As your body gets older, you are going to naturally need more of some vitamins and supplements than you did when you were younger. This is something that you should keep in your mind, because as you age you are going to want to gradually increase certain amounts of some of the vitamins and minerals in your diet to keep yourself healthy and active.

One of the things that you should know is that as you get older you are going to be more at risk for a vitamin D deficiency. If you aren’t drinking milk or eating fatty fish, you might be at risk for this. Also, because vitamin D production is stimulated by the sunlight, you might find that if you don’t get out as much as you age, you aren’t getting enough Vitamin D. Because of this, you should consider getting some extra as you age through vitamin supplements.
 
Another thing that seniors are often having problems with is an iron deficiency. This can happen if you lose blood through some reason, or if you are using antacids or are on other drugs. Calcium is another thing that you are often lacking as you get older, so it is something that you should consider supplementing if you aren’t getting enough calcium in your diet. Along with these, magnesium is also often lacking in an older person’s diet, and therefore might need to be supplemented.

If you believe that you aren’t getting enough of a certain vitamin or mineral, the best thing to do would be to talk to your doctor about getting a multivitamin that is made for seniors. You might also want to consider the idea of taking a one a day supplement in the areas that are you are lacking. Multivitamins are a great way to back sure that you’re receiving the best nutrients possible without getting too much either.

Remember that getting a balanced diet and taking supplements if need be is something that you should always be considering and should make a lifelong goal. There are many benefits to getting the correct amount of vitamins and minerals, and as you age these become more and more important. If you want to live longer and be healthier, you should be sure that you are getting the proper amount of nutrition in all areas. Vitamin supplements can help you get the nutrients you need to stay younger longer.
 
I have recently begun getting my social security checks at age 62 and half. There are several real advantages to pulling from your government savings account on an early basis.  The number one is that you will at least get some of the money they have been holding in save keeping for the last 40 years.  Another is that for many of us we can "survive" with a lot of due diligence on our spending.  A third benefit is that you do get to finally relax to some degree and be away form the hassle of the every day job.
Howsoever, I have found a few things that are not such good things.  The first was that now I am expected to be the house husband.  Keeping up with the chores that use to be spread around a bit.  The second thing is that learning to budget on a once a month pay check is not the easiest transition to learn.  The third thing I learned is that now my entire family has found so many projects for me to do that my relaxing time is limited to the last 2 hours of the day.
  My experience has shown some new light on the idea of "retirement", be sure you do not leave out these things I have mentioned today.  The surprises are good and probably will continue to show up every day.
 
Baby Boomers, What They Want and What They Expect In Today's Society


In terms of generations, one of the generations in the United States that contributed a lot in terms of political, cultural, industrial, economy, and academic is the baby boomers era. This era is one of the highlights of the United States history and it is also an era where the economy was on an all time high.

First of all, you have to know why it is called the baby boomers generation and which people are included in this generation. The baby boomers generation is composed of people who were born between the years 1946 and 1964. Because of the significant increase in birth rate during this era, historians called it the baby boomers generation.

People who were born during this period have distinctive political views and cultural views. They are people who grew up and participated in the civil rights protests and they are also people who grew up knowing about the American Military might and also knowing that the enemies were communists and socialists.

Maybe this is the reason why baby boomers have different and distinct political views. You have to realize the fact that baby boomers have contributed a lot in terms of politics. Since they grew up in the years of the Cold War and the Vietnam War, baby boomers tend to be more militarily and politically inclined. In fact, Bill Clinton and the incumbent President George W. Bush are the two first presidents who are in the baby boomers era. If you look closely, both have somewhat similar political views and their policies don't really differ that much, even if one is a democrat and the other is a republican. You have to consider the facts that both have funded the military in order for the United States retain its military might and they are also concerned about civil rights.

So, what do baby boomers want? If you look closely, people who are in the age of mid-40s to 60s are very much unlike aging people in the past. Today, you will see these people to be more active and are generally concerned more about their health. In fact, many people who were born in the baby boomers era frequently visit doctors compared in the past. This is because these people want to care for their own health.

