What Should You Know If You Have High Blood Pressure?

I have high blood pressure, but since I retired it has been going down as the stress of everyday life is being left behind. I do think it is important to know about what living with high blood pressure means. First thing you want to understand is what the numbers mean. Your blood pressure will read with a top and bottom number. The top is your systolic pressure and the bottom number is your diastolic pressure. 

Normal blood pressure is 120/80 so if your blood pressure reads 130/90 you are at risk for developing high blood pressure. This reading is called prehypertension which is basically a stage before developing high blood pressure. 

By having your blood pressure checked and monitored often you can easily lower it where it needs to be. The best way to do this is by maintaining or adopting a healthier lifestyle. Have you always had normal blood pressure until recently?

If this is the case, consider what you have recently started doing different that may have caused it to rise. Did you change your diet? Have you been exercising less? Maybe you are on a medication; some medications can cause your blood pressure to rise. 

If you do have high blood pressure you can easily monitor it at home if you choose. If you do this you still want to keep your regular doctor visits. You can share your own results and you can both see what is and isn't working for you.

If you are on other medications consult your doctor. Chances are one of these could be raising your blood pressure and you want to take control as soon as possible. If your blood pressure gets too high without proper treatment you are at more risk of having a stroke or heart and kidney diseases. 

If you have recently changed your diet you should talk to your doctor, especially if your blood pressure has risen since then. Lots of salt and sodium can cause high blood pressure and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. If this is the case, try to limit your salt intake and get more vegetables in your diet.

Also physical inactivity can be a cause for high blood pressure. Have you recently stopped doing regular every day physical activity? If so, consider starting again. You might have stopped because of an inevitable reason; broken bone, etc. If this is the case talk with your physician. Together you can find a way to still get a little bit of physical activity in your daily routine.

You also want to cut off or limit your use of tobacco and alcohol consumption. Many people do not realize these cause high blood pressure. There are many over the counter medicines and even doctor prescribed medicines to help you quit smoking. There are also many different resources to help you quit drinking.

If your doctor prescribes blood pressure medicine for you, you want to be sure and remember to take it. Some people are bad at remembering to take medication. There are many different ways you can help yourself remember.

You take the risk of a stroke or heart disease by not taking your blood pressure medication. This should be reason enough to take your medicine, but sometimes people just forget. While it sounds like reason enough, if you are not used to taking daily medication it is rather easy to forget.

If you have certain questions or concerns talk with your doctor. They will gladly answer any questions you have and do their best to get your blood pressure at a normal rate again. 

Ways to make Travel Easier for seniors

My mother in law is 88 and she still enjoys travelling, but she finds it stressful at times. As we get older we may have to rethink how we plan to travel.

Some of the elderly may find it more stressful to travel but there are ways to make it is much easier trip though if you plan ahead. Many elderly people take daily medications so make sure you have plenty of it. Put it in a safe place where it isn’t likely to get lost. If you have extra pills you will want to pack them separately. If you have some in your purse and some in your luggage you are fine if one of them gets lost.

If you are flying make sure you have a note from the doctor to identify what the medications are. You will have to show them to security and you can keep the lines moving if you have the right documentation with you. Holiday travel is very busy but don’t think for a second that security is going to let their guard down and just let you pass through with it.

Don’t attempt to carry heavy bags around the airport. This can result in you getting hurt. If the airline you are traveling with offers a kiosk outside drive up to it and then go park your car. It is also a good idea to invest in luggage that has wheels on the bottom. This way you can pull them along instead of having to carry them any distance. Most head, back, and neck injuries occur around the holidays due to carrying heavy luggage.

If you use a walker or wheelchair make sure you contact the airline in advance. They are more than willing to accommodate such needs. Since the airport is so busy during the holidays though you need to let them know in advance. This way they can be sure to have staff available to assist you.

You may want to arrive at the airport an hour earlier than specified if you need special assistance. During the holiday season you will find the airport to be very crowded and this can result in it taking longer for you to get to your gate. It may be a good idea for you to take an early morning flight when the traffic is lighter there too if you can get one.

It is a good idea to carry your medical history with you when you travel. This is even more important if you have ongoing health issues. Your medical history can help medical professionals that aren’t familiar with your needs assist you if you aren’t able to tell them. Make sure the medical history includes information regarding any medications you may be allergic to.

Oxygen tanks are a common item that elderly people need when they travel for the holidays. It can be difficult to carry all of them with you that you will need for the duration. Instead of just staying home though talk with the company that delivers your oxygen. Chances are they can arrange for you to get the additional tanks you need when you land at the airport. If you are driving then you will be able to have the oxygen tanks delivered to the hotel or the residence where you are staying.

