Social Security Personal Accounts Too Risky

By Mark Mills

I’m an investor. I’m optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy and the financial markets. But I’m against personal accounts for social security.

Growing up, I was taught to think of retirement planning as a three-legged stool: social security, pension and personal savings. Social security would be a guaranteed government benefit. Pensions would be provided by employers based on a worker’s pay and years of service. Personal savings would round out the package to provide a comfortable nest egg in the golden years. That old stool is looking pretty wobbly these days.

For millions of U.S. workers one of those legs, the pension, has been turned into a personal savings vehicle, the 401(k). That has already transferred risk and cost from corporations to individuals. The personal savings leg of the stool always carried market risk, as well as the possibility people would be unable to accumulate significant savings over a lifetime.

Now, we are going for the trifecta. Personal accounts would shift even more risk onto individuals. As we saw from 2000 to 2002, the volatility of the financial markets can be devastating. Anyone with the misfortune to be retiring as we enter one these market meltdowns would have his or her retirement prospects dramatically reduced with very little time to recoup losses in the following upturn. I realize that risk can be managed, but it cannot be eliminated. And last time I checked, bonds, the more conservative investments in a portfolio, can also drop sharply in value.

Recently, I received my annual statement from social security specifying my projected benefits. It was reassuring to look at those numbers and see that I am due a guaranteed benefit based on a lifetime of putting money into the system. If society keeps its pledge, that money will be there regardless of any future Black Mondays, Enron scandals or technology bubbles. I cannot say the same for my 401(k).

Let’s find the ways to fix social security. From adjusting how benefits are calculated to raising the ceiling on wages that are subject to the payroll tax, many alternatives are available to put social security on a sound footing for generations to come.

From homeland security alerts to mass layoffs following corporate mergers the world feels much less secure these days. Let’s keep a system that has lived up to its name: Social Security.

Yoga For Boomer Body, Mind, and Spirit

By Mark Mills

My wife, Nancy, is an excellent yoga instructor. In fact, she is a good teacher about a lot of things. But yoga is her specialty. Over the past few years I have seen it become a very important part of her life. It is not only a great way to keep all your moving parts in good working order, it has a spiritual dimension which seems to be lacking for many of us in today's world. Four out of five yoga practitioners in the U.S. are women. I think we guys have a few things to learn in this area.

I interviewed Nancy about yoga... its benefits and its growing popularity among boomers. I invite you to listen in. The discussion runs about 12 minutes. Nancy refers to Kripalu yoga, the style in which she was trained.

Boomers in England are Blue!

Since I'm obsessed with the phenomenon of Baby Boomers reinventing their lives, I want to get all the news I can about what the Boomers are up to. What are the latest trends and who is doing something really cool at this time of life?

So I've signed up with the Google news service. Every day, my inbox fills with a link to two or three items from around the world...press clippings and opinion pieces about Baby Boomers and their issues. The topics range from Social Security to Viagra to Habitat for Humanity. But today, one headline caught my eye, dateline Cambridge, England:

"Blue Tits are Baby Boomers"

I've heard of "blue hairs" but I didn't think the Boomers were quite there yet! But blue tits?

Well, it turns out that blue tits are birds...and "Britain's blue tits are experiencing a baby boom this year, leading to a housing crisis for their population." People are being urged to get out their power saws and build some "nestboxes" right away!

This seems like a great volunteer opportunity for the human Baby Boomers of England. Civic engagement for the birds!

Yoga as a Mid-Life Crisis

I'm a Certified Kripalu yoga instructor. I decided to take the teacher training back in 2001. At the time, I wasn't sure why I was doing it, but I think I was looking for a refuge during a confusing time in my life.

I had just been laid off from my dream job at a company called The Innerworkout...a "dot com" that had lots of promise but lost its venture funding along with hundreds of other start-ups. My Mom was in her 12th year of living with Alzheimer's disease. My youngest daughter had just left for college. We were selling our home of 20 years. My 15 year old dog was not going to be around much longer. There were lots of endings, many losses. I'm so thankful now that I turned to yoga...it became my inner compass through midlife!

I had studied yoga off and on for many years and it always made me feel better. But it was only after my intensive teacher training that I realized what a deeper practice would mean to me. Yoga is not just a wonderful way to relieve muscle tension and stay flexible. It's a way to stay centered during times of change and turmoil. It's a way to be more aware of what you need and to take care of yourself. And it became a path to a more spiritual way of being in the world. It's also fun!

