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In our series on interviews with authors, today we present you our interview with Jacky Hood. Jacky is an author, enterpreneur and an avid biker. Jacky has written a book about expanded careers and working as a means to stay fit and healthy into old age and thus to stay young. Let’s hear more from Jacky…

Boomer411:  Jacky, can you please tell our readers about yourself? What excites you about this book ‘Happy About Working To Stay Young: Expanded Careers for Boomers and Seniors’? or what motivated you to write it?  

Jacky: My career is in high technology. I have worked as an engineer and manager and now I am a management consultant and college instructor. There was a big slump in high tech from 2001-2005. People in their 40s, 50s and 60s kept saying “I’ll never again find a job. I’m too old.” This angered and amused me because I knew of many people gainfully employed and making career advancements decades older than these people. So I collected success stories, created a workshop called “Third Stage of Your Career”, and then built the book from the workshop.

Boomer411: Please tell us about your blog and your other works and interests, including biking

  Jacky: My blog touches on technology, art, politics, careers, and sports. I’ve always enjoyed individual sports and fitness activities: running, ballet, jazz dancing, Swedish gymnastics, squash, bicycling and hiking. I bicycled across North America and hiked extensively in the Alps when I lived in Europe. Now I hike in the hills near San Francisco as well as the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. Someday I will hike in the Himalayas.

Boomer411: Why should someone closer to retirement consider working past retirement? Having waited so long for this moment, now when it is almost within reach, why should the Boomers give it all up, ditch the benefits of free time and consider working in retirement and possibly increase or continue their stress?

Jacky: There are four primary reasons to work for pay:

• health,
• wealth,
• making a difference and
• the impending worldwide shortage of skilled workers

Men who retire at 50 do not live as long as those who retire at 60. Working people have plenty of time to travel, be with their grandchildren, and enjoy their hobbies. Doing these things 100 hours/week would be like eating dessert all the time. Stress is healthy; people with no responsibilities lose their sense of self-worth and become depressed.

Boomer411: Are there any cases in which retirement from working or a job would make sense or be recommended over continuing to work?

Jacky: Of course! One can be productive and healthy without a paid job. It just takes more planning and self-discipline and a financial situation that permits it. Some non-profits treat volunteers like employees and allow them to do meaningful work, not just menial tasks. They have performance reviews and promotions. Other non-paid people pour their lives into their gardens or other creative hobbies. Unfortunately far too many retired people simply watch television.

Boomer411: With so many options and choices around, how should one approach in deciding what they should do in their second half of their lives? What factors should one consider in deciding on their new career?

Jacky: If a person loves his or her job and opportunities exist in that field, there is no reason to change careers. That doesn’t mean becoming stale; there are always new projects, new clients, new markets, and new challenges. If a Boomer wants to do something different, a very important question is “Where do you want to live?” Geography makes a huge difference in the quality and cost of living and geography dictates job and career opportunities. Nurses, teachers, and computer programmers are needed everywhere. However, there are no farmers in Manhattan and no five-star chefs in small prairie towns. Also, a person should consider growth fields like medical care, rather than declining industries like travel agencies that have been replaced by the Internet.

Boomer411: How can employers help/change their job offers, benefits to attract and retain this additional and valuable pool of employees?

Jacky: Employers simply need to reach out to Boomers and Seniors just as they reach out to minorities and women. They need to recruit at the colleges and universities that attract older adults. At the college where I teach, the average age is 40. There are as many 60 year olds as 20 year olds. Across the country, there are private and public outplacement firms full of Boomers and Seniors in transition or seeking new opportunities. The western world has been borrowing from the developing countries but those countries are also facing declining populations of people under 40. Employers need to discover a nation within a nation: 100 million Boomers and Seniors who are energetic, educated, skilled and experienced.

Boomer411: One of the claims in your book is “The first two weeks on the job set the pattern. Demonstrate that you can leave at 4pm and still make a strong contribution. Junior workers put in 80 hours one week then need 80 hours the following week to correct mistakes”.

If someone near retirement age has been an average performer until now and is having trouble adjusting to the new technology, changed work environment, how does he or she go about navigating this dynamic business landscape and then differentiate himself or herself to be more valuable?