It isn't a good idea to travel with several oxygen tanks in your vehicle. They can burst into flames if you are involved in a car accident. They are also very heavy and take up a great deal of space. Even if your oxygen tank provider doesn't cover the area where you are going for the holidays, they can put you in touch with another company that does.

Just because a person is older doesn't mean they don’t enjoy traveling. Take your time to make sure you cover all your basis. This will help to ensure you remain safe while you are traveling . The better trip you have getting to your final destination the more you will enjoy your trip.

Key Questions for Retirement Planning Canada

The following is from the Ontario Ministry of Finance and is an interesting starting point to discuss what is going on in the area of Pension reform in Canada. To start the discussion we need to understand the system. Canada’s Retirement Income System: uses “The Three Pillars Approach”

• Canada’s pension system consists of three pillars:

1. Universal government benefits for seniors (PILLAR 1)
2. Canada Pension Plan (PILLAR 2)
3. Employment Pension Plans and Individual Retirement Savings (PILLAR 3)

PILLAR 1: Universal Government Benefits

• Federal seniors benefits include:

1. Universal Old Age Security (OAS)
2. Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)
3. Spouses Allowance (SPA)
   Ontario (and other provinces and territories) supplement federal benefits to low-income seniors

PILLAR 2: Canada Pension Plan

• Federal government and Provinces are joint stewards of the CPP
• Provides retirement, survivor, and disability benefits
• Universal coverage of all workers in all industries
• Employees and employers make equal contributions (4.95% each – 9.9% combined) on earnings up to annual maximum of $47,200 (2010)
• Defined Benefit – up to 25% of the average wage
• Fully portable
• Inflation-indexed to CPI
• Actuarially sound for the next 75 years
• CPPIB invests assets of $123.9 billion

PILLAR 3: Employment Pension Plans (EPPs/RPPs) & Individual Retirement Savings

      1. Employment Pension Plans (EPPs/RPPs)

• Voluntary plans sponsored by an employer or union
• Defined Benefit (DB), Defined Contribution (DC) or Hybrid
• Maximum DB pension accrual is $2,494 per year of service (2010)
• Subject to federal or provincial pension benefits standards legislation
• Contributions are tax deductible and investment income is tax deferred
• Benefits are taxable
• Traditional DB coverage has been gradually declining

PILLAR 3: EPPs/RPPs and Individual Retirement Savings

2. Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) / Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs)

• Contributions to RRSPs are tax deductible
• RRSP withdrawals and RRIF income payments are taxable
• In 2006, federal RRSP tax expenditure was estimated at $10 billion (plus Provincial tax expenditures)

PILLAR 3: EPPs/RPPs and Individual Retirement Savings

3. Other Savings

• Total savings rates in Canada are very low by historical standards
• Average family savings of $1,332 per year
• Savings are accumulated and then dispensed over a person’s life cycle 
• Savings can be held in non-pension financial assets (including the new TFSA) and non-financial assets

Canadian Retirement Income System (CRIS): Strengths

Strengths

• The CRIS has worked well for many Canadians
  • Dramatic declines in senior poverty since 1970s
• Diversity of the CRIS is a strength

Canadian Retirement Income System: Challenges

Challenges

• Market downturn in 2008 and low long-term interest rates
• Declining coverage in traditional pension plans
• Pillar 2 (CPP/QPP) provides lower benefits than in most other developed countries
• Questions about the ability of the existing system to deliver for tomorrow’s seniors
• Research suggests that 1/4 to 1/3 of Canadians may not be savings enough for their future retirement.

Canadian Retirement Income System: Defining the Challenge

• Ontario research identifies the challenge for tomorrow’s seniors:
  “The status quo is an option.  However, it is an option that may leave a significant minority of people with moderate to high earnings facing a decline in their standard of living in retirement, and force many people to rely on sub-optimal pension and retirement savings institutions.” - Bob Baldwin
  
  “There is… some evidence that not all working Canadians are saving enough… Further study is needed to determine the degree of saving inadequacy.  - Jack Mintz

Canadian Retirement Income System: Government Response

• Expert Commission on Pensions
  • Review funding of DB pension plans and related matters
• Bill 236, Pension Benefits Amendment Act, 2010
  • First major pension reform in Ontario in over 20 years
• Premier McGuinty calls for National Pension Summit
• FPT Working Group on Retirement Income Adequacy
  • Ontario research by Bob Baldwin
  • Federal research directed by Jack Mintz

