AARP Eye Center
)
Reverse mortgages are not being used as Congress intended, according to a new report from the government watchdog agency Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Reverse mortgages were created to provide an income options for retirees. But these mortgages are increasingly being taken out by younger borrowers, which could decrease long-term retirement security. Borrowers also tend to take lump-sum payments that can be used up quickly.
In 1987, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was started to memorialize Americans who died of AIDS. Portions of the quilt's now 48,000 panels--hand sewn by family and friends of those lost to the disease-will be displayed throughout Washington, D.C. during the month of July.
The video is disturbing. Shot on a cell phone, the 10-minute clip shows a team of 12- and 13-year-old boys harassing their 68-year-old school bus monitor, Karen Klein, with insults, profanity and threats. But since kids from the Greece, New York, school bus uploaded the bullying video to YouTube, Klein has received an international outpouring of sympathy--and cash.
While anorexia, bulimia and other disordered eating habits disproportionately vex the young, older women -- and men -- aren't excluded. A new study found 13 percent of women over 50 currently exhibit at least one core eating disorder symptom. The most common was "purging" (throwing up food) without binge eating (7.8 percent), followed by binge eating (3.5 percent). Overall, nearly three-quarters of all the women said they were currently trying to lose weight.
Economists say state retirement systems should have enough in assets to cover at least 80 percent of the pension money they owe retirees, but few states meet the 80 percent requirement--and some fall far shorter. A new report from the Pew Center on the States looks at the 10 states with the biggest pension gaps as of 2010:
Inexpensive apps for touching-up digital photos has made the kind of airbrushing artistry once reserved for celebrities available to the rest of us. Yes, we can now apply the same image altering techniques used on models and magazine covers to our own Match.com or LinkedIn profiles. But is it a good idea?
If you're feeling more stressed than ever these days, you're not alone: A scientific analysis of stress over the past 25 years finds that American stress levels increased 18 percent for women and 24 percent for men from 1983-2009. But there's a silver lining: The study also found that stress decreases as we age.
Whither boomer's inheritances? Not coming, perhaps. "The post-war generation is living longer and increasingly using their savings to live out their retirement," the Wall Street Journal notes. Which could mean many boomers are in for an unpleasant wake-up call soon.
"Comedy duo Cheech & Chong have long been associated with pot," starts a recent USA Today post about actor and comedian Tommy Chong, now 74. "Associated with" is kind of an understatement"”the pair pretty much invented the stoner comedy. Chong has recently been back in the news talking about marijuana, albeit in quite a different context: Diagnosed with prostate cancer, he said he's been turning to cannabis to treat disease symptoms such as wooziness.
Retirement ages must rise globally if everyone's gonna keep living longer and we don't want to bankrupt national pension systems, says a new international report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international organization with 34 member countries. Already, 67 is becoming the new 65, it says.