shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

Forbes: Long Term Care Insurance May Alleviate Pressure On Relatives

"Now living longer than ever before, two out of five Americans will eventually need long-term care at some point in their lives. Neither health nor disability insurance covers long-term care, leaving long-term-care insurance as the only option besides paying out of pocket." But "having long-term-care insurance alleviates the pressure on a spouse or family member to be the primary caregiver." Forbes recommends, "When shopping around for a long-term-care insurance policy, buy only from an insurer with at least $1 billion in assets as well as an A.M. Best rating of at least A-. In addition to John Hancock and Genworth, some of the best carriers include Guardian, Met Life, New York Life, Northwest Mutual and Mass Mutual. All long-term-care policies are guaranteed renewable as long as you pay your premiums."

Fortune: Gas-Guzzling Cars Predicted To Follow Smoking As Publicly Unacceptable

Alex Taylor III writes, "Simply by chance, a pair of new cars fell into my hands last weekend that perfectly demonstrated the yin and yang of today's auto industry. The Pontiac G8 was powerful, exciting, fun to drive - and as obsolete as the buggy whip. The Nissan Cube was homely, utilitarian and slow - and we all ought to get used to it, because that's what most of us are going to be driving in the future." Recently, "tobacco use finally reached the tipping point where it no longer became acceptable to light up in public." Inexorably, gas-inefficient, "high-displacement automobiles like the G8 are approaching that same juncture. At some point, people will find it sociably unacceptable to drive them. Exactly when that day arrives is anybody's guess, but it surely isn't too far off."

MarketWatch: Moving To Assisted Living Or Nursing Home Can Trigger Sale Clause Of Reverse Mortgage

Lew Sichelman writes, "Reverse mortgages are repaid from the sale of the residence when the borrower moves out." However, "according to attorney Josh Ard of Williamston, Mich., when you no longer use the home as your principal residence is defined much more broadly as it applies to reverse mortgages than it is for tax purposes and legal domicile." Ard said, "Leaving one's home for an assisted living facility or a nursing home for a matter of months is enough to trigger the due-on-sale clause for most reverse mortgage products." Michigan law allows "a person in a nursing home [to] still claim her home as her residence for property tax purposes, but moving to a nursing home would force her to pay off her reverse mortgage."

An update from the center of the universe in politics (this week), from Florida's Carmel Perez Snyder:

Don’t bring your water bottles, big bags, food, chairs, etc. Security was tight at the first Obama rally in Tampa since the Democratic boycott of Florida. But no one told Divided We Fail staff and volunteers to leave the pledge cards at home. Determined volunteers like Tess Canja worked the crowd as they waited for the candidate to appear. Not only did DWF Florida get one television interview and several notable newspaper interviews – they also walked out with more than 110 signed pledges and half the crowd by the stage was wearing Champ buttons.

CNN/Money: AARP Looks To Help Older Workers Find Jobs In Tough Times

"While it's not easy to land a job in this weak economy, older workers are in a particularly tough spot." Workers age 55 and older" spent "an average of 21.1 weeks to land a new job in 2007, about five weeks longer than their younger counterparts, according to AARP. 'Clearly older workers will be more adversely affected because of the time it takes to transition into another job,' said Deborah Russell, AARP's director of workforce issues. During the recession of the early 1990s, older workers were hit hard by mass layoffs. Concerned this is happening again, AARP is reaching out to companies conducting the large-scale downsizings and giving them tip sheets to distribute to older workers. The handouts aim to help workers navigate today's job market by explaining search methods such as online employment boards and the importance of networking."

USA Today: Kennedy Absence Could Impede Progress On FDA, Healthcare Reforms

"One day after revealing that he has been diagnosed with brain cancer, Sen. Edward Kennedy walked out of a hospital here and headed to his Cape Cod home for a stroll on the beach with his dogs, Sunny and Splash, and a sail on his sloop, Mya." Kennedy told reporters, "Good to be back home." USA Today adds that "in a statement, Kennedy's doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital said he 'recovered remarkably quickly' from a brain biopsy and would continue to recuperate at home while they await further lab results. Kennedy, 76, had been hospitalized since suffering a seizure on Saturday."

MarketWatch: Society Of Actuaries Recommends Ways Of Managing Retirement Risk

Robert Powell writes that "the Society of Actuaries has boiled down its list of 15-plus retirement risks to a manageable list of five, along with what it calls 'actuarial approaches' to manage those risks." The Society recommends "retirees and would-be retirees should consider investing in equities, a home and other assets, such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and annuity products with a cost-of-living adjustment" to protect against inflation and loss of a spouse. And to guard against rising health care costs, the Society "suggests retirees and would-be retirees manage this risk by purchasing medical insurance and Medicare supplemental insurance."

