crisis though, renters provide communities with value just as homeowners do.  Without rental properties, businesses can have difficulties attracting workers, particularly at the various income levels required for the occupations that sustain any community.  Since prospective employees put the length of a commute in their top 6 decision factors in accepting a job, renting can offer critical talent the opportunity to live near their workplace.   Additionally, opportunities to rent reduce urban sprawl and revitalize communities, even making them “green”.   Researchers are now dispelling our misconceptions about renters recently finding that mobile economies are actually thriving economies.  And as for the mortgage-holding holdouts, the Center for Housing Policy found that affordable rental units cause neighboring property values to remain stable or increase. 

Need some support with the mortgage?  Take a renter to lunch.

There is always a gift, even in the worst situations.  As experienced baby boomers are laid-off, they are providing agencies that broker temporary employees the talent and disciplines to expand.   While perhaps too expensive to retain full-time, employers are snapping up Boomer skills and knowledge on a temporary basis.   For those contemplating the next phase in your career, you might want to consider making temporary engagements your full-time work.

Even though I grew up as a poor kid, I think my parents would have said we were “middle class”.  Too young to understand caste systems, it seemed that “middle class” was used as a benign label to describe a vast majority of people in the US who were hard-working and down-to-earth - the backbone of the country.  And yet, even in this period before uber-consumerism, you knew you were poorer than your playmates.  While we seem to want to think we don’t have class distinctions in the US, over the last decades, we all have the sense that the gulf between the rich and the poor is becoming a chasm. 

Deja vu feelings flooded back as I watched the CBS special report on Children of the Recession and a recent talk show addressing how many of us have already dropped a class.  Even the rich are worried, according to one of their own.  So if we all rise and fall together, does it matter what benign label describes us?  

Yes.  Not only are we not rising and falling together, our overall standard of living is evaporating.  Baby boomers may be retiring to a lower class and younger generations may be living a tarnished American dream.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/business/childofrecession/main504103.shtml

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine has introduced new data that the suicide rate among those 40 to 64 is on the rise.   Although unclear as to the reasons, the study indicates that baby boomers may be more prone to depression and drug abuse than other generations. 

If you or someone you love is acting overly pessimistic, hopeless or angry; using alcohol or drugs more frequently; making impulsive decisions or giving away prized possessions, contact a mental health professional who can help you work through your concerns.