Senior Living

Healthy Holidays: Seniors Need to Stay Active and Engaged

This holiday season, seniors and aging adults are urged to stay active in order to enjoy good health during this year’s festivities. While nonagenarians, a person whose age is in the nineties, may not be able to go “dashing through the snow” as fast as they did in their youth, they can make an effort to see friends, do volunteer work, play a rousing game of Scrabble or even knit holiday sweaters for their nieces and nephews. Extra servings of pumpkin pie, however, are best avoided.

Each of those actions during the festive season can lead to a better quality of life for seniors, according to studies of elders in Okinawa, which boasts more centenarians per 100,000 people than anywhere else on Earth. To ensure older adults throughout North America can benefit from the findings of these studies, Americans should observe the five components of healthy longevity identified among the Okinawans:

Physical activity

Taking a walk after a hearty holiday meal is a good idea for those of any age, but it is particularly beneficial to seniors. Even aging adults who are less ambulatory can take part in some form of exercise, whether it is lifting their feet repeatedly while seated in a sturdy chair, or raising their arms skyward several times in a row.

Healthy diet

Comfort foods drawn from family or ethnic traditions are especially enjoyed by seniors during the holidays. However, the recipes for these dishes should be adapted to the palates and dietary needs of aging adults. Lean meats, such as turkey breast, are readily available during this time of year and serve as a healthy alternative to red meat for seniors. Also, limit the intake of sweets and desserts that accompany celebrations – except perhaps for antioxidant rich dark chocolate. Other “super foods” for seniors that are beneficial to include in holiday meals are blueberries, flax seed, carrots, eggs, nuts and salmon.

Sharp minds

While dementia and short-term memory loss are common among seniors, mentally-stimulating activities can help them delay, or possibly even prevent, the onset of these conditions. Designing holiday festivities around skill-based games, such as Scrabble, checkers, backgammon or Boggle, not only makes the event fun for party-goers, but these activities can also help seniors maintain cognitive function. Engaging in pattern-following crafts like knitting or needlepoint also stimulates the brains of older adults in ways that can help keep them mentally fit.

Social ties

Though the holiday season can bring back memories of lost loved ones, this time of year also offers numerous opportunities for seniors to engage with other people, whether through social gatherings, phone calls, email or greeting cards. Research shows that social ties keep people healthy by providing emotional support, limiting stress levels, and helping seniors maintain an irreplaceable level of independence. While group activities in family homes or senior centers can be the centerpiece of holiday celebrations, aging adults can also benefit from receiving a daily phone call or email because it helps them feel connected to those they care about.

Calmness and Purpose

For some seniors, participating in a religious service helps them maintain a calm center and focus on their life purpose, while others may prefer practices such as yoga or meditation. The holidays also offer ample opportunities for older adults to fulfill a purpose by volunteering at local organizations and nonprofits. Sharing personal stories or reading special holiday stories to younger family members and friends can also help seniors maintain a sense of connectivity to those around them.

Moving the Carefree Way

Are you thinking about making a move, or maybe are right in the middle of it, and wonder where to start and when will it end? Wouldn’t it be nice to have someone else do all the packing, sorting, selling (if you are liquidating assets) and at the other end, unpack, put everything away AND make you dinner? You betcha!!!!

I’ve got great news, there are companies out there that will do just that! I have had the privilege of meeting and working with the owners of Carefree Moves. The service they offer is much needed and appreciated. Amazingly, so many do not know that this service even exists.

They cover all of the East Bay. If you would like help with your move, check them out! You can even read about them and their services in an article written in the Lamorinda earlier this month. Click here to check it out.

Use Tax Season to Organize for the Future

Anna was not looking forward to going through her parents’ belongings to get their house ready to sell. Their health had been failing for some time and they finally agreed to move to a retirement community. Now that they were both comfortably moved into their new apartment, it was up to Jane to get rid of the things they no longer needed.

Her parents had lived in the same house for more than 50 years, so Jane expected to find things that should have been tossed out years ago. But she was amazed to discover 50 years of tax returns and bank statements carefully stored in boxes in the attic. Her parents had saved all their financial records!

Many people are confused about what records they need to keep and for how long. They hold onto tax returns, bank records, brokerage statements and other financial information simply because they don’t know if they’ll need it again. Like Jane’s parents, the documents get packed in boxes that eventually take over valuable living or storage space.