What this means is that baby boomers will likely live longer than their predecessors. Today, baby boomers are aging. However, because of the latest medical technology available today, you should realize that the life expectancy for baby boomers has increased.

However, there are also growing concerns that the baby boomers today are facing. Because the baby boomer population is at an all time high, there are problems concerning Social Security benefits and also about Medicare. Another problem is that when the baby boomers go into retirement, the workforce will decrease. This is because of the decreased birth rate after the baby boomer era. This will mean decrease in workforce and increase in retirees.

What the baby boomers want today is when they retire, they should be able to get the necessary retirement and health benefits. Since baby boomers are expected to healthier than their predecessors, they will be able to travel a lot.

After retirement, the baby boomers population is expected to travel a lot. In fact, most baby bloomers working today are working to save enough money to go on a retirement vacation.

The baby boomers are a proud generation where they went through a lot fighting for civil rights. They also contributed a lot in culture. This is why you should expect them to want some ways to relax and taking a vacation is one of them.

Today, aging baby boomers are now considering retiring and are expecting the government to repay them for the services they contributed to the society. The baby boomers era is responsible for making the United States economy to run smoothly. This is because of the high population levels of workforce and also in those times, unemployment rates were virtually non-existent.

Since baby boomers came of age when there were protests for the war in Vietnam and civil rights, you should expect that they are well aware of their civil rights and wants everyone to respect it. And for this reason, baby boomers really want to retain their civil rights and expect the government to give them the benefits they deserve when they retire.
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Bankruptcy is a financial practice that allows you to officially declare that you cannot repay your debts now and do not see how it will ever be possible in the future. Declaring Bankruptcy is a big step. For some people, there are other ways to get out of debt, like debt consolidation or negotiating with your lenders. However, if your best option for getting out of debt is bankruptcy, than you should take steps to make this financial situation work in the best possible way for you. A financial profession can help you do that. In any case, before you jump into anything, you need to fully decide if bankruptcy is right for you.

First, it is important to learn as much as you can about bankruptcy. For individuals, chapter 7 and chapter 13 are the two types of bankruptcy that can be filed. There are other options for businesses and entities. Learn the difference between the two so you can see how they work. If bankruptcy is right for you, you must be aware of your obligations and your lenders’ choices.

Once you have learned all you can about bankruptcy, take a moment to consider other options. For example, you can consolidate your debts into one large monthly payment. If you are considering bankruptcy because you just barely miss paying off your bills on time every month or if you feel overwhelmed by credit card debt, this may be a great option for you. You can also try doing nothing and living simply for a number of years, which works well if you have no family for which you are responsible. Another options is negotiating with your lenders. In the end, there are many different options other than bankruptcy, so make sure that your second step is to consider them all.

Next, check out the requirements for eligibility for declaring bankruptcy. If your debts are too high and your income too low, you probably will not qualify for chapter 13 bankruptcy. On the other hand, if your income is too high and your debts too low, you probably will not qualify for chapter 7 bankruptcy. In some cases, you may not qualify for either, and this is a sign that you did not think through your other choices.

Consider all of your property and debts if you do qualify. What will happen to your home? Your car? Your retirement plan? Every state has different specification when to comes to this, so make sure that you understand how your property will or will not be taken. Also, it is important to begin compiling lists of your assets and debts. Remember that some debts cannot be wiped out, like child support payments.

Once you have all your information compiled, you can begin the declaration process. It is best to work with a lawyer or financial professional to complete this task, and remember to always be completely honest. Declaring bankruptcy is not for everyone, but it can work for some people.

