Moving to Arizona

A quick trip to Prescott, Arizona the second week of December led to a significant life change. After almost thirty years in southern California, we’re moving. A house has been purchased and it’s time to begin our new retirement life.

Well, almost. It was hard to get excited about moving when there is a home full of possession that need to be sorted, discarded, sold and packed for the movers. At first, it felt overwhelming, but a random phone call started the process.

I had lots of coats, winter clothes and blankets that I wanted to give to the homeless. A call from the local rescue mission informing me they’d have a truck in the neighborhood on Dec. 30 started the process. Consolidating the items to be donated didn’t feel too overwhelming and we both jumped into the process. In a few hours, we had three huge garbage bags full of items for the homeless. There was a sense of accomplishment at completing the task. We both felt the job ahead of us was manageable. We can do this!

What Did You Talk About at Thanksgiving?

Recently, I heard a story about a newly retired woman exclaiming to her financial planner that completing a will was not only morbid, but something to do when you were ‘old.” It is an important step in creating a satisfying retirement life.

I don’t know of anyone who is excited about estate planning (except lawyers, of course). Similar to getting a colonoscopy, it needs to be done.

Estate planning isn’t just for you. It’s for the people you care about. It forces you to look at the final phase of your life. While that can be scary, it can also be very liberating. It is also lets you control your life and your legacy.

My mother doesn’t have an up-to-date will. A number of years ago, we encouraged her to get a trust, but she didn’t understand it and ultimately refused to sign the papers. She now has a new will, but so far hasn’t gotten it notarized. I think she believes that signing the will eliminates her choices. In reality, not signing the will passes control to the state and hospitals that don’t know her and don’t care about following her wishes.

Estate planning can be confusing. There are a lot of decisions to make. Attorneys Michael and Danielle Mayoras have written a great book, Trials and Heirs to help you through the process. By using stories of the rich and celebrated, they describe what can happen if you don’t plan adequately. In addition, they offer easy to understand information to help you learn about estate planning for you and your family.

One of the most confusing aspects of estate planning is whether or not you need a living trust. Attorney Michael Pancheri from The Living Trust Network contributed a six-part series about the Reasons for a Living Trust.

Along with planning all the wonderful things you want to do with your retirement, take the time to talk to an attorney and plan for the end of your life. You’ll be glad you did.

New on the RLM Website

There are some wonderful things happening on the Retirement Life Matters website.

We recently returned from a Mediterranean Cruise. Without a doubt Mediterranean Cruises was the most help in preparing for time onshore.

Have you had to overcome obstacles in your life? Author Lynne Klippel share tales of tragedy and redemption in her new book Overcomers, Inc: True Stories of Hope, Courage and Inspiration.

I was born and raised in Colorado. My son is named Zebulon after the man who discovered Pike’s Peak. It’s no surprise that Colorado Springs has become a top retirement destination.

Nutrition Tips for Retirement Life

As we get older and enter retirement life, the idea of taking better care of our body takes on a whole new meaning. I finally occurred to me that sticking around in this life form meant keeping the mode of transportation healthy.

I was recently informed that my LDL (bad) cholesterol was way too high. Clearly, my husband's wonderful French cooking needs to be modified.

My first task was to eliminate chocolate. I love milky chocolate and not the purer chocolate that is the preference of nutritionists. The quest for a sweet, but more healthful alternative is in play.

If you looking for a simple, but comprehensive list of nutritional tips you can implement, this is it. The first suggestion I'm going to implement is drinking a glass of water before I eat. I've always been a fast eater and even if I try, I'm still the first one with an empty plate. A bad habit from childhood is going back for a bit of seconds. Maybe the glass of water will help me. Take a look and let me know which tip you're going to try.

Understanding the Healthcare Crisis

There aren’t too many topics more important to retirement life currently than the healthcare debate. As I was preparing to write about this topic, it occurred to me that much of the volatility we saw last summer was the fear people had of losing what they had. While we may be saddened at the stories about people losing their homes because of medical bills or not being insured, we hold more tightly onto our own benefits, afraid of what we might have to sacrifice in order to help someone else. That tells me how important it is for the debate to continue. Wouldn’t it be tragic to have a ‘civil war’ between those who have coverage and those who don’t?

Not offering solutions to the problems, I want to make some two suggestions about understanding the situation better. Much of the passion concerning the debate has centered on the socialization of healthcare in this country. T.R. Reid, author of The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care provides excellent information about healthcare in other parts of the world. He also produced a one-hour show, which you can view online about healthcare in six other countries. His report isn’t as much as an indictment on the system in the US, but a true understanding of the differences with other healthcare systems. He makes sure to point out the challenges that other countries face, without minimizes the problems in the US.

Last week, I listened to two one-hour segments of This American Life concerning the healthcare debate. More is Less and Someone Else’s Money provide a comprehensive summary of the healthcare system in the US. One aspect I’ve been curious is why health insurance is tied to employment. The show provides a history of medicine in the US since the beginning of the twentieth century that is interesting. The show also demonstrates the challenges we all face in changing the system and that no one entity, such as insurance is to blame. I’ll be the first to admit I have a bias in this debate. I thought both the Frontline show and the This American Life segments were effective in coming from a perspective of information and were not pushing a political agenda.

Is there life following being downsized after 50?

Many are facing retirement life after being downsized. Often dreams and expectations are altered from the experience.

The first time I encountered a group of the over 50 set following a downsizing was after the collapse of Russia. I was still working on my masters degree in career counseling when I was asked to make presentation to a group of laid off engineers from the aerospace industry.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. These weren’t men who had just lost their jobs. They had lost their sense of self, as well as a way to earn a living. Their sense of value as human beings had vanished along with their work.

You can imagine my shock when I faced that exact situation five years later myself. With a partner, we had created an amazing career center from scratch. For me, it was the culmination of a lifetime of effort and work. I’ll never forget the day she said, “Cathy, I don’t want to do this any more.” I was absolutely destroyed.

Author, marketing executive and boomer expert, Carol Orsborn recently shared about her own downsizing that resulted in her writing the book The Year I Saved My (downsized) Soul: A Boomer Woman’s Search for Meaning…and a Job.

In those blackest moments, Carol writes, “When you give up the illusion of control, it’s true that you can’t always stop bad things from happening. But you can’t stop good things from happening, either.”

After I left the career center, for the first time in my life, I couldn’t find a job and fell into a deep sorrow that lasted almost two years. I refer to this as the time I lost my soul.

Ultimately, I learned I was solely responsible for my own happiness. The roles I had; mother, business woman, and wife were ways of expressing me, but they weren’t my identity.

There is a saying that the things that don’t hurt us make us stronger. Like Carol and many others, now I look back on the time in the wilderness as a gift. It led me to this work, painting and a psychological and spiritual health I never would have achieved without it.

New on the RLM Website

Check out these new articles on the Retirement Life Matters website.

I don’t know anyone over 50 who doesn’t have concerns about memory. LifelongLearning expert Nancy Merz Nordstrom discusses brain research and fun for your brain.

If you’re still thinking about ways to earn extra income, Stan Spector suggests starting a retirement business to help all the stressed out people who just don’t have enough time.

Charlottesville, Virginia home to Thomas Jefferson is an ideal place to retire, according to expert Warren Bland.

Share my journey as I visit the Hopi nation in NE Arizona.