CAREGIVING IN YOUR RETIREMENT

"Just knowing their age doesn′t tell you what life stage they′re at. They reinvent themselves every three to five years. A boomer could be a brand-new dad, or a grandparent," says Matt Thornhill, president of The Boomer Project.

"Retirement can be a roller coaster because you are changing so much about your life -- your work role, your relationships, your daily routines, your assumptions about yourself. All that is in flux."
from Nancy K. Schlossber, EdD., "Retire Smart, Retire Happy: Finding Your True Path in Life", 2004.

Retirement: the blessings and the challenges. People old enough to retire are also old enough to know that things may not always work out the way you planned. People change and circumstances evolve. And sometimes your role shifts. The so-called "golden years" may seem to offer unlimited options for pleasurable activities, but more often may involve caregiving. Whether this means increased needs of your own, caring for an aging spouse, a grandchild, or your elderly parents, it requires a flexible attitude and some good contacts. We can help.

"Forty-seven percent of 50-to-64-year-olds have at least one chronic illness."

from US News and World Report, "Retirement Realities", 6/3/02

"You take what fate gives you." - Robert L. Burgess, 66, retired

"The two most important images of aging today stand in deep opposition to one another: there is the idealized image of healthy old age, with vigor and vitality until the end, and there is the sorrowful image of extended decline and dependency, with the ravages of long-term dementia and physical deterioration. Ours is the age of both extended youth and extended degeneration....we are younger longer and we are aged longer."
from the President′s Council on Bioethics, "The Aging Self", The New Atlantic, 2005