Jacky: The new technologies such as Web 2.0 and multi-function mobile devices improve productivity. It makes no more sense to eschew them than to ignore telephones and photocopiers. The changed work environment including global remote teams, telecommuting, and flexible work structures are exactly what the anti-establishment beatniks and hippies were promoting 40-50 years ago. We invented this egalitarian environment; why should we long for a return to rigid hierarchies and slow-paced bureaucracies? It’s ironic that the sex-drugs, rock&roll generation that wore long hair and beards is complaining about shaved heads and bare midriffs! Nobody expects a middle-aged person to wear eyebrow rings and tattoos, but your ideas will be considered stale if you are still wearing clothing and hairstyles that are 20 years out of date.

Boomer411: What resources would you recommend to someone looking to change their career?

Jacky: I recommend reading about Johnny Appleseed. He planted apple trees that are still growing 300 years later. Be sure that your next career move allows you to make a lasting contribution, one that will survive beyond your lifetime. Build a product or a company, write a book, make a movie, or mentor a new generation. To focus yourself on making this type of lasting contribution, build a physical or electronic career portfolio. These are no longer just for artists. Here is a book and some web sites that will get you started:
The Career Portfolio Book by Beverly J. Irby and Genevieve Brown
http://www.bcjobs.ca/re/career-centre/career-tools/career-planning/career-portfolios
http://www.smu.edu/career/portfolio.htm
http://careerservices.uvic.ca/tutorials/career-portfolio.html
http://www.visualcv.com/
http://www.quintcareers.com/job_search_portfolio.html

Boomer411: To find out more about Jacky Hood and her ventures and interests, use the links below and learn more.
http://www.bigtent.info
http://www.bigtent.info/blog1
http://www.chalkinstitute.org
http://www.fielddaysolutions.com
http://www.tapapm.org

You can find out more information on Jacky’s book from the publisher and also order, here

You can read reviews of the book here/order from Amazon.com

This concludes our interview with Jacky Hood. Please do stay tuned as we bring you more such interviews.

Continuing our series on interviews in which we promised to feature the work of experts, practitioners, authors in the field, today we bring you an interview with the author of a very interesting and relevant book, its title is “Happy About Being a Baby Boomer: Facing Our Newfound Longevity”.  And the author of this book is our friendly Catherine Kitcho. Her book is not just informational, but very practical as well. She has taken special care in this book to provide practical advice, tips and techniques to make your lives easier. So without further delay, let’s get on with this exciting interview…

Boomer411: Catherine, can you please tell our readers about yourself? What motivated you to write this book on Baby Boomers’ newfound longevity?
Catherine: I’m the author of “Happy About Being a Baby Boomer: Facing Our Newfound Longevity“, which is my sixth book; my other books are mostly in the field of business and marketing. I am a high-tech marketing consultant known as The Launch Doctor, and you can learn more about me at my website, www.launchdoctor.com. 

As an early phase Baby Boomer myself, I’ve always been interested in the Baby Boomer phenomenon, and it all started with a book I read many years ago, “Great Expectations”, by Landon Jones. It addressed the impact that this huge generation would have on nearly every aspect of life in the U.S.: social, cultural, and economic.

More recently, I began thinking seriously about my upcoming retirement years, and I came to the realization that it was increasingly likely that I’d be living many more decades longer than I had planned (and so would the other 78 million Baby Boomers). This was quite unsettling to me, and it meant I had to rethink my whole plan, especially from the standpoint of paying for those extra years of life; will there be enough money? Can I maintain my lifestyle? What changes or adjustments will I need to make? As I explored these questions, I decided that the process of answering these questions and making decisions might be valuable to my fellow Boomers, so I decided to capture it all in a book.

Something that the readers also need to know about me is that I’m not a financial planner and I don’t work for an investment firm; I’m just a Baby Boomer concerned about her future. Therefore, the book is written from the standpoint of an average person trying to make some sound decisions by doing some research and sharing it with others.

Boomer411:  Being a Boomer yourself, what have you discovered for yourself in this journey of writing the book and understanding the implications of this newfound longevity?
Catherine: As I did the research, I learned a lot, but two things stand out in my mind. First, the U.S. Government has compiled an incredible amount of current, useful information and made it available on the web, especially on the topics of Medicare and Social Security. I found those resources exceedingly helpful. I learned some fascinating things, such as the fact that only the basic hospitalization part of Medicare is free and you have to pay for everything else by buying supplemental coverage. I also learned that Social Security benefits are taxable; what a rude surprise!