Canadian Retirement Income System: Key Options

• Major stakeholder proposals for reform:

1. Expansion of public pensions (CPP)
2. Supplementary DC pension plans
3. Pension Innovation
4. Reforms to Tax Assistance

The following were identified as Key Questions for Discussion, which you should be having with your elected officials as they move into an election campaign

• Why do we need to strengthen Canada’s retirement income system? 
  • In your view what research or evidence demonstrates that people are not saving enough for retirement? 
  • How would you define “enough”, and how much weight should be placed on personal choice?
• What are some of the possible options or combination of options that the government should consider in strengthening Canada’s retirement income system for tomorrow’s seniors?
• How would your preferred options or proposal be implemented?
  • How would your proposal work?
  • What do you think it might cost?
  • How would costs be allocated among employees, employers, etc.?
  • Would it be voluntary (e.g. opt-out) or mandatory?
  • How might other stakeholders be affected?

Generation squeeze revisited

In the 1980s, the typical senior not Boomer, was four times wealthier than the average 20-something. Today’s seniors are now on average nine times richer than their Millennial grandchildren. In fact, many of the trends and policies that have worked in favour of seniors have come at the expense of younger generations

Seniors have seen their wealth quadruple since 1984, according to a Bank of Montreal study released last month, far outpacing the growth of wealth among younger Canadians. The stunning transformation of the balance sheets of the elderly is thanks to a combination of financial discipline, public policy, and good timing.

Many of today’s seniors were the babies born in the aftermath of the Great Depression who learned to abhor debt and save aggressively. (The average Canadian senior has a debt load equal to just five per cent of their total wealth, compared to a 99 per cent debt-to-wealth ratio for their Boomer children.)

Many benefited from decades of economic growth while being spared the brunt of the 2008 meltdown because they had already shifted their savings into low-risk investments when they retired

Forget fears about a retirement crisis in Canada—the one where cash-strapped seniors will outlive their savings and suck the government coffers dry. Seniors may eventually become the only thing that drives the economy.

Canadians age 75 and older make up less than seven per cent of the population, but control more than a third of all financial assets in the country—roughly $1 trillion worth of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and cash. That figure does not even include the money locked inside their homes, which have more than quadrupled in value since the 1980s. Far from running out of money, many seniors actually continue to save well into their golden years.

One of Canada’s foremost experts on retirement has estimated that senior couples save or give away an average of 18 per cent of their incomes—rising to 30 per cent for the wealthiest families.

That certainly makes them generous. However, considering the wealth they have does it mean they should continue to get seniors-only discounts or qualify for government benefits like CPP and OAS?

Despite their affluence, seniors remain disproportionately the beneficiaries of government subsidies and tax breaks. German think tank Bertelsmann Foundation has called Canada among the “least intergenerationally just” countries in the world, with a troubling large gap between the poverty rates of seniors and children and a strong “elderly bias” among government programs and tax systems. It found we spend nearly four times as much on support for seniors as we do on children and have roughly $250,000 worth of government debt for every child, an indication that future generations will be paying for the excesses of previous ones.

It is easy to blame seniors for stacking the deck in favour of their own generation. However, in many ways it is actually younger Canadians who are to blame for the lack of public support for their issues. Turnout among younger voters is notoriously low, so politicians naturally target their campaigns to the seniors who actually show up on Election Day.

Many young Canadians also seem to support the idea of boosting spending on seniors—even at the expense of their own generation. Generation Squeeze advocates have polled Canadians, both young and old, asking them which age group should be the top priority for government.

Not surprisingly, 70 per cent of seniors said politicians should focus on them. However, they found that younger Canadians were just as likely to say governments should prioritize seniors, as they were to say they should help their own generation. Younger Canadians, like older Canadians, believe the stories about who is most vulnerable still in society.

These stories are increasingly outdated because they’re based on the big policy challenges of the past and a failure to recognize that the situation has really changed. So should government reduce spending on seniors, I suggest not. 

Boomers are already starting to retire and they do not have the same wealth as the seniors of a generation ago. Boomers have a high debt to asset ratio, their savings were impacted by the 2008 meltdown and they do not control the same amount of wealth their parents do today. We need to, as a society, continue to focus on the needs of the Boomers but we also need to recognize that younger Canadians need more help and we should start to shift our resources to meet their needs as well.  Lets rebalance some of the spending so it is more equal.

