MATURE MARKET HEADLINES POSTED 06/09/97
Surrendering to Motherhood
Like many people of her generation who came of age with women's liberation and the sexual revolution, Iris Krasnow wanted it all and got most of it ... an aerobicized body, exotic boyfriends, and a glamorous job as a feature writer for United Press International.
Her beat was to interview the famous and powerful, from Yoko Ono to Billy Graham to Queen Noor of Jordan. Yet the higher she climbed on the career ladder, the emptier she felt deep inside. It took marriage and motherhood and the birth of four sons in quick succession to give her the spiritual fulfillment and grounding happiness she had been searching to discover all her life.
Her children captured her, and she surrendered, leaving the adrenaline-laced field of daily journalism. "There is nothing we can do more powerful, or liberating, as women than to surrender to being there, fully and forcefully, for our children." Not exactly your typical Boomer, Me Generation stuff. It's all in her new book, "Surrendering to Motherhood: losing your mind, finding your soul" (Miramax Books, $22.95).
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Crime Prevention in Nursing Homes
Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, president of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), and Dr. Paul Willging, executive vice president of the American Health Care Association (AHCA), recently announced an unprecedented national partnership between law enforcement and the long term care industry in the United States to prevent abuse and neglect in nursing home facilities.
The centerpiece fob the partnership is the development of federal legislation establishing a national registry and criminal background check system for applicants for jobs at nursing homes and other long term care facilities.
There are 17,000 nursing facilities in the U.S., serving 1.5 million elderly and disabled people. Since the NAAG and AHCA began working on this issue more than three years ago, the total number of abuse allegations involving employees of long term care facilities filed in the state of Massachusetts has dropped 20 percent.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts
There's another tax-saving, estate planning tool that today's pre-retirees and post-retirees need to know about. The tool is called an "Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust". According to Certified Financial Planner, Peter Harris and CPA, Ronald Rockower, a life insurance trust consists of a trust document that must by its terms be irrevocable.
The trust is named the beneficiary of the life insurance and the trust sets forth how the insurance proceeds will be distributed. When the insured is married, the trust typically gives the surviving spouse the right to the income earned on the insurance proceeds for his or her life, and then at the death of the surviving spouse, the principal of the trust is distributed to the decedent's children.
The trustee is generally given the right to distribute principal of the trust to the surviving spouse for his or her health, education, maintenance or support. When the surviving spouse dies, the principal in the trust will not be subject to tax on the surviving spouse's estate. Source: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Family Tree Maker
Everyone can leave a personal legacy with the use of the new "Family Tree Maker" (Nolo Press, $89.99). Family Tree Maker preserves all kinds of favorite memories, including written stories, photos, scanned documents such as birth certificates, sound clips such as a recording of a child's first words, and even home video clips. These memories are used to print heirloom-quality family trees and custom reports.
Once the user of this computer program enters all the information about living relatives, the Family Tree Maker has an Online component that helps find your ancestors. Some of the resources used to trace your family history include: Family Tree CDs with over 12,000 family trees, CDs with the U.S. Social Security Death Index, Family Finder Index of 115 million names from government records and actual family trees.
There is also a website http://www.familytreemaker.com where a community of hundreds of thousands of family history enthusiasts share information and advice. For more information, visit the family treemaker website.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Tips for Mature Travelers
Grand Circle Travel is offering a free copy of "Going Abroad: 101 Tips for Mature Travelers" to anyone aged 50 and older who is planning a trip overseas. The free resource booklet is filled with information designed to help make travel as carefree as possible. Written for both first-time and experienced travelers, the booklet answers the most common questions that seniors have on trip preparation, home security, packing, converting money, shopping, transportation, photography, communciations, customs regulations, and more.
Also included are special sections on Cruise Travel and Health/Fitness. Here's a few of the booklet's many tips.
Packing: pack some of your traveling companion's clothes in your bag, and vice versa. That way, if one bag is lost, you'll still have something to wear.
Money Conversion: overseas banks usually give you the best exchange rates, much better than do an exchange bureau, hotel, or airport. Even better, if you can use your ATM card overseas, you'll get the bank's wholesale rate and can save up to 7% over the retail rate. For a free copy of the "101 Tips" booklet, call: 1-800-248-3737.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Assisted Living is a Booming Industry
Assisted living, a special blend of housing, healthcare, and services for the elderly, is successfully filling a growing niche in the seniors housing market ... the frail elderly. According to an industry survey commissioned by the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) and conducted by Coopers & Lybrand, occupancy rates of assisted living facilities remain at 92%. Occupancy rates for the rapidly-growing number of Alzheimer's units is even higher, 98% in some parts of the country.
The findings illustrate that assisted living residents are requiring and receiving higher levels of care, including assistance with problems which previously necessitated a nursing home, such as incontinence, medication management, and dementia. Between 1993 and 1996, the percentage of incontinent residents doubled from 15% to 30%. During the same time period, the average age of residents increased by one year from 82 to 83 years.
In addition, more than 70% of residents live within 20 miles of a family member, encouraging continued involvement of family members. At a average fee of $72 per day, assisted living compares favorably to home health care ($83 per visit), and skilled nursing home care ($111 per day).
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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What's Your Fitness Personality?
In order to develop a successful exercise routine you must select activities that suit your personal style, according to Dr. Carole Lieberman, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute. After 50, if you have an easy-going, relaxed outlook, you're not likely to be happy smashing balls on a racquetball court. On the other hand, a hard-driving, competitive spirit won't be satisfied with a yoga session.
Here are five fitness personalities along with exercise routines that experts recommend for each type.
- Self-confident Personality: you have a healthy regard for yourself and would like to appear strong and confident. When you look and feel your best, your self-esteem soars. Recommended routine: strength training.
- Hard-charging Personality: you look on fitness as serious business, not mere recreation. Because you have a strong competitive streak, you like to keep close track of your progress ... and then break your own record by working faster, harder or longer next time. Recommended routine: muscle toning.
- Controlling Personality: you believe that you are in full command of your body, and staying well is important to you. To maintain your youthful vigor, you watch your diet carefully, see your doctor for regular checkups and tend to exercise through pain. Recommended routine: bicycling and swimming.
- Introspective Personality: you have a spiritual side and see exercise as a good way to get in touch with your body. A bit of a loner, you're happiest with sports you can do away from the distractions of other people. Meditative forms of exercise relax and revitalize you. Recommended routine: Tai Chi.
- Gregarious Personality: to you, meeting new people or being with friends makes exercise pleasurable. Hiking along a lonely trail holds little allure for you. You'd rather have someone at your side to share the experience. Recommended routine: walking/jogging with a friend.
Source: New Choices magazine.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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AgeVenture News Service, 21946 Pine Trace, Boca Raton, FL 33428 USA
Dr. David Demko, Editor
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