Second, one of the biggest impacts from increased longevity is in the area of health. The good news is that we will be living longer, and the bad news is that we will be living longer…and our bodies won’t always be able to keep up with our minds and vice versa. Because of advances in medicine during our lifetimes, our longevity has increased. However, we will likely live longer with more pain, limited mobility, or chronic long-term diseases, or worse, our bodies last longer but we experience dementia and other age-related brain disorders. We will live longer with lower quality of life. That has a huge financial impact in two areas: insurance and medical costs.

Boomer411: What are some of the benefits Boomers will enjoy compared to their parents during retirement?
Catherine: I think the main benefit we will have compared to our parents is more time on the planet due to increased longevity. But, depending on your perspective, I’m not sure increased longevity is a benefit! I certainly don’t see it that way; I was rather annoyed to learn I’d have to figure out how to pay for a lot more years of basic living, and I’d live longer with a lower quality of health and life. But to be fair, many people feel just the opposite and want to live forever, so they see the extra decades as a bonus: when they can travel, or pursue leisure activities, or continue to work if they please.

Boomer411:  What are some of the major issues, breakdowns Boomers should start thinking about now before it is too late? Why is it important that they address these issues now?

Catherine:
1. Know your realistic life expectancy, and use that as a first step in planning or rethinking your existing retirement plan. Your existing plan may not take this into account.
2. Calculate your Longevity Cost. Figure out your basic cost of living and calculate how much you will need. You need to do this now while you are earning income so you can figure out how much it will take to pay for those extra decades and how long you may need to continue working. You don’t want to outlive your projected retirement savings.
3. Make adjustments now. Think through the tradeoffs in multiple areas of your expenses (Housing, Insurance, Medical, Taxes, etc.) and discuss them with your family. Then put a plan into place, with a spreadsheet of expenses and a timeline as to when the changes will be made (such as moving, downsizing, applying for Medicare, etc.) You will then have a roadmap for your future: your Longevity Plan.

Boomer411:  How well prepared (based on your research) are the majority of Baby Boomers in affording those extra 3 decades of living? Please elaborate on the ‘Longevity Cost’.
Catherine: Boomers aren’t well prepared at all. It’s estimated by the FDIC that only 19% of Baby Boomers have done any retirement planning, so that tells me that we as a group have to do a better job of first coming to grips with the reality of our longevity and then taking the time to develop a detailed plan as soon as possible. Instead of dreaming about where we will travel or how we’ll spend leisure time, we first have to think about our basic living costs!

Longevity Cost is my term for the costs for living those extra decades. It’s calculated by adding up your actual current basic living costs per year and multiplying it by your remaining life expectancy. (In  Chapter 4, “Do the Math”, I also outline a method of using Intuit’s Quicken ® to calculate this.) It’s a real eye-opener to calculate this number (and can be scary). It’s a necessary step in planning, however, because this will give you a true picture of what your costs are likely to be during retirement; you still have to live somewhere, you still have to eat, you still have to pay for insurance and medical bills. Once you know the costs, then you can figure out where to find the money to cover these costs, which is also a chapter in the book (”Finding the Money”). This is a much more accurate approach than using a ‘retirement calculator’ that instructs you to multiply your current income by a certain percentage to calculate your future retirement costs. To me, that is backwards, because you don’t know what your income is going to be in a few years (or maybe not even next year), but you DO know what your basic living costs are now.

Boomer411: What is your advice to Boomers nearing retirement age? How should they go about making the most of their newfound longevity?
Catherine: My advice is to take the time to work through a plan NOW; you owe it to yourself and to your family to do this. You want to make sure that you don’t outlive your retirement savings, and perhaps you will have some money left for travel, recreation, or leaving a legacy. Developing a Longevity Plan is not only the responsible thing to do, but it will also help you get the most out of your retirement years.

