Bridging Generations: How Tech Takes Care of Seniors Now



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Canada has reached a census milestone: for the first time in history, seniors outnumber the nation’s children. Even more startling: within three years, this will be true worldwide. It’s already old news in Japan, where people 65+ plus comprise a fourth of the population and are on track to reach 40 percent, due to the longest global life expectancy, and birth dearth.

But far from bemoaning the silver tsunami, Japan is innovating in response, from comprehensive long-term care insurance to robotics. As this recent Reverse Focus video explains, combining LTC insurance with a HELOC can make a great deal of sense. Caregiving will become a real, possibly urgent need if we live long enough, and we will need the money to pay for it.

However, given the shortage of human caregivers where they are most needed, technology can help bridge the gap in myriad creative ways. From animatronic pets to compassionate robots, startups are stepping up to support the rising tide of older adults — especially those who are lonely.

11_elliqForecast: Cloudy and Clear 

Developed in Belgium and now available stateside, Cubigo is a cloud-based, interactive platform that helps elders living at home remain independent and socially connected.

Cubigo connects seniors, caregivers, family and businesses in an easy-to-use, modular interface that allows each user to choose among a broad set of functions. A senior can make video calls, order meals or transportation, track and share medical data, create medication reminders, and much more — all in one place. All someone needs is a digital device (laptop, tablet, smartphone) and an Internet connection. It’s a simple, secure, self-directed way for an elder who needs minimal assistance to manage at home without a caregiver.

Driven to Serve Seniors

Once a senior has Cubigo, they’ll need a transportation service to order — and there is one “made to order” for older adults: GoGoGrandparent. GoGoGrandparent monitors and customizes on-demand transportation such as Uber for older audiences and their families.

In addition to custom pick ups and automatic scheduling for recurring rides (e.g., medical appointments), GoGoGrandparent provides by-the-minute text updates to designated family members so they know precisely where Mom or Grandma is en route. Service is available throughout the US and Canada — a potential client can check location availability by plugging their zip code into the site’s search page — and GoGo adds a $.19/minute concierge fee to the Uber fare.

Bot Can They Play Bridge?

Robots already play a valued role in our lives for automated housekeeping tasks. But they’re light-years away from demonstrating sentience, like Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation — right?

Perhaps not. The legions of aging adults also means a steep rise in dementia, and a care robot can be an unobtrusive companion that also reminds a senior to drink enough water, take medication on time, and eat three meals a day. In the UK, the Chiron Project is developing a set of “modular robotic systems” designed for home care with dignity — not quite a Data-like android, but still a bot that “gets it”.

And while Data often despaired of his ability to master human emotion, the ElliQ is being designed to do just that: provide emotional support to seniors who want to age in place. After choosing to apply for a reverse mortgage, this desktop bot could be the most valuable later life decision an elder makes. The active aging companion keeps elders actively engaged. And yes, ElliQ can play bridge!

The Perfect Pet: No Feeding, No Clean-up

Several years ago we featured virtual “pet companion” GeriJoy, a remote caregiving service that provides seniors who have mild dementia with an adorable animal avatar who will engage with the elder on demand, via tablet or laptop.

The caregivers providing companionship and oversight via GeriJoy are highly trained, compassionate, and available to monitor an older loved one 24/7. Unlike actual pets, they speak English, and can alert the emergency contact person in the event of a change in behavior or a fall.

But sometimes, only the real deal will do. Joy For All Companion Pets has this handled, with animatronic pets that deliver tactile and auditory stimulation to seniors with dementia.

Joy For All dispenses with leash and litter box; their pets simply dispense love. These animatronic animals provide comfort, a calming influence, and happiness, often evoking memories of beloved living pets from the past. They’re amazingly lifelike, especially the cat, which purrs and meows just like an actual feline — but won’t jump off a senior’s lap (and probably doesn’t shed, either).

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Chasing the Carrot: We Catch It In Our Late 60s



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Are you happy? It’s one of life’s perennial questions. The Declaration of Independence promises us the right to pursue happiness, but doesn’t guarantee its attainment. Instead, the Founding Fathers held out a carrot on a stick.

Money, like love and happiness, is one of life’s carrots: sometimes elusive, always sought, deliciously sweet when obtained. But if you believe happiness peaks in, say, our thirties, when we’re in our physical prime and often settled into a cushy career and family life, you’d be wrong.

According to a study conducted by the London School of Economics and Political Science, we’re happiest at 69… which is exactly three times the previous happiest age: 23. The U-shaped curve reflects unmet aspirations: just starting out, people overestimate where they’ll be later in life; post-retirement, people abandon regrets and experience the obverse of a shiny, expectant twenty-something. After age 75, happiness again declines, as people begin to grapple with encroaching mortality.

reverse mortgage news32,000 Days

Personally, I dispute the study’s findings. At 23, having surrendered the relative freedom of student life for 9 to 5, I wondered, “Is this all there is?” I felt resigned and confined, and didn’t start to feel truly happy until I began awakening to my life purpose in my late thirties. I can’t speak to 69 yet; that’s still a few years off.

But if age is less a measure of happiness than attitude and gratitude, it behooves us all to take contentment (or the lack of it) into our own hands, regardless of how many trips around the sun we’ve taken.

