lessons

“What can the very young and the very old offer each other, if given the chance?”

Just about two months ago, on Oct. 15, the headlines read “ Market Freak Out” as the Dow Jones Industrial Average “ plunged.” Headlines warned “ Why the selling is just getting started.” Fear had returned to the market.

When it comes to gift-giving, Father's Day ranks in last place among holidays, generating $7 billion less in spending than Mother's Day. Of the average $113.80 spent on gifts, much will be for boring stuff from ties to lawn trimmers. Try giving Mom a gift like that for her day!

There's a Facebook post you may have seen again and again over the past week. It's a post your friends are copying and pasting from each other without checking to see if it's true. It looks something like this:

As the AARP's new social media trainer, I am always keeping an eye out on trends and "teachable moments" online. Hurricane Sandy has offered a very big lesson: Don't believe everything you see.

Editor's note: This is first in a two part series.