Boomer411:  Why should Boomers read your book? OR Who should read this book?
Catherine: This book is aimed at Baby Boomers: those born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1964. I did the research for you and put it all in one compact little volume. This book contains lots of useful information and statistics, but more importantly, it is a checklist and workbook for creating your own plan. It’s easy to read and you don’t have to be a financial expert to follow this (I’m certainly not one!) It also contains inspiring examples from other Boomers who are dealing with these issues now.

Read more about the book from the publisher/order here

Read reviews of the book here/order from Amazon.com

This concludes our interview with Catherine Kitcho. Please do stay tuned as we bring you more such interviews.

Today, we continue with part 2 of the interview with Mark Lederer. Mark is a real estate advisor. Mark works with his wife Katie as a team and they are located in the Bay Area in California. They have been top performing agents in the area for the last 6 years. Also, as you read through this interview, it is probably a good idea to keep in mind that this team has been practicing the approach listed below for a number of years and have helped many clients with this approach.  Mark also has a blog on financial matters and is aptly named Financial Ambition whose aim is to bring you uncommon knowledge related to financial matters.  

Our readers should also note that Mark participates on the Boomer411.com as a Trustee, in this role he joins other trustees to help select quality content (articles) to be indexed on the Boomer411.com web site.

You can find part 1 of this interview that was published last week here. Now let’s get started with the final part of this interview.

Boomer411:  What affordable housing options are there, especially for singles and those that prefer communities reserved for elders/seniors?
Mark:  Each community is different in what they provide and each individual needs to evaluate their concerns before looking for alternative housing. For instance in the Bay Area, some housing communities offer comprehensive medical and assisted living coverage with admission to the community. If the client has big concerns about their medical and insurance situation then this may be a favorable alternative for them. When deciding to sell your home and move to a retirement community it is first important to assess and reflect on your situation. A good team of real estate, finance and insurance advisors can be valuable for assessing a client’s risks and opportunities.

Boomer411:  How should Boomers (or anyone older than 45 years) organize their efforts and address such emerging trends?
Mark:  Trends are just that… They are trends that I find often have nothing to do with a clients personal and individual situation. Since each of us has unique situation, it is imperative to reach out to specific professional advisors for advisor ship. Looking at trends is often a mistake when considering a strategy for an individual. For by definition 50% will most likely do better than the general trend and 50% will do worse. For instance, looking at trends surrounding the low national average savings that the Baby Boomers have accumulated, has no direct impact on an individual’s situation or the strategies they should use in retirement. Thus, getting expert help to define and plan one’s individualized life in retirement is paramount.

Boomer411:  If a person is closer to retirement but is unable to decide where to retire, is it advisable for that person to buy property in a most likely place he or she would retire? How should that person go about real estate planning?
Mark:   Real estate planning is just one piece of an estate plan. I would never advise that someone should haphazardly sell or buy real estate.  When considering where to retire there are many more concerns that need to be addressed than just the financial and estate plan concerns. I find that many of my clients who are retired decide they want to be closer to family. This proximity to family may mean increased living expenses if they are moving from Oregon to California. I suggest that all of my clients take time to reflect on what they think living a good life in retirement means specifically for them. Then, we get the necessary experts involved to assess the risks and opportunities of their specific situation. This allows for the client to make an informed decision of how they want to live. I often find that clients come to me with ideas that are not even possibilities. I prefer that clients contact me well before they decide to make a move so that I can help them reflect and prepare for changes they are going to make.

Boomer411:  On average how many Boomer or elder clients do you service? How do you cater your services to the many different situations you encounter with baby boomer clients?
Mark:  I would say that about ¼ of our transactions are with Baby boomers. We expect that portion of our business to grow over the next couple of years. Again, not every nail needs a hammer so we like to cater our services to the situation of the individual, and not to a class of individuals such as the Baby Boomers. It is faulty logic to assume all Baby Boomer’s are in the same boat. I have found that Baby Boomer’s concerns are as diverse as the concerns of the X-Generation clients I also service.

Boomer411:  Do you provide additional services to the boomers that you do not need to provide to others?
Mark:  I have found that there are core services that all clients need to have a successful real estate transaction. All clients need good real estate, mortgage, finance, and insurance assistance. It is important that all these providers work together to assist a client in reaching their goals. The boomers also often need assistance with retirement planning and wealth conservation. The biggest mistake I see that Baby Boomers make is to assume that they will only live for so long. For instance, I often hear people say that they will not live past 90. This philosophy means that they often plan to run out of money at age 90. I often say to this individual, “If you end up living to age 100 the last 10 years of your life will be brutal!” I advise that people plan to live to an absurdly old age, so that they never have to worry about their estates drying up.