One statistic that may help: 8000 days. Joseph Coughlin, director of MIT’s AgeLab, says there are “roughly 8,000 days between birth and college graduation; 8,000 days between college graduation and a midlife crisis; 8,000 days between a midlife crisis and retirement and, if you do retirement planning, another 8,000 days in retirement.” That works out to 87.6 years. Just contemplating these 32,000 ticking days may be enough to jump-start the happiness clock.

A Man With a Plan

Then there’s the iconic T. Boone Pickens, still happily at work on his encore career at 89, who writes, “I’ve long thought in terms of resurgence rather than retirement. One of my longtime associates likes to say, ‘Boone has been in the prime of his life three times.’ Indeed, an imaginary headline has captivated me for years: ‘The Old Man Makes a Comeback.’ And I have, repeatedly, most recently from mini-strokes I experienced in December.

“I hope that I can serve as a role model for how to live in the fourth quarter of life. The rewards are beyond anything I experienced as a ‘young man.’ Age is meaningless in some instances. I didn’t make my first billion until I was 70. Opportunity comes in many forms, and in America it is endless. We are allowed second, third, fourth, and fifth acts — and who knows how many more.

“I’ve lived by a watch that tells time a bit differently. I embrace change. Those facing retirement age don’t need a new watch but rather a different outlet. You can stay around as long as you stay active — and, of course as I’ve mentioned time and again — you have a plan.”

The New York Times’ New Old Age blog agrees: it’s moments, not money, that make later life memorable. Of course, not having to worry about the money makes it easier to enjoy the moments, and that’s where a HECM comes in.

The Wisdom to Relax

Resurgence requires resilience, and this ability to be flexible springs from a yoga of the mind. An enduring piece of guidance that has helped millions of people of all ages is the Serenity Prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change / Courage to change the things I can / And the wisdom to know the difference.”

Happiness arises when elders are able to relax into change and allow themselves to step into new roles later in life, as Pickens and William Shatner exemplify. This may mean releasing frustrations with technology or the behavior of younger people who may be hurried — or less thoughtful than warranted.

One LO reflects, “I am finding as I get older that I am more easily frustrated with minor mishaps, and more impatient with things such as kids acting up in restaurants, and not being corrected by accompanying adults. People who are so busy looking down at their phones while stopped at a traffic light that they don’t go when the light changes…and because of their delay I get stuck with another light change cycle.

“My solution now is to try to ignore it and recall the Reader’s Digest article from many years ago that asked, ‘Is it worth it?'”

So if you’re meeting with youthful potential borrowers (or their kids) who are planning well as they approach retirement, you can let them know their happiest moments likely lie ahead. It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with a reverse mortgage per se. But knowing this financial resource is available will certainly make that carrot taste sweeter.

 

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Retirement Wizardry: Where the Smart Money Meets Reverse Mortgage Magic



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As 10,000 baby boomers a day turn 65 (a phenomenon that began in 2011 and continues through 2029), retirement savings — or the lack thereof — continues to be grist for financial columnists nationwide. And while writers tout the importance of scrupulous saving — this chart shows the median net worth of a householder aged 65-69 to be just under $200,000 — what these actuarial tables fail to take into account is the noteworthy John Lennon lyric: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Someone still shy of retirement age may have had every intention of going grandly into a well-cushioned old age, saving and investing diligently — and been wiped out by a health crisis not covered by insurance, an economic downturn, or an act of nature (e.g., fire, flood, tornado).

Screen Shot 2017-06-27 at 1.49.25 PMYou probably know at least one person who fits this profile, if not half a dozen. They’ve saved sincerely, and life intervened. With Social Security becoming benefit negative by 2020, and more seniors being urged to wait until age 70 to apply for it, the need for the reverse mortgage option is growing.

Yet many older Americans are still reluctant to tap their home equity. Lack of understanding typically underpins such reticence. Granted, the HECM is complex. But many older adults may need to take a step back initially, to assess what aging in place means, whether they are best suited to doing so, and how to begin readying their lives and home for the next life stage.

The rest of this post directly addresses your prospects. You are welcome to post it on your own reverse mortgage website or blog, or use the material in emails and presentations, to help open the reverse mortgage conversation.

Aging in Place with Aplomb

For people who are healthy and want to remain in their own home as they grow older, a reverse mortgage can help make this a reality. The first step is determining whether aging in place is in your best interest.

Here are 7 guidelines a homeowner can use to decide whether they want to age in place, and if so, whether to explore a reverse mortgage. Aging in place can serve you well if:

  1. You have sufficient equity in your home to qualify for a reverse mortgage, also known as a HECM (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage);
  2. Your health is generally good, and you’re mobile;
  3. You have a network of local family, friends, and neighbors you can rely on;
  4. You drive — or public transportation is readily accessible;
  5. You live in a safe neighborhood;
  6. Your home can be modified to address changing needs;
  7. You’re outgoing, well connected, and able to reach out for social support.

A House That Adapts to Your Needs

Home modification is important, even — especially — if you’re healthy and active now. Our bodies and needs change over time. Someone who is spry in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s may be glad their house “ages with them” as they grow older.

