Front Wave Boomers

Boomers are heading into (very) old age following a pandemic, a time of overt ageism and deficient eldercare. The front wave, now in their seventies, are on the brink of life changes that will challenge everyone – family, friends, and the health care system too. Recognizing the dire need to meet these challenges, Gillian Ranson investigates what they are doing to prepare for old age. Regardless of their situation – well off or struggling, partnered or on their own – front-wave boomers share one thing: the need for intimate, caring social ties. Many of them are making these connections with creativity and resilience. Their stories hold lessons for us all.

A grey tsunami is sweeping the land, wreaking social and financial havoc in its wake. Sound familiar? This myth about aging, along with twenty-eight others, is the focus of Getting Wise about Getting Old, which paints a far more accurate and nuanced portrait of old age. In it, experts debunk myths and persistent stereotypes about aging on a broad array of social issues – from retirement (seniors are low-performance workers) to housing (most older adults live in long-term care accommodation), and violence (senior women are not victims of sexual assault) to political participation (seniors are conservative and resistant to change) – deconstructing and countering them with the latest findings. The work of two leading research groups in Quebec, the short and accessible chapters of this vitally important book contribute to a better understanding of the social challenges, as well as the advantages, of an aging society.

How Far Can Home Prices Fall? What Can You Do to Protect Yourself? Home prices are seriously overvalued in many regions of the United States. The question is no longer if, but rather how far, home prices will fall and over what time frame this bubble will deflate. Home values have been escalating in real terms since 1981, the year nominal interest rates last peaked. And the greatest price increases in percentage terms have been in the wealthiest and most exclusive cities in the world. Sell Now! analyses the evidence and offers clear explanations of these perplexing issues. Overly aggressive mortgage lenders have fueled this overheated market by extending too much credit to home buyers and by offering ever-more exotic forms of mortgages. Many home buyers have been caught in a never-ending race to achieve status, often overpaying for homes in the "right" neighborhoods. And people's pursuit of easy profits has pushed prices to unsustainable levels. Finally, there is a reasoned analysis that not only explains how home prices got this high, but why they are sure to fall and by what amount. Sell Now! debunks many theories that purport to show that home prices are either reasonable or are sustainable at their current high levels. How bad can it get? Unlike previous home-price declines, this cycle has the potential to be not only national, but international in scope. The national economy, so dependent on the housing, mortgage, real estate, banking, and construction industries for growth, is at risk and the entire banking system might come under fire. You owe it to yourself to become better informed about the possible impact on you, your family and your most important asset---your home.

Drawing from a variety of sources from ageing research, history and gender studies, this book is a rich exploration of the baby boomers - those coming of age in the sixties and now entering old age - the influences that have shaped how they perceive ageing appearance, define ageing and beauty, and the meaning of appearance, beauty, and identity.

The bull thought I was dead. He looked up from the shattered mess he made of my bow and arrows and stared directly into my eyes. His empty gaze pierced through me while he prepared to mount his final charge. I knew my life was over. This was the day I was going to die. Only a miracle could change that. As it turned out, that was exactly what happened. This is a true story. Not your typical outdoor exploits set in the wilderness pitting good guys against bad but rather a metamorphosis that would question virtually everything I knew about my life,—who I was, what I needed to change, and how I was supposed to live. It’s a story about redemption and working out my salvation, a story about how I seemingly had it all—a successful string of businesses, a long-term marriage, four loving children, and more friends than I could count. The only part of the equation missing was me,—my true purpose for being on this planet and a deeper relationship with God.

It’s a rite of passage almost no one will escape: the difficult, emotional journey of downsizing your or your aging parents' home. Here, nationally syndicated home columnist Marni Jameson sensitively guides readers through the process, from opening that first closet, to sorting through a lifetime's worth of possessions, to selling the homestead itself. Using her own personal journey as a basis, she helps you figure out a strategy and create a mindset to accomplish the task quickly, respectfully, rewardingly—and, in the best of situations, even memorably. Throughout, she combines her been-there experience with insights from national experts—antiques appraisers, garage-sale gurus, professional organizers, and psychologists—to offer practical wisdom and heartwarming advice so you know with certainty what to keep, toss or sell.

In his "remarkable" (Men's Journal) and "controversial" (Fortune) book -- written in a "wry, amusing style" (The Guardian) -- Bruce Cannon Gibney shows how America was hijacked by the Boomers, a generation whose reckless self-indulgence degraded the foundations of American prosperity. In A Generation of Sociopaths, Gibney examines the disastrous policies of the most powerful generation in modern history, showing how the Boomers ruthlessly enriched themselves at the expense of future generations. Acting without empathy, prudence, or respect for facts--acting, in other words, as sociopaths--the Boomers turned American dynamism into stagnation, inequality, and bipartisan fiasco. The Boomers have set a time bomb for the 2030s, when damage to Social Security, public finances, and the environment will become catastrophic and possibly irreversible--and when, not coincidentally, Boomers will be dying off. Gibney argues that younger generations have a fleeting window to hold the Boomers accountable and begin restoring America.