50+Digital

Purpose Prize winner helps immigrants adjust

Fargo, N.D., is known for cold winters and a population descended from Scandinavian and German immigrants. The town is 94 percent white and it's an aging community--one in five residents is over age 55.But Fargo--actually a part of the bigger Fargo-Moorhead metro area that straddles North Dakota and Minnesota--isn't a ...

Home appliance makers embracing universal design

The housing market is in a free fall and consumers are snapping wallets shut, but home appliance makers are taking advantage of the moment to re-tool with new products targeting the coming growth market in aging baby boomer customers. The Wall Street Journal reports that big manufacturers like General Electric, ...

Obama’s call to service and the boomer generation

Arianna Huffington and others have taken note of President-elect Obama's plans to call Americans to public service to address the urgent issues facing the country. In a July campaign speech, Obama outlined his ideas for expanding existing programs like the Peace Corps, but also launching new ones focused on education ...

An oil change you can believe in

No I can't ....

Joining The Huffington Post

I've just signed on as a contributor to one of my favorite news websites, The Huffington Post. Founded by author and nationally syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington, HuffPost is one of the fastest-growing sites on the web. HuffPost is best known for political and media coverage, but the site ...

Obama, McCain agree: A new approach is needed for retirement saving

Here's some late-breaking news: John McCain and Barack Obama agree on something. I stumbled across this startling information while reporting on a proposal making the rounds in Washington aimed at creating new retirement saving options for lower-income Americans. Called the Automatic IRA, it could keep millions of Americans out of poverty in ...

Seniors and the cost of living: Why Social Security isn’t keeping up

The Social Security Administration recently announced that the annual cost-of-living (COLA) adjustment for 2009 will be 5.8 percent--the largest since 1982. That might seem odd in a tanking economy that should be taking the pressure off price increases. But by law, the annual Social Security COLA is determined by averaging ...

Older Americans taking a big hit in foreclosure crisis

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert focuses today on how foreclosures are impacting older Americans. Herbert cites a recent AARP Public Policy research report that breaks new ground in quantifying mortgage delinquencies by age group. The study concludes that Americans over age 50 represented 28 percent of all mortgage delinquencies ...

How community colleges are helping boomers with career transitions

Last year think tank Civic Ventures partnered with the Metlife Foundation in a grant-making program for community colleges aimed at fostering innovation in education for mid-life career changers. Civic Ventures began the project by asking community colleges all over the country if they were interested in a small seed grants ...

Positive Aging Conference coming to a location near you

A coalition of groups including AARP, Elderhostel, and the Vital Aging Network sponsored the First Positive Aging Conference in December 2007. I attended the event, and it was an extraordinary gathering of more than 400 people who came together to learn, talk and network about purpose, meaning and vitality ...