A few simple home modifications can make a big difference. These features, elements of what’s known as “universal design,” can affordably retrofit your home for greater safety and peace of mind:

  • Grab bars, especially in the shower and bathtub;
  • Hand rails. People can slip at any age and take a tumble; as we age, this can result in a broken hip or worse;
  • Ramps. They can also be installed temporarily if someone needs to use a wheelchair for a short time, such as when recovering from surgery;
  • Door widening to accommodate wheelchairs, walkers, and four-pronged canes;
  • Low thresholds to avoid tripping, and to make it easier to navigate with assistive devices (walkers, canes, etc.);
  • Kitchen and bathroom modifications to make cabinets easier to reach, floors less slippery.

Your Purse-onal PERS 

You may be familiar with personal emergency response systems (PERS), which are usually sold as a pendant, bracelet or watch you can wear to summon help in an emergency. Now there’s a PERS equivalent for your finances.

SilverBills, a startup founded by an attorney and CPA whose mission is to help people age with dignity and security, makes it easy to pay bills accurately and on time. The digital service deducts payments from your existing bank account or from an escrow account that SilverBills establishes for you with an FDIC-insured bank; they do not have access to your bank account. You also have a dedicated, specially trained customer support representative — a skilled “business assistant” to help ensure you’re protected from financial fraud.

Do You Believe In Magic?

Fans of the Harry Potter books may not realize that Hogwarts’ headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, also knew something about smart retirement planning. (That’s what happens when you live to be 150.)

For those of us with somewhat shorter potential lifespans, Dumbledore says, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Even saving $25 a week at 5-percent compound daily interest will grow to $41,302 in 20 years’ time, a nice adjunct to your HECM loan.

Take heart (and inspiration) from an extraordinary 18-year-old, who saved $85,000 working part-time jobs since age eight — while going to school and volunteering at a retirement home, where she started a Cyber Seniors program to help residents learn technology.

So save what you can, be smart about managing your finances, and keep your wand handy. With equity in your home and a positive aging in place profile, the HECM option can transform money concerns into real retirement magic.

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I See What You Mean: “Vision”ary Elder Tech



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reverse mortgage newsGenomics. Virtual symptom trackers. Socially assistive robots. With the average human lifespan now twice what it was just over a century ago, and the elder population exploding, it makes sense that health care disrupting companies would be taking aim at the forefront of disease treatment and personalized patient care. But what do seniors and the aging care industry really need from digital health providers?

Technology needs to ask, “What problem are we trying to solve?” says Dr. Bruce Chernoff, CEO of the Scan Foundation, a charitable organization devoted to transforming elder care in ways that preserve dignity and encourage independence.

“People come up to me all the time with 1.0 technology solutions in a 2.0 problem environment. Slapping an app on Meals on Wheels is not a 2.0 solution. Figuring out the different reasons why someone is hungry in the first place, and designing technology tools around that — like how to get them in touch with transportation, how to get them in touch with their community, what sort of support they need at home — those are 2.0 solutions.” 

Don’t Turn a Blind Eye to Vision Health 

While a futuristic body scanner might supplant a primary care provider for some healthy seniors, lower-tech yet crucial health care needs may be being overlooked. Such as eyesight.

As we’ve discussed before, seniors outlive their ability to drive safely by an average 7 to 10 years, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). That’s a long time to be at risk on the road, both for a senior’s own health and safety and that of everyone else. At least some of the rise in risk is likely due to diminished vision, which, as with all other aspects of aging, occurs gradually and thus flies under most people’s radar. 

Elder night driving is particularly dangerous, because the retina of an 80-year-old receives a fraction of the light of a 20-year-old. Contrast sensitivity also declines. Thus, driving at night is equivalent to driving with sunglasses on. Factor in slower reaction time and potential distractions, and you have a recipe for road disaster.

See for Yourself

Because Americans 50 and older evince “an alarming lack of concern” for preventive eye care, according to the CDC — and because a number of states do not require even a cursory vision screening to renew a driver’s license — it behooves perceptive HECM professionals to mention this subject to family members of senior clients, prospects, and friends, if their older loved ones still drive. Granted, preventive eye exams are not covered by Medicare or most private insurance, but healthy eyes are as precious an investment in the future as a reverse mortgage.

“What’s sadder than working your whole life, getting ready to retire and developing something like macular degeneration, where you lose your central vision?” asks Peter J. McDonnell, M.D., director of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins.

By 2050, the number of Americans who are blind or visually impaired is expected to double, to more than eight million. Encourage your HECM clients and friends to get their eyes examined. It might be a good idea to make an appointment for yourself, too. Because no AI can substitute for seeing the world through your own eyes.

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Caregiving: Who Will Take Care of Me When I’m Old?



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post imageSince 1989, eldercare expert Joy Loverde has been promoting the causes, concepts, and needs of an aging population. Author of the forthcoming, Who Will Take Care Of Me When I’m Old? (October 2017) Loverde specializes in new-product development and consults with mature-market advisors, health care providers, senior housing administrators, product manufacturers, and other members of the fast-growing eldercare advisory industry.