So, in a way the services and the philosophies of financial conservation and living a good life apply to everyone, Baby Boomers included. On the other hand, Baby Boomers often need assistance with assessing alternative living situations such as skilled nursing facilities. I think having a good team of experts means that as a team they can help with assessing even the most complex situations regarding all parts of a real estate transaction. Many Realtors® look at their job as guiding clients through the buying and selling of real property. That’s why I look at myself as a real estate advisor. As an advisor you need to care for a client’s total concerns. This philosophy implies that they are in a better situation after the transaction than before it. It is not possible to have this high standard of care without a team of experts working together.

Boomer411:  What ancillary services do you provide to support a Baby Boomers real estate situations?
Mark:  We supply support in mortgage, finance, retirement planning, wills & trusts, insurance, life style planning, architects, architectural programming, interior decorating, and property contractors.

Boomer411:  What consequences are there for boomers that do not take care of their real estate concerns?
Mark:  I can see truth in the saying, “You can’t eat real estate, but real estate can eat you.” This means that it should be carefully assessed within the context of your total estate. Baby Boomers just like anyone else who owns real estate face a menagerie of financial, legal, insurance, and lifestyle consequences.

Boomer411:   Tell us briefly about your blog
Mark:  The purpose of my blog is to provide essential real estate and financial guidance to Bay Area homeowner’s whose ambitions are to live in the home that is right for their family while at the same time fully funding their retirement, their children’s college education and paying for the high costs of living the SF Bay Area lifestyle.  Our readers tend to be top 5% household income earners ($150,000+), who endeavor to purchase homes that cost $750,000+ and are committed to using their income and assets to their fullest advantage.  Our commitment is to provide valuable philosophy, research, data and opinions to assist these ambitious Bay Area homeowners.

Boomer411:  What is your outlook for the current and future real estate markets?
Mark: I think the future of Bay Area real estate is bright. Our market is so unique that I think we are well positioned for a robust future. Of course, we will see our share of up and down real estate cycles, but over all California real estate has had an average of 9.5%/year appreciation over the last 30 years. That average is about on par for the US economies S&P 500 market average over the same period. If you localize the average 30 year historical appreciation to individual Bay Area cities then some of the returns are substantially larger than California’s average. The Bay Area is a great place to own real estate. We have fantastic year round weather conditions, lots of economic and business growth, and a limited supply of land to build on. I think this all adds up to be advantageous for Bay Area real estate owners and investors over the next decade.

Boomer411:   Any further insights?
Mark:  Be careful when making your next real estate transaction. Demand that your real estate agent look at your complete financial picture when giving advice. Make sure that your agent knows their limits and gets you good help when the conversation strays from their expertise. Take time to reflect on your next transaction and make sure you are moving towards living the best life possible. We are each individuals with different situations that require unique strategies. Make informed decisions, because the consequences could be substantial and irreversible.

This concludes our interview with Mark Lederer. Stay tuned for more such interviews.

Today, in our series on interviews, we are featuring an interview with Mark Lederer. Mark is a real estate advisor, as opposed to a real estate agent and you will find out why in his answers below. Mark works with his wife Katie as a team, in the Bay Area of California and they have been top performing agents in the area for the last 6 years. Also, as you read through this interview, it is probably a good idea to keep in mind that this team has been practicing the approach listed below for a number of years and have helped many clients with this approach.  Mark also has a blog on financial matters and is aptly named Financial Ambition whose aim is to bring you uncommon knowledge related to financial matters. The interview is being published in two parts. Today we are featuring part 1 of this interview. Part 2 will be published next week. So stay tuned.

Our readers would probably be interested in learning that Mark also participates on the Boomer411.com website as a Trustee, in this role he joins other trustees to help select quality content (articles) to be indexed on the Boomer411.com web site. Mark, on behalf of Boomer411 and our readers, Thank You.

Now let’s continue with the interview.