Dan Silver

 

Bankruptcy is when a person or business officially declares the inability to pay back creditors the money that was previously borrowed. This should only be done as a last resort, because bankruptcy will affect every aspect of your life. It will also affect your ability to get loans, mortgages, and credit card in the future. However, for some people, declaring bankruptcy means finding freedom once again. It wipes your slate clean so to speak, and you can start over again with your credit.
However, there are a number of things you should try before you declare bankruptcy. One of these things is debt consolidation. Deb consolidation cannot help everybody concerned with money problems, but for some, it is jus the boost needed to keep them from declaring bankruptcy.
Debt consolidation is basically taking all of your loans and paying them off using one large loan. You then have one monthly bill to pay instead of a number of smaller bills. This can save you money in the long run. Why? The one large loan will usually have a secured lower fixed interest rate. This is especially advisable if you are considering declaring bankruptcy because of high credit card debts.

Credit cards have very high interest rates—usually much higher than any other kind of loan. If you miss just one month of paying your card in full, you may never get back on track for paying off the balance. This can really start to add up if you find that you have more than one card. If you are far into debt, you can probably not get an unsecured loan from a financial institution, like a bank. However, you should be able to get a secured loan. A secured loan uses your house, car, or other possessions as collateral. With a lower interest rate, you can start making headway into your debt instead of simply making the minimum monthly payments. This will help you to avoid bankruptcy.

Consolidating your debts may not be the best choice for everyone. In fact, in some cases, bankruptcy is really the best way to get back on the financial fast track. However, it is important to realize that you have choices. If you don’t have to declare bankruptcy, avoid it and you will find that your life will be financially easier to handle in the future. It depends on your unique situation. Talk to a financial professional if you want more help learning about debt consolidation.

Dan Silver

 

Baby Boomers and Drug Abuse, Hear From the Experts

Historically, substance abuse is primarily concentrated among teens as well as young adults. However, the major concern lies on older adults. As the baby boomers ages, the older adult's population increases contributing in the large proportions of marijuana users and other prohibited drugs.

It is a fact that baby boomer followers have greater population compared to other followers. So it is expected that percentage of people using illicit drugs would also increase in just a few decades. Joseph Gfroerer uses the recent data of the surveys conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in presenting current prevalence and patterns and latest trends in using illicit drugs. 

The 4.4 % of the baby boomers population ages 50-59 years old admitted that they used prohibited drugs as been reported by the United States Government. The age group's percentage increased as supported by the nationwide surveys on Health and Drug Use. However, the use of illicit drugs among teenagers decreased to 9.9 % from 11.6% in 2005.

The director's assistant of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, David Murray said that contrasting phenomenon like this rarely occurs. The survey that was conducted involved interviews of approximately 67,500 people. It provides snapshots that are very importantly associated on how Americans smoke, drink, and use drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana.

The use of drugs stayed relatively unchanged for Americans ages 12 year old and above in 2005. There were about 19.7 million Americans who use illicit drugs which increase its percentage to 8.1% from a 7.9%. The increase was not solely contributed by boomers, but also those people ages 18 to 25 years old ranking the highest percentage in terms of using illicit drugs ranging to 20.1% from a 19.4%.

Federal officials posted their comments about these reports because they only emphasized the decrease of drug use among young teens without reporting the increase in among the 18-25 age groups.

Eric B. Broderick, an Assistant General Surgeon even asked if fundamental shifts like this really occur among youngsters in America. The 18-25 age brackets also called by Murray as gauntlets where everybody runs. In addition, the use of drugs among youths in the US reaches its peak during the late 70s bringing the baggage with them as they age 50-60 years old.

The percentage of baby boomers that uses illicit drugs increased since 2002 and reveals that Marijuana was their choice. The report was true revealing 14.6 million Marijuana users, 6.4 million people uses prescription drugs such as sedatives or tranquilizers and pain relievers, and 2.4 million people using cocaine. The 60% of these users exposed that they obtain the drugs from a friend or relative for free. An average of 4.3% users bought drugs from strangers or drug dealers. 

The Bureau of Census said that there are 78.2 million boomers born between 1946 and 1964. As been studied, abuse of substances like drugs became a part of their lives as they get older. The National Drug Control Policy director John Walters even said that some baby boomers carried this habit throughout their lives.