Despite our ongoing focus on reinventing retirement, Loverde maintains that 50 is NOT the new 30, and planning ahead is essential.

“We’re each going to have an extra 30 years, and if we don’t want to age like our parents, what are we planning to do?” She recommends we ask ourselves “4 Big Questions”:

  • When am I old? What’s my aging set point?
  • Who am I now? You may be married, but get divorced or be widowed. You may be single, and get married. You may adopt a pet.
  • What’s all this age for, anyway? This is the era of the solo citizen — and if we’re not aging alone now, we probably will be if we live long enough.
  • Who will be my advocate? People who are in our lives now may not be there tomorrow. How do we plan for a revolving door of people throughout our lives?

Retirement and Old Age Are Not the Same

Planning for old age is not the same as planning for retirement, says Loverde. In an era where we can easily live an entire generation beyond when we stop working, we need two distinct sets of life plans.

To plan for old age, start with your caregiving years. What did you learn from caring for parents, grandparents, spouse/partner, in-laws, friends, neighbors, etc.? What would you do differently? The advantage of having this perspective is, it brings midlife professionals and those approaching sixty up close and personal with old age: money, housing, legal paperwork, end-of-life issues.

The elderly have long been invisible, often, sadly, by their own design. In an emergency, such as the Chicago heat wave of 1995, many “invisible” elders perished because they did not open their doors when people knocked to check on them.

Aging Advocacy

What is a senior’s plan to remain visible in old age? As a reverse mortgage professional, this is an important inquiry for your clients and prospects, especially if they do not have any younger family members. A senior must be “on purpose” about being seen; they cannot assume someone will recognize their needs.

One way is to develop relationships with people of all ages earlier in life. My lifelong friend Ellie was 44 years my senior, yet we were sisters and best friends; she was always interested in learning what was going on in others’ lives, and as a consequence, had many acquaintances and friends across the age spectrum. Even in her final years, she wasn’t alone or lonely. “Seniors must create a purposeful lifestyle. Be vital. Be of importance in your community. Be a part of the solution,” says Loverde.

How do you find an advocate? A guardian of your goals? An advocate is distinct from a caregiver, yet might also be someone you hire: an elder law expert, for example, or someone from a professional advocacy group.

The key is to plan ahead, and never stop the planning process. Once you have someone in place as POA and have filled out an advance directive, review it at least annually to make sure it’s still what you want.

Aging In Place Necessitates Action

Planning also means readying your home for your later years now, reminds Louis Tenenbaum, a leading authority on aging in place and founder of HomesRenewed, a coalition of business, government, non-profit and consumer stakeholders.

One of the first contractors to dedicate his remodeling business to aging in place in the early 1990s, Tenenbaum became curious about why such a good idea had so little traction in the marketplace. He researched the intersection of aging, housing, services, consumer motivation and market incentives, which led him to launch HomesRenewed.

“The bulk of long-term care will occur in single family, owner occupied homes…but the homes are not prepared,” according to a Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Encourage your HECM clients and prospects who desire to age in place to be aware and prepare! The more interconnected, interdependent, and interested in planning they are, the more enjoyable and engaging their future is likely to be.

Finally, says Loverde, make every effort to stay as healthy as you can for as long as you can, which will lessen the need for assistance later on.

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Late-Blooming Genius: Gut Truth About the “Now” Old Age



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It’s a great time to grow old: the discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes the DNA on our telomeres (the tiny “shoelace caps” that shorten with age), is a massive step forward for longevity. And nonagenarians, no longer a novelty, are blazing trails in business and technology. Like 94-year-old physicist John Goodenough, who recently filed a patent for a new kind of battery that may revolutionize electric cars and end our dependence on fossil fuel.

Yet despite these breakthroughs, we’re far from creating a nation of brilliant centenarians. Why? Take a look at how we live, says Deepak Chopra, M.D. Our telomeres are at high risk if we:

  • Are exposed to severe life stress

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    How old are your DNA telomeres?
  • Have a history of being treated for anxiety or depression
  • Lack social support from friends and family
  • Lead a sedentary lifestyle with no regular exercise
  • Suffer from chronic insomnia, or sleep fewer than 7 hours a night
  • Consume a diet high in fat, processed foods and sugar, without sufficient fiber and omega-3 fatty acids
  • Are exposed to cigarette smoke, pesticides, and other chemical toxins.

While seniors in their eighties and beyond may be exempt from some aspects of this list, it describes many Boomers, the oldest of whom are now past 70, to a “T”. And that doesn’t bode well for a healthy old age.

What we can learn from indigenous cultures

Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., a medical anthropologist, psychologist, and shaman, studied indigenous cultures in the Amazon and Andes for more than thirty years. To his surprise, he found zero cancer, zero heart disease, and zero dementia. What he discovered goes hand-in-glove with telomere research.

Seniors (or anyone, of any age) can “grow a new body using ancient healing secrets,” says Villoldo. “Modern medicine does not look after our health; it looks after our disease. If you live to be 85 today, 50 percent of the population will have diagnosable Alzheimer’s: a terrifying thought when you realize that 150 years ago, Dr. Alzheimer hadn’t even been born! A senior cannot explore higher consciousness, or even feel good about themselves, if they have Alzheimer’s disease.”