Boomer411: Mark, Please tell our readers about yourself and your professional practice (Where do you work?)
Mark: I am a Realtor and a real estate advisor located in Berkeley, California. I service the Bay Area and handle real estate transactions for buyers and sellers of residential and investment real estate. I work at the largest independent firm in the East Bay. I work as a team with my wife Katie. We have been top producing Bay Area agents for the last 6 years.

Boomer411:     What are some of the major concerns (explicit and/or implicit) facing Baby Boomers today and how do you deal with them?
Mark: When I meet with Baby Boomers I find, as with all of our clients, they need help assessing their current situation and their future real estate needs. Specifically for Boomers retirement and financial security are of most importance. Like with all of our clients this means that Baby Boomers face challenges in many different areas when deciding to purchase and sell property.

Boomer411:     Are Baby Boomers concerns different from other people that are aging and older than boomers? Please explain? What kind of help do Baby Boomers need when considering selling or buying real estate?
Mark: All of us are looking to conserve our time, energy and money when transacting in real estate. Yet, because the Baby Boomers are closer to retirement age they have heightened concerns for their well being. Thus, it is important to look at all angles of the transaction and get a clear picture of what needs to transpire in order to insure a smooth transition. For instance, Baby Boomers have financial constraints that may be more pronounced, because they are reaching retirement age and the mechanics of the time value of money has less time to work for them.
This means good financial advice is paramount to a successful transition from one home to another or in dealing with the liquidation of investment property. Since we are not financial advisors good real estate agents must keep a good financial advisor in the loop of the transaction. This means that both the financial advisor and the agent must work closely together to make sure the Baby Boomers financial interests are preserved. This often brings in tax, legal, and mortgage questions that must be addressed properly to satisfy the known and unknown concerns that the client may have.

Boomer411:    How do you approach the fact that a home is often your client’s largest asset?
Mark: I do not accept that our client’s personal residence is or should be their largest asset. For instance, a good ambitious marriage is a much larger asset than a home. A marriage provides much more than just finance. We also see that divorce is a leading destroyer of accumulated wealth. I have seen clients at retirement age, when their savings accounts are smaller than their personal residence.  This usually ends up in an unsatisfactory situation. A home should not be one’s largest asset, because if it is then they will be sure to make unwanted compromises when they retire.
Again, as stated in question 3, having a team of advisors that understand the concerns of the specific individual are vital. It is especially paramount when working with a client where their personal residence is their largest asset. It is always best to find a comprehensive approach to understanding and developing a strategy for retirement. It is a task that requires much cooperation and coordination between many different experts. This means in retirement your home must provide much more than just a roof over your head. Often we have seen how this change is a process of utilizing experts in many different fields to investigate alternatives and help our clients reflect on what is the best situation for them.  

Boomer411:    What should baby boomers (or any elder person) do first when considering selling or buying property?
Mark: The first step is to locate a real estate agent that understands the situations that Baby Boomers face. A good agent will have a team of experts to advise their clients through the process of buying or selling property. Expert advice is key to any successful transaction and it is a must for Baby Boomers that are setting the stage for retirement. Below are 8 steps that I guide my clients through when buying or selling residential or investment property.

1. You should start with your real estate advisor who should assess the current value of your home. These numbers will help all of your other advisors while they assist you in assessing your entire situation.
2. Your real estate advisor should assess the current real estate market conditions in your area. This will help you to gauge the risk and timing of your transaction.
3. Your real estate advisor should listen to your concerns for your family, work, career, socializing and retirement.
4. Your real estate advisor should provide you with other advisors that understand and can help you to assess all of the financial, insurance, tax, and legal concerns you may have. They should cooperate and coordinate with these ancillary services to get a clear picture of your total situation.
5. Your real estate advisor should provide a collaborative environment where you can reflect on your situation and consider all of the alternatives available to you.
6. Once you understand the situation you should work with your agent to explore the future situation you would like to create.  If you are deciding to move out of the area, this may mean utilizing another agent in a different market. Your primary agent should help you to find a good real estate advisor in an alternative location if needed and to cooperate and coordinate with this other agent to ensure continuity.
7. When you proceed with the sale or purchase you should have good communication with your agent. They are advising you throughout the entire process. Because the process of buying and selling requires that both a buyer’s and a seller’s expectations are reached, no real estate advisor can fully define your process with certainty. Your advisor should be constantly assessing your situation as it progresses and should be working with your other advisors as the process changes. It is a constant process of making assessments and then adjusting the process in a way that best meets your needs.
8. After the transaction is completed, your real estate advisor should provide you with any additional support (for example interior designers, architects and contractors) as needed. They should be willing to take a vested interest in you even after the transaction has been completed.