Financial planner Rick Rodgers, author of The New Three-Legged Stool: A Tax Efficient Approach To Retirement Planning says tax time is a great time to get organized.

“Most people are going through their records to get ready to file their return,” he says. “This is the time to get smart about what you need to keep and then set up a system to store it efficiently going forward.”

Rodgers suggests these five steps to help you effectively organize your finances for 2012 and beyond:

Out with the old – Discard the records you no longer need: Tax returns older than seven years; bank records and credit card statements that are not related to the tax returns you’re keeping; brokerage statements that aren’t related to purchases of current holdings. Be sure to shred all your old documents before throwing them out.
Go digital – Convert the documents you plan to save into digital images that are stored on your hard drive. Invest in a good scanner and scan as you go through your paperwork, shredding and tossing the hard copies as you go. On your computer, file by tax year, so your 2011 folder will contain your tax return for 2011 and all pertinent bank records and receipts. Organize the previous six years the same way. Next year you can delete the oldest folder when you add the 2012 folder.
Save a forest – All of the financial institutions you deal with would prefer to send your statements electronically. Stop receiving paper statements. Instead, download your statements electronically and store them in your new filing system. Most banks and credit card companies keep at least a year’s worth of statements available. You need to download these files only once a year to complete the year’s file.
Save backups in case of emergency – Make backup copies of your files on a CD. Choose a CD-R (recordable) as opposed to a CD-RW (rewriteable), because CD-R cannot accidentally be overwritten. Depending on your computer operating system, you may be able to continue adding data to a CD-R each year, until the CD is full. However, some operating systems won’t allow that, so you’ll need a new CD for each year.
Go paperless – Your new electronic filing system can be expanded to include all your financial records, from car maintenance receipts to pay stubs. Wills and insurance policies can also be scanned and stored but, of course, keep the originals of those in a safe deposit box or fireproof safe. Gone are the days of saving your financial documents in box and shoving it into the attic. Technology advances have made organizing your personal finances easier with minimal cost. Make 2012 the year you get organized by moving your finances into a 21st century filing system.

Source: www.rodgersspeaks.com

The question is, “Why Downsize?”

Why move at all? What is the point? Well, as we see it there are at least two reasons.

The first reason is that studies have shown that seniors who stay actively engaged both socially and intellectually live longer, healthier and more satisfying lives. It has been proven time and time again and when you talk to people who are active and healthy at the ages of 83, 93 and even 103, they will tell you it is because they have stayed active AND they have stayed engaged.

“Is downsizing required for me to stay active and engaged,” you might ask? No necessarily, however, if you are no longer comfortable or if it isn’t safe to drive any longer, it makes it more challenging to be active. And then there is the time involved in maintaining a large home that sometimes prevents senior adults from being as active as they might otherwise be. We will address this in reason #2 for choosing to downsize.

Being active and engaged doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be a social butterfly. Not everyone loves being “a joiner.” There is undoubtedly no shortage of social activities for the social butterfly in many active adult communities, but there are also other ways to stay active and engaged. In virtually every 55+ community we have visited they either have these things on site or they provide transportation to a nearby location that offers them: gyms, theaters, art classes, musical shows, plays, libraries, college courses, museum displays, and more.

Regardless of your age, personality, physical capabilities, or personal preferences, there is something for everyone! If you stay cooped up in your house and watch CNN (continuously negative news) all day, you are sure to shrivel up and die or at the very least become frail and grumpy. It’s a personal choice.

As mentioned earlier, reason number two for moving to a more manageable residence is about the home maintenance issue. Whether you have lived in a home for a long time or have only been there a short time, if it requires ongoing maintenance, unmanageable expenses or if it doesn’t fit lifestyle any longer, it essentially becomes a burden. With burden comes stress. With stress comes poor health, exhaustion, overwhelm, and physical decline. This is true at any age, but especially true as we get older.

By living somewhere that home maintenance is not an issue, it frees up time and energy for people to focus on the things that they enjoy. If you are dealing with having to have the house painted, an overflowing toilet, frozen pipes, a leaky roof, or yard maintenance, you are essentially using energy that you could be using in other places that are more enjoyable. Now if you enjoy fixing roofs, having plumbing repaired, and remodeling things because because you love doing that stuff, then certainly that is different. Some people do enjoy these things, believe it or not. But for the large percentage of the people out there, that is not considered fun. It is more than a little overwhelming for most and a great reason to downsize into a more manageable and maintenance free residence.