I love sharing yoga with my students. And I'm inspired by teachers like Carol Winfield who wrote a book entitled: "Yoga in the Morning, Martini at Night...The First Three Score and Ten are the Hardest!" You go girl!

Boomers and Aging Parents

Lois Fiore's portrait of herself with her
mother, part of an exhibition on boomers
and their parents at the Brickbottom
Gallery in Somerville, Mass.




Close-up of Lois' painting shows the
anguish of watching a parent age.




Lois Fiore (left) discusses the exhibition
with a visitor to the gallery.


One of the facts of life we boomers face is the aging and passing of our parents. Many of us have lost one or both parents. Many are caring for elderly parents. These difficult emotional experiences were the subject of a recent exhibition at the Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville, Mass. The exhibition was called
A Certain Journey: Reflections on Lives Passing.

The collection included photographs, paintings, collages, and collections of objects from Boston area artists who explore the emotions of seeing parents decline in their later years.

Artists in the show included Susanna Darling, Riki Moss, Ted Prato, Beverly Sky, and Lois Fiore, who was also curator for the exhibit.

I attended the exhibition opening. Photographer Bill Charette shot video of the art work and interviews with some of the artists. Images from the video are shown above.

The Boston Globe published a moving editorial about the art work and some of the issues around boomers and their aging parents. Here is an excerpt:

It is said that the child becomes parent to the aging parent, but the role bears little resemblance to that of guiding and nurturing youth. Guardians of failing octogenarians know that time is painfully short and then hate themselves for thinking that a Sunday-afternoon visit seems interminably long.

The adult child grieves for the person the parent used to be before the illness, the fall, or the memory loss. Occasionally that person shows up in a burst of humor, in the perfect recitation of a poem, or an insightful question about the adult child's slumping shoulders and tired face.

A link to the full editorial is available from the gallery web site.

Listen as curator Lois Fiore talks about the exhibition and reaction to the work, including a strong response from her own mother who is depicted
in the powerful mother-daughter portrait shown above.

Reinvent Thyself !

Fred Mandell




Fred working on a painting in his studio




Fred Mandell Self-Portrait

Many of us arrive at midlife with a list in our heads of all the things we dreamed of doing but never did. What's my list? I was going to write a screen play. I was going to speak French fluently. I was going to become a landscape designer. Do you have a list?

Maybe you still have time to reinvent yourself. Maybe you're looking for inspiration, for models who can teach you how to begin. Fred Mandell looked to the Great Masters for lessons in self reinvention. He has reinvented himself and now he's helping others to do the same.

Click here for Part 2 of Fred's story

Fred Mandell in the "studio" side of his home-based office. His self-portrait is just to his left. See and hear more about Fred's story in the blog entitled: When Art Becomes Life. Click on photo to enlarge

When Art Becomes Life

Something happens in later adulthood that feels a lot like the turmoil of our late teens. There's often an internal restlessness and questions come up that were supposed to be answered already...who am I really? And what else do I want to be when I grow up?

It's refreshing to meet someone like Fred Mandell. Fred had that experience, lived through it and created something new and meaningful out of it. Fred is a very smart guy who has been a college professor and a successful corporate executive in the financial world. But it turns out that he's also a talented artist, a talent that he discovered - or uncovered - in his fifties.

Fred not only paid attention when something started to bubble up, he took his time and made a thoughtful transition to a new career. That's why I'm posting a two-part interview with Fred , to share his story of self-reinvention. Click here for Part One of Fred's journey.

A Place for Us

I had a good talk today with another Boomer about community. She told me her fantasy was having a social club, a place to go on Saturday nights to listen to live music, talk with friends, have some food, maybe dance a bit. We thought the club could also be a place to meet for coffee or tea during the week, hang out in comfortable couches and just talk.

My parents had a place like that - their country club. My Mom met her friends for golf or lunch or, if it rained, a bridge game. My Dad played golf all summer and cards in the "19th hole" in the winter, until it was time to pack up for a couple of months in Florida. All of their friends did the same thing. They had a lively social life in their 50's and 60's, mostly centered around golf and some travel. But it was full of friends and laughs. They always had time for fun.

I have to confess to being jealous of that time in their lives. My husband and I don't play enough golf to justify joining a golf club and there isn't any other organized social setting for us. We seem to have to book a night out with our friends weeks ahead of time. Everyone is so busy.

Has work been so central to all of our lives that we don't know how to make room for other things? If we had a social club, we would be too busy to show up?