AP: New Federal Budget Ignores Cost Ignores Challenges

"Democrats controlling Congress unveiled an election-year fiscal blueprint Tuesday that puts the federal budget mostly on autopilot, leaving the winner of November's presidential election with a set of enormous challenges." The budget "contains a host of shaky assumptions" and "does nothing to address the unsustainable growth of federal benefit programs." But "even GOP opponents of the plan gave Democrats grudging praise for producing a budget in a difficult election-year environment, even though disagree with what's in it."

USA Today: Inflation Report Sparks Concerns

"Stocks, which seemed poised for an upside breakout a day earlier, took a nose dive Tuesday, raising fears that the 10-week-old rally could turn out to be a head fake.
Dragging down stocks was another record close for crude oil, which jumped $2.02 to $129.07 a barrel. Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, in a CNBC interview, predicted crude would hit $150 by the end of the year."

US News And World Report: Target Funds Can Vary Widely In Assets

Emily Brandon writes, "Target-date retirement funds are designed to automatically shift investors' portfolios to less risky assets as they age." Yet the "'age appropriate' level of risk is open to interpretation. A recent analysis of target-date funds by consulting firm Watson Wyatt found that allocations to equities for employees 10 years from retirement varied from 40 percent to 80 percent among target-date funds in 2006," and a Morningstar Direct "report found that some funds for employees expecting to retire in 2010 still have almost 70 percent of assets in equities."

Check out this Yahoo! article about aging Aussies who rallied for better pensions … in their underwear. Well, it certainly got our attention, right? How far would you go to make your voice heard? Here’s an idea – start by signing the Divided We Fail pledge to ensure that all Americans have access to health care and long-term financial security. You can also share your story and spread the word about Divided We Fail. It’s not naked, but it’s a start!

Bloomberg News: Google Launches Health Records Service

Bloomberg notes that according to Roni Zeiger, a Google product manager, "Users will control who has access to their information, and can change those permissions at any time." The company also pointed out that "Google Health won't be funded by advertising. Instead, the site is designed to lure more users to all of Google's services, helping boost ad revenue."

UPI: Less Than One Fifth Of Seniors Have "Good" Diet

"Only 17 percent of U.S. adults age 60 and over consume a 'good' quality diet," according to a measure of "Healthy Eating Index scores" in the "National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey." The survey also found that "72 percent of older U.S. adults meet the guidelines for cholesterol intake, while 56 percent meet the recommendation for diet variety and fewer than one-third meet the recommendations for five food groups.'

Forbes: Employers Look To Alternative Ways For Workers To Commute

Forbes reports that "employers are getting quite creative in helping offset the cost of the commute. In many cases, there's an environmental benefit, too." At one Colorado-based brewing company, "[w]hen an employee reaches the one-year mark with the company, they're given a bike and encouraged to ride it to work. No need to worry about messy hair or sweaty clothes--the company provides showers."

USA Today: Government's 2007 Long-Term Deficit Grew By $2.5 Trillion

In a front page story, USA Today (5/18, 1A, Cauchon, 2.28M) reports, "The federal government's long-term financial obligations grew by $2.5 trillion last year, a reflection of the mushrooming cost of Medicare and Social Security benefits as more baby boomers reach retirement. That's double the red ink of a year earlier." In a analysis by USA Today, the paper found that Americans "are on the hook for a record $57.3 trillion in federal liabilities to cover the lifetime benefits of everyone eligible for Medicare, Social Security and other government programs," a total of "nearly $500,000 per household." Those unfunded liabilities dwarf "officially announced" federal deficit of "$162 billion." And the reason is that, unlike corporations and state governments, "the [federal] government counts the cost of benefits for the current year," rather than accounting for "lifetime benefits." The largest liability "taken on in 2007" was for Medicare, estimated at "$1.2 trillion."

UPI: Survey Finds Low Level Of Understanding Of Health Plans

"Gender may play a role in how people understand paying for healthcare but workers of both sexes generally do not understand coverage, a U.S. survey indicates." According to "a survey by the Guardian Life Insurance Co of America...58 percent of women are more likely than 47 percent of men to find paying for healthcare premiums and out-of-pocket costs a challenge." Among the other findings, "two-thirds of the employees surveyed said healthcare plans in general and healthcare coverage and benefits are difficult to understand," and "less than 50 percent of baby boomers are currently planning or believe they are fully prepared financially for their healthcare in retirement."

MarketWatch : Proper Asset Allocation Seen As Mitigating Stock Downturn

Chuck Jaffe writes "on how entering the 'distribution phase' of your financial life at the wrong time can ruin your nest egg," with the idea "that if you must withdraw funds from your retirement savings -- the money you're counting on to grow throughout your golden years -- at a time when the anemic market is sucking dollars out of your portfolio, you can upset a lifetime of careful financial planning." Jaffe adds that since "the accumulation phase (where you are building assets) is so different from the distribution phase (where you deplete your savings), many financial advisers suggest dividing assets accordingly." Jaffe advises readers "keep in mind that the specific funds you own are less important than the asset allocation you create."