While young people are usually healthy and full of life, old people experience increasing pain, disease and death. That’s a conventional wisdom, and it’s not wholly wrong. Yet research claims that older people are happier than most age groups, with happiness peaking in our 60s or 70s. We often see people in their 80s and beyond who still live happy lives. Continue reading
Over a year ago I purchased hearing aids.
Several months ago I fell down the bottom three stairs in our house and landed with my back against the wall, chipping the plaster. No injury.
In early October, 2019, my wife and I drove to Maine for vacation. Barbara planned to meet three high school friends in Bar Harbor, and I was hoping to explore Down East Maine, that part of the coast northeast of Bar Harbor. As we entered Maine, I began to shake uncontrollably. After dropping Barbara and reaching Lubec, at the New Brunswick border, I holed up in a motel, alternating between periods of cold shakes and fevers. A few days later when I picked up Barbara, we headed directly home, calling ahead for a doctor’s appointment and postponing a side trip to western New York to visit my oldest brother, Wayne. Continue reading
A guest post by F. Nielson
If you think keeping in shape is only for the young you should think again. It is not uncommon for people to live for 20 or more years after retirement, so why not spend that time keeping active and maintaining good health. No longer are retirees expected to sit on their porches and whittle away the afternoons. Retirement has become for many an opportunity to try new things and take on adventures they were unable to pursue during their working years. One way to start is to stay active through regular exercise.
Last time we introduced a Census Bureau report that describes some characteristics of the oldest segment of our population—those 90 years old or older (90+). The group is small, mostly women, and mostly widowed. Still, about three-quarters of them live in households. Less than one quarter are institutionalized.
The median income in the group was $14,760 (2008 dollars)—that’s annual, per person, personal income. For men, it was $20,133, and for women, it was $13,580. Social Security has become nearly universal among this group: 92.3% of them receive it, and it is about 48%, or almost half, of the median personal income. The rest comes from investments, public assistance, other retirement income, or other sources.
During the same time, the median annual per person income in the US was about $27,500. The 90+ group has a per person income of about half the overall population.