How can we prevent these extraordinary “killers of civilization”, so our health span equals our lifespan? In two primary ways, says Villoldo:

1)   Detoxify. We’ve been exposed to huge amounts of toxins in the last century: heavy metals such as mercury (in fish, dental fillings, and pollution generated from coal burning in China); lead plumbing, aluminum cookware, pesticides. Sugar is equivalent to a recreational drug; it’s eight times as addictive as cocaine. A century ago, we consumed five pounds of sugar per person per year; today, each of us eats 195 pounds of sugar a year! Sugar switches off the longevity gene in our cells. As we detoxify, we begin to trigger the natural production of stem cells in the body.

2)   Give the body what it needs. Omega 3 fatty acids and neuro-nutrients (superfoods) trigger the production of stem cells in your brain, says Villoldo. “You need to be able to feed your higher brain. The lower, limbic brain lives in scarcity and greed, is not able to forgive because of resentment and rage: this brain feeds on sugars. To get to the higher states of consciousness where you can dream your world into being with beauty and grace, you need to turn on the higher order neural networks, which feed on good fats: coconut oil, avocado oil. Once you engage it fully, the brain fog goes away.”

The plant medicines he recommends:

  • Curcumin (found in the spice turmeric)
  • Resveratrol (found in the skin of grapes)
  • Sulforaphane (a compound found in cruciferous vegetables, e.g., broccoli and cabbage)

All three are becoming popular dietary supplements. “In the laboratory, we found these plants switched on more than 200 longevity genes inside the cells, and switched off more than 500 genes that create disease: breast cancer, heart disease, inflammation.”

Surely you jest!

Ed Park, M.D., M.P.H., would no doubt agree with Villoldo’s assessment. Credentialed from Harvard and Columbia, Park didn’t think much about aging, or question prevailing doctrine, until his father was diagnosed with brain cancer when Park was 38. At that moment, he began studying telomeres. As the 19th patient and the first doctor to begin using a telomerase activator, his mission is to “convey a new, unified theory of aging and disease based on telomeres and stem cells.”

Yet despite his faith in telomerase, he champions the importance of gut-level healing. “If exercise and diet are the king and queen, the immune system is maybe the jester!” he says.

His 5-point prescription for increasing telomerase activity without supplementation:

1)   Practice peace, love and understanding

2)   Focus the mind on your breath: this puts you in the moment and relaxes you

3)   Laughter: Dr. Park ran into an old flame he hadn’t seen in 25 years, and she “hadn’t aged a day. She laughed at the end of every sentence,” he says. Similarly, a 112-year-old lady he had the pleasure of meeting was telling dirty jokes and cracking people up!

4)   Gratitude: being able to go with the flow and make something positive out of whatever happens

5)   Sleep! Deep sleep, for at least 8 hours a night, allows the body to repair itself. It’s a myth, he says, that older people need less sleep; the exact opposite is often true.

Exceptions that become the new norm

Ninety-year-old Louise Hay, a mentor of mine for 30 years, writes, “I have come to learn that premature aging begins in your mind. A San Francisco medical school discovered that the way we age is not determined by genes, but by something called the aging set point — a biological clock that exists in our minds. This mechanism actually monitors when and how we begin to age by how we think. The set point, or aging clock, is regulated in large part by one important factor: our attitudes toward growing old.

“For instance, if you believe 35 is middle-aged, this belief triggers biological changes in your body that cause it to accelerate the aging process when you reach 35. Isn’t it fascinating! Somewhere, somehow, we decide what is ‘middle age’ and what is ‘old age.’ I have this image in my mind that I am going to live to 96 and still be active, so it’s very important that I keep myself healthy.”

If one or more of your reverse mortgage clients is envisioning an encore career well beyond what used to be “retirement age,” the new wisdom about gut health, telomeres and mindset may help you support their evolving perspective. An 82-year-old restaurateur and techno DJ, for instance, is having a blast. One young club patron enthuses, “She’s got this energy that goes beyond age, that can equal any person here.” Sumiko Iwamuro has been running her restaurant for 60 years, but only started DJ’ing in her 70s — after a year of training.

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Alive Inside! The Old, the Young, the Disenfranchised…and Music



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The idea for Alive Inside!, a documentary about the effects of music on elders with dementia, began with 94-year-old Henry, who was unresponsive and “had been parked in the hallway of a nursing home for ten years,” says writer/director/producer Michael Rossato-Bennett.

When nursing home staff put headphones on Henry, connected to an iPod filled with songs from his youth, pathways in his brain lit up. He became animated, talking, singing, reciting poetry. This man, who had been virtually inert, said joyously, “Music gives me the feeling of love! I figure right now the world needs to come into music, singing. You’ve got beautiful music here. I feel a band of love, dreams.”

The relationship between music and memory

The protagonist of a novel describes hereverse mortgage newsr mother’s descent into dementia as, “The memories are there but she’s lost the index card, so 1925 is not much different than 2012.”

For the four million elders currently living with dementia at home, and the 680,000 in nursing homes, music is that index card. It may behoove your HECM clients and prospects who are concerned about cognitive impairment to learn how music favorably influences mental functioning.