Boomer411:    What trends do you see in regards to retirement and real estate? Is “aging in place” or “retiring in place” a phenomenon in theory or happening more?
Mark: There are lots of new trends that are appearing in real estate in regards to meeting the needs of the many Baby Boomers that are beginning to think about retirement.  Some of them revolve around reverse mortgages, which allow people over the age of 62, who have equity in their homes, to stay in their homes while providing an income stream and/or reducing their payments. Many of my clients own large homes where they raised children who are now grown. These clients often are looking to downsize and we often deal with advising our clients on the transferring of their tax basis.  The Bay Area is a diverse group of individuals with many differing financial situations. Thus, it is imperative to look at each individual’s unique situation and help them to make the correct decision for them.
 In essence not every nail needs a hammer.  Thus, the trends are irrelevant to the individual’s concerns. In general, there are a lot of people in this country reaching retirement age. Many of them will be assessing their current living situations as they decide to retire. Many of them will need expert assistance to help make sound decisions regarding, housing, mortgage and finance. A good advisor will not apply common knowledge to these individuals, but instead use uncommon knowledge to assist each unique individual’s needs and concerns.

Boomer411:    If one lives in a high-tax or retiree unfriendly (or less friendly) state, what can one do to reduce or control retirement expenses? What factors should one consider if deciding to move to a retiree friendly-state?
Mark: Anyone who is considering moving out of state needs a team of advisors on both ends of the transaction. One set of advisors on the sales side of the transaction and another on the purchase side of the transaction to assure continuity. For example a real estate agent in California cannot adequately advise on real estate market conditions or strategy in Colorado. Each of these locations is unique and in need of a strategy that fits the uniqueness of each of the situations. You must make sure that both of the real estate agents work together with all of your other financial and legal advisors.
More often in California we see that people over the age of 55 years old, can transfer their tax basis from one home to another. The laws surrounding this exchange are complicated and require that the real estate agent take a look at the individual’s total financial and lifestyle perspective when considering the viability of this option.
This concludes part 1 of our interview with Mark Lederer. Stay tuned for part 2 of this interview to be published next week.

This is the concluding part (or part 2) of our interview with Ronni Bennett. Last week we published part 1 of the interview. Since we published part 1 of the interview, some unexpected changes have taken place. Ronni has decided to shut down TGB (Time Goes By) - her blog for various reasons listed on her blog site and her loyal readers, which are many, are pleading her to reconsider. We sure wish she’d reconsider and continue TGB as well, as we admire her work there and feel sad to see Ronni and TGB go from the blogosphere. At the same time, if this is best for her, then we respect her decision.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ronni for her thoughts and suggestions regarding Boomer411 and also for introducing us to her loyal readers. We feel privileged.
Although some of the interview answers below might have changed in meaning in light of this development, we decided to publish it in its original form. So without much ado, here goes…

Boomer411: CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE SOME BACKGROUND ABOUT HOW YOU STARTED WITH THE BLOG?
Ronni: Sure. Let me tell you a story:

In 1996, when I was working at the first CBS-TV website, cbsnews.com, I looked up from my computer screen one day in search of one of the writers I needed to speak with. As I glanced over the room filled with about 25 people, it struck me hard – I was 55 years old then – that I was the oldest kid in the crowd. By decades.

Since teen years, I had thought of myself as I had been then, usually the youngest kid in the crowd, and I blithely sailed through the next 30-plus years without changing that definition of myself.

So it was a shock to notice for the first time that I was undoubtedly on the downhill side of life and I wondered what getting old would be like; I had no idea what to expect.

And so I spent most of my free time during the next seven or eight years researching aging. In popular magazines and newspapers, books, scientific research papers, medical journals and other sources, the answer was 95 percent awful. According to everyone, getting old was an overwhelmingly negative experience.