However, the editor of High Times (advocacy magazine on marijuana), Steve Hager said that ailing people ages 55 years old chooses marijuana over anti-depressants and sleeping pills while 60 year old and above uses it as pain relievers for glaucoma and related maladies.

However, the United States government never recognizes the medical benefits of marijuana although eleven states permit using it for medical reasons. Marijuana is considered the most well-known illicit drug used by about 6% users. Prescription drugs and stimulants is the second with a 2.6% user.

Other evidences of using drugs among baby boomers were revealed when a large number of them showed up for treatments. Moreover, overdose deaths are another reason. Those baby boomers that were caught smoking weed at Woodstock continue on with their habits until now.

Mr. Murray's good news was that young people in today's generation have learned the mistakes done by their parents. More teenagers are staying away from using illicit drugs and other harmful substances like tobacco and alcohol. The self-destruction pattern created by baby boomers is prevented in the coming generations thus this activity is well sustained. This promises a good future on the health of Americans.

Daniel Silver

 

A version of this article appeared in print on April 20, 2009, on page B1 of the New York edition.
A billboard in Times Square for Target features an older woman on a bicycle.
By STUART ELLIOTT
 Published: April 19, 2009
 When Brian Gordon and his partners started ebeanstalk.com, which sells children’s learning toys online, they expected most of business to come from younger consumers starting families. But a recent customer survey found that up to 40 percent were actually older, mainly grandparents.
If you’d asked me if 4 out of 10 people would be grandparents, I’d have said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen,’ ” Mr. Gordon said.Also surprising, Mr. Gordon says, is that despite the economy, sales are up about 65 percent so far this year compared with a year earlier. He attributed that largely to older consumers, who “are our most demanding customers” but are more willing than their younger counterparts are to pay full price.
The experience of ebeanstalk.com illustrates a growing trend as the recession grinds on: an increasing interest in marketing goods and services to consumers age 50 and older. Among those aiming more at the older demographic are giants like Chrysler, Kraft Foods, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble and Target.
The interest has also been a boon to media outlets that appeal to older viewers. CBS, home of “60 minutes” and the “CSI” franchise, is first in the network ratings, and while all magazines have had their advertising pages hammered, some titles for more mature readers, including AARP magazine and Family Circle, have suffered smaller downturns.
For decades, older consumers were largely shunned by marketers because they were deemed less wealthy, less likely to try new products and less willing to change brands. Campaigns directed at them were described dismissively as made for the “Geritol generation.” As much as older consumers were to be shunned, young consumers — ages 18 to 34, or 18 to 49 — were desired for what were deemed their free-spending ways, eagerness to sample new products and brand-switching proclivities. The idea that they were starting in life with a proverbial blank slate of marketing wants and needs was catnip to product peddlers.
Read the whole article here

 

There are fewer worries when you're a kid. Your parents provide for all your material and emotional needs. As a person grows old, their needs and wants also grow with them. And finally, when they graduate college, it is now time to start a life of their own.

Looking for the right career that is of great interest to you can be quite hard. But if you successfully choose a good career and decide to keep it, you're life will be worth living.

There are many career paths to take. So before anything else, you should make sure that you're on the right path. Oftentimes, people end up with a job or career that they are not interested in; they simply manage to push through with it because they need the money.

In today's hard times, having a good paying job is already enough. You can finance all your expenses, most especially if you have children to support. But if the situation is like this, a time will come when you will finally get tired of doing a work that you're not interested in.

If you belong in the generation of the baby boomers, you already have a career by now. You're the type of person who wants to work harder and for longer hours. If you want a career change, it's never too late. In fact, most of the baby boomers in the workforce are retiring late, and there are still those who change their careers. Most boomers want to continue in contributing or working even after they retire.

It's common to change a career in your lifetime. You can even find people who changed their careers more than three times. The reason behind this is that they haven't found yet the right career that they can be satisfied with, and what they love doing. Perhaps they will stop changing careers only after they found what suits their needs and wants.