People with dementia lose their forebrain; what a senior is left with is the deeper emotional systems, Rossato-Bennett explains. “People with dementia are still emotionally alive inside. Their heart remembers. Music is this channel that allows us to dive into our emotional beings. It exists in our DNA, but it’s put together by using all of our brain.

“Music ignites more parts of the human brain than any other stimulus: emotional, cognitive (with lyrics), rhythmic movement. Think of it this way: you’re in your mother’s belly with your head up against a drum for nine months. Babies come out laughing in the same cadence as their mother. Music is innate.”

Deeper connection across the generations

The human population pyramid has morphed. For millennia, it consisted of very few elders on top, and a wide swath of young people on the bottom. Everything flowed from this relationship.

Now, as the creator of assisted living observes, the pyramid has become a rectangle, and for the first time in history, a one-to-one relationship between old and young is possible. “It isn’t just, how do I find meaning as I become older: this is a shift in the environment that our species in inhabiting,” Rossato-Bennett explains.

He’s connecting disenfranchised young people with disenfranchised older people, and “the explosive magic that happens when we put them together” is the subject of his upcoming film sequel, “Alive Inside2”.

Elders want to engage across the life spectrum, not just with people their own age. Pairing young and old allows youngsters to positively affect older adults for the first time in their lives, and the mutual benefits can be profound. One 10-year-old girl Rossato-Bennett filmed said, “It was so amazing to me, to be with someone (the elder) who paid attention to only me.”

He affirms, “We’re just beginning the awakening that is possible.”

Tweaking the Aging Brain

This infographic indicates how the brain changes over time, and what we can do to slow the decline. Like Alive Inside, businesses, especially in the tech sector, are imagining new ways to reach beyond dementia to contact the person within, often incorporating music, such as this tablet app from Grey Matters. There is even a musical apothecary, which views music as medicine that can be dispensed without a prescription.

And sometimes, the connection between old and young has less to do with mental impairment than lifestyle. That’s what prompted 82-year-old Patrick O’Halloran, a former Jesuit priest and clinical psychologist, to connect beyond his cohort group: “I need to talk to Millennials,” he says. “At the senior center, I can sit down and schmooze, talk about jitterbugging. But it’s all the same perspective.”

While we wait for the cultural tides to turn, O’Halloran reached out as a result of a bad habit: letting the mail (and bills) pile up. He heard about linkAges, an intergenerational connectivity platform, signed up, and the first volunteer, a student at a nearby university, arrived with three of her friends. O’Halloran ordered pizza, and the quartet spent the day swapping stories. “It’s really fun, to be able to go back and forth like that,” O’Halloran says. “I have something to give and share, and I have something to gain.”

Reimagining Retirement: Encore Careers At Any Age



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For many people, the seventh and eighth decades of life are a work renaissance, as a recent New York Times piece makes clear. And while older adults, particularly women, do need the money, many members of this seasoned, savvy cohort are having “way too much fun” to retire.

Consider Laura, 71, who’s on the verge of her fourth career. She was a technology pioneer in the 1960s, and after thirty years in the field made a 180-degree pivot to run a retreat center. At 62, she took the Waldorf teacher training and became certified as a Waldorf teacher; she tutors students out of her home. She’s thinking her final career reinvention will be as an editor. But given how young, healthy and unpasteurized she is, who knows?

Look at Erni Stollberg, who became a model and Instagram sensation at 95. That redefines “aging with style” — just like model Lauren Hutton, a Calvin Klein underwear model at 73.

Then there’s Ed, 70, who has been running his high-end wood finishing business for 45 years. He’s tired of the high stress, of customers with 28-room houses bleating, “This shade of stain isn’t quite right…” He’s remodeling his own house and plans to rent it out and live in the granny unit, which will provide an income stream (and there’s always the reverse mortgage option for later on). How will he spend his newfound time and freedom?

“I’m going to sell tamales, either from a food truck or a stand,” he enthuses. It seems like a radical shift, but to Ed, the main ingredient is a lack of stress. “People love tamales, and that’s all I’m going to sell. They’ll come to me because they love what I’m selling. It’s a win-win.” And a retirement plan quite distinct from what a 70-year-old might have done just a generation ago.

reverse mortgage newsThe Not-So-Quiet Revolution 

Several years ago, when encore careers exponent Marc Freedman wrote about how mature adults are navigating the new stage beyond midlife, the idea of pressing the reset button and jumping into a whole new chapter was fairly unusual.

Now the avant-garde has hit the mainstream. Dorian Mintzer, a leading-edge Boomer at 71, created Revolutionizing Retirement when she realized her retirement was very different from that of her parents: a journey, as Laura, Erni, Ed and many others exemplify, and not a destination. Retirement reinvention isn’t static — and it needn’t be serial.

Mintzer has a “portfolio career” as a retirement/money/relationship coach, consultant, speaker, writer and teacher who works with individuals and couples to navigate pre-retirement and retirement transition issues. Too many women are frustrated by a spouse’s loose ends once he or she retires and is under foot all day. Mintzer’s maxim appeals to her cohorts: “I married you for better or for worse, but not for lunch.”

