The United States of Aging Survey National Findings 1

Financial Security

While many American seniors are on good financial ground today, they have mixed feelings about their future prospects.

The majority of older Americans (64 percent) report that it is very or somewhat easy to pay their monthly living expenses now, but almost one in four (24 percent) are not confident that their income will be sufficient to continue to meet their monthly expenses over the next five to 10 years. When it comes to retirement savings, almost one quarter (23 percent) of seniors are either not confident in, or do not have, a financial plan for their retirement years.

If an accident or unexpected medical issue was to occur, 71 percent of older Americans believe they would be able to pay associated expenses.

Two-thirds (66 percent) of Americans aged 65 and older depend on Medicare. Of the respondents aged 60 to 64, one in four are not confident that they will be able to afford the costs associated with Medicare, such as deductibles, premiums and copays, in future years.

Additionally, close to one-third (29 percent) of respondents report they are not confident that they know about all of the government benefits for which they are eligible.

Of the one in five seniors who are still employed either full or part-time, 69 percent report that they are working for economic reasons, but productivity (76 percent) and enjoyment (70 percent) also, rank high in their list of reasons to stay in the workforce.

Despite this desire to continue working, only 28 percent of respondents believe that their community offers enough job opportunities for older Americans.

Caregiving

Seniors are not only receiving long-term care – they are providing it, too. Half of older Americans report having someone they consider to be a caregiver in their lives – and close to one-third (28 percent) of seniors say they serve as a caregiver for someone else.

Nearly nine in 10 (87 percent) older Americans who have a caregiver say they are receiving care from a family member. More than half of those caregivers (52 percent) live at home with their care recipient.

Among those seniors who do not currently have a caregiver, 39 percent believe it is likely that they will need one of their children or grandchildren to serve as their caregiver in the future.

Forty-five percent of respondents who serve as a caregiver for someone else report that they would benefit from additional services to support them, such as respite care.

While 61 percent of these caregivers are aware that there is a service in their community that they could call to request assistance with everyday needs, only 15 percent report having utilized such services. An additional 22 percent of seniors are unsure if such services exist in their communities

Save yourself from Retirement Poverty! 2

Don’t count on working. The average age for retirement in Canada and the US is under 65. So, plan to leave work early, because many of us will retire before we expect to and before we are ready. Nearly four in ten people retire due to poor health, caring for a family member, or job loss. If we retire due to poor health or becoming a caregiver or a job loss, we will not find it easy to go back to work.

Deal with inflation. Getting good advice is important because inflation can destroy your best-laid plans. Use the rule of 72 when thinking about inflation. The rule works this way: If inflation is 6% (the average) then if you divide 72 by 6 you get 12. That means in 12 years your income will buy 50% less than today.  Inflation is a fact of life that we deal with through pay increases when we were working. After retirement, it is up to us to manage our own assets or secure guaranteed income. However, few of us have the skills to manage income to keep up with inflation.

Face facts about long-term care.  The research I have looked at tells me that many of us will live long and happy life’s but for many of us, we will need on average 2 to 4 years of long-term care. This is a fact of life that many of us underestimate. Relatively few of us either own long-term care insurance or can afford to self-insure a long-term care situation.

Provide for a surviving spouse. If you are in a relationship, the reality is that one of you will live longer than the other. For mixed-sex relationships, women will live longer than men. For same-sex partners, health and family history will determine who lives longer. The fact is we fail to plan for the eventual death of one spouse before the other. When one person dies, there is a drop in income for the survivor. Provide for your spouse or they will end up living in poverty.

Make your money last for a lifetime. There are many ways to make the money you have saved last your lifetime. We need to get advice as to what works for us, and we need to educate ourselves about the choices, we have to make. We often pass up opportunities to get a lifetime pension or annuity, because we fail to recognize the difficulty of making money last for a lifetime on our own. People say guaranteed lifetime income is important, but in practice, we usually choose a lump sum.

This checklist is drawn from the work of the Committee of Post-Retirement Needs and Risk of the Society of Actuaries

Save yourself from Retirement Poverty! 1

Save More.  You may think you need X dollars but there are always unexpected expenses, so save more. Most of us do not think about financial matters from a long-term perspective we do not estimate how much money we will need for retirement, or if we do, we vastly underestimate how much we will need. If you save more than you can either spend more or give more to your heirs. Saving more is a win/win situation.

Accept that you will probably live longer than you expect. I had a man tell me the other day that he had lived the average lifespan of a man (78) and he was ready to go. I told him that the average life span for a man in Canada now is in the low 80’s. We are expected to manage our own retirement funds. Many of us plan for the average life expectancy, not realizing that this means that half of the people will live longer. The big risk for women is that they will outlive savings.

Education is a good thing. So, learn about various sources of retirement income. Many of us misunderstand what our primary sources of income will be in retirement. Social Security in the US and Canada Pension in Canada are the most important source of income for many people, but before retirement, we tend to vastly underestimate their importance.

Learn how to manage your retirement savings plan. Due to a number of factors, many of us are now responsible for managing our own investments. Most of us  lack basic financial knowledge but we need to become experts about work benefits, so we can have a worry-free retirement.

Look for good advice. Good advice is not your friend or a member of your family. You have to pay for good advice. Unfortunately, a significant portion of us, do not seek the help of a qualified professional. We rely on our friends and family for advice.

Choose your food wisely

The human brain is the most marvellous, complicated structure known in the universe. So, treat it with respect and power it with the best possible fuel. Eating processed foods that contain sugar and trans fats can leave you feeling mentally foggy, anxious, and depressed.

But certain foods particularly high in the nutrients needed to create, protect, and repair cells will help keep your brain humming along smoothly. Every bite of food you eat is a choice that either depletes or nourishes your brain.

The wrong foods — like sugar and trans fats — can leave you feeling mentally foggy, anxious, and depressed, while the right foods help make you mentally sharp, positive, and productive.

Certain foods are particularly high in the nutrients needed to create, protect, and repair brain cells.

They also supply the building blocks of neurotransmitters — brain chemicals that control how well you learn and remember, how happy and motivated you are, and how well you can relax and enjoy life.

Foods that are rich in essential brain nutrients will protect against a variety of mental disorders now and degenerative brain diseases in years to come.

Eating these "brain foods" can keep you mentally sharp, positive, and productive.

Other foods supply the building blocks of neurotransmitters -- brain chemicals that control how well you learn and remember, how happy and motivated you are, and how well you can relax and enjoy life.

Here are the top 12 foods that should be on every brain-healthy shopping list:

·       avocados

·       berries of all kinds

·       coconut oil

·       dark chocolate

·       eggs (cage-free)

·       extra virgin olive oil

·       fermented foods (look for "active cultures")

·       green leafy vegetables

·       salmon (wild caught)

·       sea vegetables

·       turmeric (spice or tea)

·       walnuts

Add a few of these foods to your grocery list every time you go shopping.

Soon, your kitchen will be well-stocked with foods that literally help build a better brain

Source https://bebrainfit.com/brain-foods/