Confronting a career change for a baby boomer can be a bit difficult. Boomers grew up in a prosperous world, where everything was easy for them to have like education and their material needs. And with today's competitive market, a baby boomer should be able to compete with other capable people.

It would be better to view a career change as an opportunity to find a better career, one that will suit you best. You should find a job that you love doing and one that you could be satisfied with until you retire from work.

Around 3% of people going through changes in their career are only forced to do so because they were laid-off and about 4.5% just want to explore something else. Undergoing a shift in career will be much easier, enjoyable, and productive if you do a couple of things like:

1.    assess your skills and see if it can be used in other jobs
2.    money doesn't matter to most people; so find a job that is meaningful for you, one that you love doing
3.    find where your passion lies
4.    always be realistic; if your skills doesn't suit the job, you're probably better of without it
5.    do you want to stay in the profession or do you want a radical change in your career
6.    if you're satisfied with the present company that you belong, perhaps you can ask for re-training
7.    don't mind your age, what's important is your skills and the things that you can do
8.    you can join organizations in the field that you're interested in

These are just few of the things that you can do before seeking for a new career. Your job experience matters in getting into another career, as well as relevant trainings.

Change is natural. The world changes every day; inventions can happen overnight. But with a career change, you can't do it with the snap of your finger. You should consider a lot of things like your family, your needs, and other important matters.

It's never too late for baby boomers. You've lived your life long enough as a happy-go-lucky individual. It's time to stick with the realities of life and start working hard in your new-found career.

If you would like to have a free ecourse on the opportunities now available, you can get it here.


 

If you are enjoying how you live today in the United States, you should realize that the freedom you enjoy is the work of the past generation. Today, there is less discrimination and people are now fully enjoying their civil rights as a citizen of the United States. You should realize the fact that a particular generation is one of the major contributors in the society that you see today.

This generation is called the baby boomers generation. So, what is the baby boomers generation? First of all, baby boomers were people who were born between the years 1946 to 1964. This generation is called baby boomers generation because of the significant increase in birth rate during these years.

Baby boomers play a very distinct role in society today and are very politically active. This is because of the way they grew up. The baby boomers generation grew up in a world where the Vietnam War started and civil rights protests were active. It is important for you to remember that early baby boomers came of age during the times where civil rights, the Vietnam War and conscription were being protested.

You should also realize the fact that most baby boomers grew up in an era where the cold war started. Because of the political condition of their country where they grew up in, baby boomers are well aware of their civil rights and also about the different political situations and policies that the country is facing today. Besides, they were the ones who contributed in emphasizing more freedom and they also contributed in equality of all citizens of the United States. This is one of the reasons why the United States is experiencing less or no discrimination at work. Thanks to baby boomers, every American citizen will be able to have equal opportunity for employment regardless of race, creed, gender and age.

Baby boomers were also born in times where the American Military virtually dominated the world. For this reason, you will see that the baby boomers generation presidents, namely Bill Clinton and the incumbent President George W. Bush emphasized widely on civil rights and also in reforming and increasing funds for the US Military research and development.

You will also see that they also increased NASA funding because they were born in the era where space travel started.

In the internet, you will see that there are a lot of studies about baby boomers. You will see their history and also the projected future.

In the internet, you will see news that concerns baby boomers, such as retirement and health benefits. The reason for the concern of the United States government is about the retirement and health benefits funding. Because of the significantly high population of baby boomers today, the government projects that it affects will slow down the economic growth of the United States. This is because funding will be concentrated on the retirement of baby boomers, especially now that baby boomers are starting to enter the retirement age.

Government and private sectors concerned are now working together to fund the retirement and health benefits of baby boomers. The Social Security and the Medicare are two of the sectors concerned in the retirement of the large population of baby boomers in the United States.

In fact, there were about 78 million births during the baby boomers era. Today, the baby boomers make up 22% of the total American population. With this kind of population, who wouldn't be concerned when most of the baby boomers retire?