She also founded the first virtual positive aging community, Boomers and Beyond (which has been meeting since 2007), and in 2012, the Revolutionize your Retirement Interview with Experts Series to help older adults create a fulfilling second half. Interest was so strong the calls are recorded for repeat listening.

“Sixty is not the new forty; we are who we are, and we do not want to be called seniors!” Mintzer says with verve. “Grandma” doesn’t sit well with many youthful Boomer women, either. In response, some senior centers are changing their names, to, for example, “Boomers and Beyond”.

Not Who You Were, Who You’re Becoming

“We need to harvest the wisdom of life, not the information,” observes Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi. “The planet is glutted with information today. What we need is the wisdom to know how to use that information.”

Even chronic illness doesn’t have to define us. Aware adults can change their dreams and adapt. Multiplatinum singer–songwriter Linda Ronstadt, 70, can no longer sing due to Parkinson’s. Now she speaks and writes to inspire others, and shares what she’s learned during seven fulfilling decades.

By the end of this decade, 20 percent of women over 65 will be in the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If a senior is suddenly single (whether due to death, divorce, or some other circumstance), work is a very important social outlet; it’s critical for well-being.

“Work is not a four-letter word; think of it as part of your life plan,” says career transition and personal finance/retirement consultant Kerry Hannon.

The author of Getting the Job You Want After 50 For Dummies and nine other books, Hannon says, “People have a palpable fear of outliving their money. This is the exact opposite of aging in place home retrofits: spend time transitioning!” She outlines a trio of crucial steps:

  1. Financial fitness: downsize, pay down credit card debt. “Debt is the biggest dream killer.” This may be the ideal time to consider/apply for a reverse mortgage.
  2. Physical fitness: You want to “give off a positive vibe” to potential employers — “She’s up for the job!”
  3. Spiritual fitness: Consider a meditation practice or other means to become centered and calm, organized and prepared.

While career reinvention can work really well, as explored above, Hannon advises, “Redeploy, don’t reinvent”. Take skills you already have and see how you can shift them to a new area: a former Naval captain became a manager with the circus, something he loved as a child and relishes in retirement. He merged what he loved with existing skills to transition into a whole new field.

Encore employment isn’t a linear process; more like a patchwork quilt. It’s important that older adults not get stuck in a moment; nothing is forever, and pivoting is not only possible but can be highly rewarding.

Older Americans Month: Celebrating Ageless Perennials



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For most of human history, “aging” wasn’t a hot topic. In the Iron Age, people didn’t live past their twenties. By 1900, the average lifespan was still under 50 in the United States. When President Kennedy designated May as “Senior Citizens Month” in 1963, only 17 million living Americans had reached their 65th birthday, and there were few programs to meet their needs.  

Two years later, President Johnson signed the Older Americans Act (OAA) into law. Under the auspices of the Administration on Aging, the OAA helps promote the well being of older adults by providing community-based services and opportunities to help people live healthy, independent lives. It was a game-changer in every way, from health and wellness programs, to long-term care support, to elder rights protection, and other social services.

Half a century hence, with the Boomer wave graying the globe, OAA funding failed to keep pace with inflation, prompting the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act in 2016, which focuses on:

  • Modernizing multipurpose senior centers
  • Addressing economic needs
  • Stronger elder justice and legal services
  • Chronic disease self-management and falls prevention. 

Clearly, “Older Americans Month” is every month, now. And, appropriately, the 2017 theme is, “Age Out Loud.”

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Doris Day

Brands get it: they’re embracing seniors, aka “Perennials,” in lieu of “overrated” Millennials. Explains trend curator and author Rohit Bhargava, “We should each be described not by the generation we fit into, but based on our interests, passions, and who we are as people.

“Netflix doesn’t target shows or recommendations based on age — they do it based on what they know we like to watch. While not a new idea for any brand that uses psychographics, the term is an elegant way to describe the simple idea that if we are going to be categorized for anything, it should be on what we believe and love instead of what year we happened to be born.” He sounds like a great HECM spokesperson.

Engage, Entertain, Exercise 

Another site that understands the concept of aging out loud is Passport for Wellness, a physical, mental and social program created for “21st century seniors” who are aging in place, or living in an assisted living community.

The virtual travel site streams scenery and sounds of exciting destinations from all over the world, so “travelers” feel like they’re touring while they exercise.

Led by an on-screen host, travelers explore the world through physical movement, memory recall, and trivia questions. Each “episode” incorporates entertaining story lines and interesting experiences from around the world and throughout history. The creative storytelling allows traditional exercises to become an integral part of the immersive, movement-filled activity, providing seniors with a full sensory workout.

Stepping Out of the “Age Discussion”

One creative way mature adults can celebrate Older Americans Month is to simply say, “I’m ageless”. Women’s health expert and author Christiane Northrup, M.D., says there’s actual science behind our culture of ageism — and we can change it.

“We co-author each other’s biology,” Northrup explains. “Our idea of what an age ‘should’ look like programs our biology in a profound way that has been studied. It’s robust research. When you spend time with people who don’t think about their age, all the parameters of health improve: cardiac output, vital capacity with lung function, blood pressure…all of it. Because our body doesn’t know an age.”