There are many local communities that offer a maintenance free lifestyle. Some of these neighborhoods are age specific and cater to the 55 and older homeowner.

Another option for the over 55+ active adult is the senior living community. Here you get things like meals, transportation, housekeeping, planned on-site and off-site social activities, and a variety of other convenient services. Again, the focus is on staying active and engaged…at your discretion. You can still choose what to do and when, but when you do choose to get involved, it is convenient and you aren’t bogged down by waiting on the roofer, the plumber, the cable guy or the electrician!

Most people find they have increased energy, decreased illness, fewer doctor visits, and an overall more positive outlook on life shortly after they make the decision to downsize.

The most common phrase we hear from people who choose to move into senior living communities or even a smaller more manageable place is this:

“I wish I would have done this years ago. Had I known then what I know now, I would have done it in a heartbeat.”

What can you do to help stop elder financial abuse?

Did you know that 1 in 5 Americans over the age of 65 has been the victim of a financial scam? And, that telephone scams alone account for $30 Billion every year?

Brett and I have had clients who have been victims of a financial scam. We want to do whatever we can to help prevent this from happening to others. The best way we know how is to provide information.

True Link, a San Francisco based company, has developed a VISA card that can be personalized with a fraud blocker. An adult child or spouse can set up a True Link Visa card for a loved one.

How it works:

True Link maintains a growing database of scams and problematic merchants. This offers an extra layer of protection on a True Link Card.

You can:

Set a maximum amount per charge
Block purchases from specific stores and types of merchants
Allow only transactions made in person
Receive instant alerts about charges that might be suspicious but shouldn’t be blocked outright
Disable or limit ATM withdrawals

Your loved one can use the card wherever VISA debit cards are accepted. If any suspicious charges do occur, you’ll be notified immediately via email or text message.

You can adjust your fraud blocker on your True Link account as often as you wish and even temporarily block the card entirely without canceling the account or requesting a new card.

In our opinion, True Link offers a great way to help your loved one maintain their independence, but at the same time help protect their financial assets. To get more information or order a card go to www.TrueLinkCard.com.

Recognize Warning Signs that your loved one may be a victim of financial abuse:

Unexpected or frivolous purchases or spending
Packages in the mail, unwanted magazines, unexpected renovations
Complaints about inability to pay bills or overdraft schemes
Discussions about “sure thing” investment schemes
Discussions about giving or lending large amounts of money to friends or family members.

Know the Scams

Medicare Fraud
Telemarketing scams
Investment Schemes
Sweepstakes/Lottery Scam
Grandparent Scam
Unscrupulous Charities
Door-to-door / service providers
Hidden or recurring charges from online and TV orders

Take Preventative Steps

Register on the Do Not Call List by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the Senior’s phone.
Review bank and credit card statements together for any suspicious or recurring charges.
Inform Seniors of common scams and what to do if they think they are being scammed.
Post a cautionary note by their telephone.

Learn More

FBI’s Full list of Scams: fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/seniors

Better Business Bureau: bbb.org

Local Law Enforcement

Adult Protective Services: napsa-now.org

Eldercare Locator: eldercare.gov or call 1-800-677-1116

Wheels for Meals Ride 2013

Brett and Bryce riding up Patterson Pass, Wheels for Meals 2011.

This is the 5th year that Wheels for Meals has raised money to help feed Seniors through Meals on Wheels. Just last year, this ride provided 22,000 meals to seniors in need! If you are a cyclist and want to participate or if you would like to volunteer to help go to Wheels for Meals Ride. The ride is on October 19, 2013. There is still time to register. They accept up to 1,200 cyclists. There are 3 rides to choose from, 15 miles, 35 miles and 70 miles. The early bird special to sign up ends on September 20th.

Brett, Bryce and I rode the 70 mile ride previously. There is a photo of Brett pulling our son Bryce up Patterson Pass on the front page of the website, www.wheelsformealsride.com. Brett is right behind the lady in the photo. Bryce is behind, Brett, you can’t see him from that particular angle, but know, Brett is pulling an extra 50 lbs up that hill!

Looking for a little camaraderie? Then get your friends, family and colleagues involved! Register to fund raise and join a team! Have some fun, get motivated and work together. Last year over $137,000 was raised to support Meals on Wheels.