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We boomers have carefully planned most of our real estate moves—starter apartments and homes to get on the equity upswing, places to live as we raised families with good schools nearby and “location, location, location” our guiding mantra, maybe a larger home if we wanted to trade up, and now a place to trade down or downsize as we started to discard too many furnishings and possessions, and simplify our lives. Being single after my long-term marriage ended in divorce and giving up my former family home proved a great incentive for me. But few of us, including myself, had...

At one time in real estate repartee, if things were “moving down,” we’d be referring to our basements. After my husband passed away four years ago, the term “moving down” took on new meaning. It came to the fore as I searched hurriedly in a crisis for the right plot that would become my husband’s final resting place. Married for 42 years, we had both been in denial about our mortality. We didn’t discuss our funerals or how and where we wanted to be buried, even after my husband became ill. And my parents were both alive and had just...

The Time is Now. Look in Your Rear View Mirror & Help Change the World  You’ve heard the term “legacy” bandied about. It’s what you do going forward to leave behind for the next generations. It’s not a new idea. And for those of us who are 50-plus, it’s something each of us might want to think about as our days—or term as in a presidential run–may be shorter rather than longer. Case in point. President Obama secured his legacy in what was one of the most transformative weeks (June 22-26, 2015) in our American history. This is based on...

Ailment mania has taken over our conversations. Yes, we’re over 50, but does every conversation and get-together have to start with or become an organ recital? Cataracts and knee replacements. Sleep machines and cholesterol meds. Surgery for herniated discs, lap bands and gastric by-passes for pounds that couldn’t be shed from every diet tried–Scarsdale, Atkins, Paleo, and Cabbage Soup. So many of us are obsessed with staying healthy at this age, and why not if we’re determined to live a long time? However, in the process, we’re often sharing the details of every medical appointment, test result, and diagnosis we’ve...

Most of us encounter a host of thorny issues when we date at any age, but particularly after 50—who pays for a meal when we both have funds, how much to spend on a gift, ever to go Dutch? We’re certainly not etiquette gurus, but we learned when we became single, and listened to others debate these do’s and don’ts, that there are no clear-cut answers. Consider our advice as a guide, not a rule book. Nothing’s etched in stone, especially in today’s fast-changing dating world. Question: Should men and women discuss cost sharing before a date?  Answer: It’s certainly a way...