Northrup also distinguishes between chronologic age (the age on our driver’s license) and biologic age (the actual age of our cells) — which we have much more control over than we think. Northrup’s mother, now in her 90s, has always been a fitness powerhouse; in her sixties, she had a biologic age of 35.

Northrup’s advice: don’t celebrate milestone birthdays (e.g., 40, 50, 60) because we tend to measure ourselves by some invisible yardstick in terms of health or accomplishments.

Of course, this caveat may be less critical for nonagenarians like Doris Day, who didn’t know her chronological age all her life, until now. “I’ve always said that age is just a number and I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but it’s great to finally know how old I really am!” Day said on the eve of her 95th birthday.

Or, like Ernestine Stollberg, perhaps a mature adult who’s stepped out of the age discussion will discover 95 is the best age to become a model.

The only age an older adult really needs to know, of course, is 62, when they become eligible to apply for a reverse mortgage. Beyond that, you’re as old (or young) as you decide to be.

Ibasho: Creating Communities by Elders for Elders



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How Elder Living is Evolving Part 2

“The paradigm of creating dependence for elders is so ingrained,” says Emi Kiyota, PhD, even those who work in the field may need to be shocked into awareness.

For environmental gerontologist and organizational culture change specialist Kiyota, the wake-up call was witnessing the way her beloved grandmother was treated in a Japanese nursing home: “sitting in the room, waiting for something to happen.” Kiyota realized, “We’re not giving elders an opportunity to contribute: to share their wisdom in a very natural way, where they are encouraged to be a part of the solution for an aging society, rather than us thinking we have to create it all for them.”

From this purposeful fire, Ibasho arose like the proverbial phoenix. Ibasho means “a place where one feels at home being oneself,” where elders belong, to live in safety, comfort, and dignity, valued as a person of full history and experience, says Kiyota. We have two main fears as we age: social isolation, and loss of respect. By viewing elders as resources rather than liabilities, they can become change agents of their own communities.

Sustainable, Replicable Resources

reverse mortgage newsIbasho operates by 8 guiding principles that promote the value of socially integrating elders, and demonstrates the multi-generational social, economic, and environmental benefits of such a community in traditional, developing, and modern societies. They partner with local organizations and communities worldwide to design and create socially integrated and sustainable communities that value their elders.

“We are transforming the model to independence and interdependence, which is a global desire of elders, regardless of culture or area,” says Kiyota. One of her goals: to have a global network of Ibasho Cafés, where people look forward to being “old enough to get into this club.” (Like the Young@Heart Chorus, which requires aspiring members be at least 73 to join.)

“People have capacity, they have resources,” says Kiyota. With the first Ibasho Café completed in Japan, she has grants to replicate the model in the Philippines and Nepal.

Ibasho in America?

The conversation stateside might be:

  • How can we extend Ibasho principles into existing communities, with elders who want to remain in their own homes as they age, perhaps with the help of a reverse mortgage?
  • How can elders age in place and obtain the services they need, without feeling isolated?
  • If someone lives in a community setting, how can we provide the environment and engagement that everyone would like to have?
  • How can we shift social perception to include elders, reimagining the paradigm of “having it done for you,” while respecting and supporting what elders can and want to do?

Says Kiyota, “The next step for Ibasho is to transform affordable housing communities to be much more livable. We have to sit down and ask elders what they really need and want.”

Beyond Assisted Living

Dr. Keren Brown Wilson’s prescription for the future of aging echoes Kiyota’s. Wilson essentially created the concept of assisted living forty years ago as a graduate student in gerontology, when her mother, a nursing home resident at 65 due to a stroke, asked, “Why don’t you do something to help people like me?” Wilson interpreted her words to mean, “Figure out a better way to deliver long-term care.” She has devoted her career to developing ways for low-income elders to participate with purpose.

Wilson’s vision began with reframing the type of environment that would support an older person who needed substantial care every day. She envisioned a person-centered residential environment with a variable level of service as needs changed. And as the aging population explodes, the need for such models escalates exponentially.

The Silver Tsunami Touches All

By 2050, 80 percent of the world’s aging population will live in developing countries. However, healthcare systems are typically focused on child and maternal health.

“The aging pyramid is now a rectangle. How do we support people regardless of age, and regardless of income? It’s a grassroots effort, and we need infrastructure,” says Wilson. She created the The JFRF Foundation to empower communities in resource-constrained areas to “identify, strengthen and develop assets to support underserved older adults through a multi-generational, sustainable network of resources.” 

Wilson recommends we focus on:

  • Affordable housing with services. Help local communities create settings where people can organize themselves, using joint purchasing power to reduce the cost of a “unit of service” to stretch their dollars (e.g., the Village model). This may be an area where a reverse mortgage can help.
  • Modifying successful models. Adapt the “promotora model” from child and maternal health (lay training to educate others) for older adults, to ensure people who need more attention have their needs met.
  • Build capacity. Encourage elders to use their skills and knowledge (similar to Ibasho), and take an intergenerational approach of mutual support for vulnerable individuals of all ages.

She says, “We must become champions for change who build trust within the local community.”