However, politicians will not spend money on the younger generation, unless younger Canadians get out to vote and that is not happening. 75% of Canadians aged 65-74 voted in the 2011 federal election. Compare that to less than 39 % of those aged 18-24. This is a trend that goes back at least a decade.

Some would argue that this trend implies that the downward spiral that is structural, that younger Canadians won’t “grow into” voting; instead, they will never bother voting at all. As older Canadians disappear into that great voting booth in the sky, new voters will not replace them. Unless something changes, a crisis of electoral legitimacy may be on its way.Until politicians see that younger Canadians vote, they will not pay them any attention, and that is a shame.

Is Retirement a Romantic fantasy of the past?

According to  the Allianz Generations Apart  Study, Boomers and Gen Xers agree there is a retirement crisis – but there are generational differences in how they’re responding.

An overwhelming number of Boomers and Gen Xers agree there is a retirement crisis (84% and 92%, respectively), and both groups reported being heavily impacted by the 2008 crash. And although both groups see themselves as being hit harder by the recession, both generations agree that it’s been much harder for Gen Xers to keep a job or plan for retirement.

Although these results may be disheartening, the good news is that both generations do believe it’s critically important for them to build their financial security in retirement (94% of Gen Xers and 95% of Boomers).

Major study findings:

• Romantic fantasy of the past – 82% of boomers and Generation Xers agree that a traditional retirement is a romantic fantasy of the past. More than eight in 10 (84%) from both generations said they feel that a retirement starting at age 65 spent “doing exactly what you want” is now unrealistic.
• Disadvantaged Gen Xers – Gen X respondents were much more hopeless about their ability to achieve retirement goals and about their overall financial situation than were their boomer counterparts. Although each generation feels their circumstances have been tougher to manage, Gen X respondents indicated stronger feelings about the extent to which they feel burdened and disadvantaged by their reality. More than two thirds (67%) of Gen Xers agreed with the idea that supposed targets for how much you need to retire are way out of reach versus less than half of boomers (49%).
• Warped reality – Despite clear concerns about their financial situations and prospect for a comfortable retirement, both generations are surprisingly relaxed about planning for their financial futures. An astounding percentage of boomers (65%) and Gen Xers (53%) said they "just have this feeling that everything’s going to work out."

Furthermore, the Allianz Life study of 2,000 Americans – including 1,000 baby boomers (ages 49–67) and 1,000 Gen Xers (ages 35–48) – found that Gen X respondents were much more hopeless about their ability to achieve retirement goals and about their overall financial situation than were their boomer counterparts. More than two thirds (67%) of Gen Xers agreed with the idea that supposed targets for how much you need to retire are way out of reach versus less than half of Boomers (49%).

Significantly more Gen X respondents also admitted to getting "bogged down with uncertainty when planning for retirement" (64% versus 43% of Boomers), believing it is "useless to plan for retirement when everything is so uncertain" (44% versus 31% of Boomers), and feeling that they will "never have enough money to stop working" (68% versus 43% of Boomers).

"It’s been widely reported that baby boomers are worried about their retirement, but the financial planning and retirement concerns of Generation X have gotten less attention," said Katie Libbe, Allianz Life vice president of Consumer Insights. "While our study confirms that many boomers still lack confidence about their future, it reveals alarming realities about the significant angst and pessimism Gen X feels regarding the current and future state of their finances. They’re the next generation that’s quickly approaching retirement and their hands–off approach to planning and preparation is alarming."

Gen X: The Disadvantaged Generation
Each generation in the study generally feels their circumstances have been tougher to manage. For example, both Gen Xers and Boomers think that their generation is burdened with more expenses (90% and 80% agreement, respectively), more uncertainty (86% and 72%) and more risk (78% and 64%) than their counterparts.

However, when it comes to jobs, money, and retirement, even baby Boomers agreed that Generation X has it much tougher in the following areas:

• Planning for retirement – 86% of Gen Xers and 65% of boomers agreed Gen X has it tougher
• Saving money – 89% of Gen Xers and 68% of boomers agreed it was hard for both
• Keeping a job – 85% of Gen Xers and 69% of boomers agreed
• Staying out of debt – 90% of Gen Xers and 72% of boomers agreed
• Getting a job – 85% of Gen Xers and 73% of boomers agreed

Study methodology
The Allianz Generations Apart Study, fielded by Larson Research and Strategy Consulting, was a nationwide online quantitative survey of 2,000 U.S. adults ages 35–67 with a minimum household income of $30,000. The sample was designed to achieve a 50/50 balance of men and women, and a 50/50 balance of boomers and Generation Xers. The margin of error is +/- 3%. For more information go here