The fact that the birth rate declined after the baby boomers era, it is a reality that workforce will decrease and retirees will increase. This means less income for the country and more expenses for the retirees. This is why the government and numerous private organizations are now taking the necessary steps to provide sufficient financial and health retirement benefits to baby boomers.

Always remember that these people helped contribute a lot in politics, academic, culture, and also in the industrial sector. They helped in making what the country is today. This is why it is just right that the government and private sectors concerned should repay them when they go into retirement.
Daniel Silver

 

Baby Boomers and Younger Generation Opposing Viewpoint on Voting and Politics


Younger generations in the United States do not show much interest in the political games of boomers although recently, they are not the largest population of voters.

There was even an incidence when Matthew Shephard, the mother and symbol of hate-crime against homosexuals in Chicago expressed her dismay in front of the Roosevelt University. She questioned the political activism of the present generation for not expressing themselves the way they did before. She even recalled the times when boomers confronted authority.

The problem was that boomers are approaching retirement and perhaps losing their agility to make the same protests again. The new generation is asking a different set of questions. Some suggested to get rid off the authority and stop asking questions like what the boomer radicals did during the 60's.

The point of the new generation is to know where the authority goes. They see that the voter driver's efforts are nonsense. Even if they keep on pursuing the slogans "Rock the Vote" and "Vote or Die"; still it lacks assessment on the federal government's credibility. New generations cannot get what the government wants to emphasize. They observed that in order to obtain good things from the government, one should exercise their right to vote.

But these young people display activeness in their own way. They even exceeded performances of the baby boomers in numerous campaign activities like displaying bumper stickers, signs, and buttons, attending rallies, and persuading others to vote.

A great Sociologist, Robert Nisbet distinguished the terms authority and power. Power is a force while authority can be forged on social bonds of churches, families, communities, and business. Despite the rage of baby boomers against authority, they have accumulated lots of power for their bureaucracy. It might be under Bush or Clinton, R or D. It took off before the new generation of unwieldy and impersonal youths.

The new generation knew what power meant. They didn't want the baby boomers to tell them where it is and how to seek it. They are disposed by cultural usurpations touching their personal lives to become contemptuous of power. Young Americans know divorce power, Eric Harris and Klebold's power, Jerry Springer's power, teen sex power, abortion power, and Osama bin Laden's power. These are not the types of power that they crave because they have already seen its consequences. What they seek is a confident, strong, gentle, and honor-bound authority.

It cannot be denied that young voters are cynical concerning national politics largely different from apathy. The children born during the 80's named as Reagan's Children never invested their time on direct political procedures. They have changed the boomer's action to entrepreneurialism, community service, technology, and religion. They are after an authority which governs rather than an established government which has nothing to offer. Politics might also be the interest of the new generation, however in a very different perspective far from what their forefathers wanted them to inherit. They perceive that government as federal and big, centers on mobilizing the youth on their voting rights.

The person controlling the polls will gain larger percentage of the national power. But no one knows if the voting booths are sacredly held by baby boomers and beats the relationship authority prized by prospective young voters. It is possible that the obsession for power of the boomers generation will defeat the young American generation who hungers for authority.  This could happen since boomers defeated that authority already.

However, everybody never wanted a generational clash. The boomer retirees are just determined in living life to the fullest as an expense on their children's paid taxes. However, this provokes wars in the Congress related on government costs. Thus it confounds their capacity to serve, to invest, and to love. Younger statesmen said that it is the cost that matters not their responsibilities, paid taxes, and freedom. The boomers power-hungry declaration requires the new generation (committed on authority institutions and focused on internet economy) to vote, to join politics, and fight the gray-haired builders of a powerful government.

In such struggle, they have enlisted a constitutional language which starts on securing their liberty blessings to themselves and prosperity. The task of the new generation is to save those blessings in  threat more than ordering the people to vote.

Daniel Silver
http://danslearningcenter.com