By the time I had accumulated overflowing stacks of reports and books along with a thousand pages of notes in 2003, blogs (a phenomenon I had been closely following) were taking off. So I started Time Goes By initially as a place to organize and think out loud about all the research I had been collecting.

I’m no fool and I had no expectation that many people would read a blog about getting old, but I knew that writing publicly would keep me journalistically honest. Now, four years later, I’m astonished at how much readership has grown and more important, what a smart, lively, engaging community has built up around the blog.

Boomer411: WHY DO YOU USE THE WORD “ELDERS” ON YOUR BLOG INSTEAD OF “SENIORS”, “MATURES”, OR OTHER TERMS FOR OLD PEOPLE?
Ronni: This was a deliberate and important choice. Because ageism is so widely prevalent and worse, unacknowledged as an equivalent of sexism and racism, when I started Time Goes By I determined that none of the negative words for old would be used or tolerated. Coot, biddy, old fart, etc. were banned along with – to a lesser extent – senior and senior citizen, because there is the scent of the institutional about the last two from overuse.

So for the first year, I substituted “old” and “older” for all those words, trying to nudge them toward being a neutral descriptive.

When a panel I was co-hosting at the 2005 SXSWi conference was named “Respect Your Elderbloggers”, it was an Aha! moment for me. Elder is a venerable word that had been consigned for decades to describe only tribal old people and church leaders. It was time, I believed, to resurrect it as a respectful description of anyone who could otherwise be labeled old which, aside from antiques, is almost always pejorative.

There was resistance at first, even from some Time Goes By readers. But I browbeat a New York Times reporter into using elderblogger when I was interviewed and insist on it now in every context from my blog to conference appearances and other interviews.

Now I see elder and elderblogging popping up all over the internet and in some mainstream media. The word elder carries no negative baggage and can help improve the status of old people.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here is her latest post regarding this subject.

Boomer411: WHAT KIND OF PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND DO YOU HAVE? HOW DOES IT INFLUENCE YOUR BLOG?
Ronni: My entire career was spent in media. In the earliest years, I produced radio talk shows in several cities including, eventually, New York City, back when they were still conversations and before they became right-wing shouting matches. Then I moved on to television where, over the next couple of decades, I produced for such programs as 20/20 and The Barbara Walters Specials.

In 1995, I was offered the opportunity to switch to the internet when the commercial web was in its infancy, first as managing editor of cbsnews.com and later for other websites until someone determined in 2004, that I am too old.

My radio, television and web background influence Time Goes By every day. As much as I knew aging was not an issue most people cared to read about when I started the blog (that is changing a bit now that the boomers are getting old), I’m not without ego and wanted to increase readership as much as possible. Years of producing shows that get canceled if the ratings don’t hold up taught me techniques of building audience that can be applied to a blog.

Plus, ten years of working on websites gave me a thorough understanding of how to build a well-designed site that draws people in. And I use all my journalistic training every day in reporting and writing as fairly and accurately as I can.

Boomer411: SHOULD BOOMERS WHO ARE ABOUT TO RETIRE BE THINKING ABOUT THE ISSUES THAT WOULD MATTER TO THEM WHEN THEY RETIRE?
Ronni: Of course. There are the practical issues I mentioned above, but one of the surprises I’ve encountered is that there is not, for me at least, a sharp dividing line between life before and after retirement. (If all 75 percent of boomers who say in surveys they will continue working beyond traditional retirement age really do so - I doubt it - there is hardly retirement at all.)

But even without a salaried job, who you are doesn’t change. The interests you had before retirement continue, but you may have more time to pursue them. If reading mystery novels was a pleasure before, it continues. If you were a gym rat before, that won’t stop.

Because American culture so adores youth to the exclusion of age, I think there is an idea, hardly articulated among us, that to retire is to enter another, less colorful country where we become different from what we were - less interesting and interested. That is wrong.

However, surveys show that retired women are much more likely than men to not only continue past interests, but to take up new ones. Men, according to surveys, appear to miss the status of their work life more than women do and that is something boomer men should consider and find a way to deal with before retirement.

This concludes our interview with Ronni Bennett. Please post your feedback/comments.

We love you Ronni and wish you all the Best in whatever you choose to do next.