Jennifer Meacham,  July 12, 2007

Thinking about taking a summer vacation? Fifty-six percent of boomers are, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. My in-laws are part of this group, planning a month-long jaunt to Europe that they nearly canceled after the recent terror scares in Britain and Scotland. The trip is still on, but now they're dealing with more than just their passports and comfort levels; the cost is rising. Today, the euro trades for $1.37569 - more than any other time in this currency's brief history. Sure, that's good news for U.S. exports to Europe, because it makes American goods cheaper there. However, it's bad news for American vacationers who now are paying more for hotel rooms, entertainment and more while indulging in their Europhilia. Let's hope the dollar rights itself sometime soon. I'd hate for my in-laws to being paying $138 for a hotel room they could get for $100 here.

Jennifer Meacham,  June 27, 2007

Older Workers Better With Tech from RedwoodAge.com offers encouraging news for boomers worried about a technology divide between them and a younger workforce. According to the story, boomers are way ahead on Gen X and Y when it comes to working with technology. Sure, Generation Xers have a very slight edge working a PDA. However, older workers are better with desktop computers, phones and faxes. So don't let fear of technology get in the way of finding a better job. When it comes to tech, the older generations can teach the younger workers a thing or two.

Cecily O'Connor,  June 22, 2007

While many Americans are optimistic about the value of their home, they think the real estate market overall can be a real drag. Nearly half say they believe the decline in housing prices is hurting the economy "moderately," according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group. Fifteen percent say they believe it's damaging the economy "severely." Only 12 percent say it's not leaving any bruises. Fresh concern about the U.S. housing slump helped to send long-term mortgage rates lower this week. Yet in spite of homeowners' mixed feelings, the majority are still in agreement that their abodes remain their best investment. According to the survey, 55 percent of Americans say their home would sell for more money now than it would have a year ago. Nearly three-quarters of homeowners are confident they could sell their home within the next six months at a price it's worth, and 85 percent believe their house will be worth more five years from now than it is today. In the meantime, how long will the real estate slump persist? More than half of Americans believe we've got at least two years to go, maybe a little less.

Jennifer Meacham,  June 20, 2007

The results of Silicon Valley's third Boomer Venture Summit are in, announced in RedwoodAge.com's story " 2 Companies Win Big in Boomer VC Fest." Venture capitalists picked what they thought would be the next big things for boomers. Unfortunately, they got it all wrong. It's apparent from the results that the judges were  thinking about boomers as retirees. In reality, boomers are still working and even changing careers, looking for two-office homes, and buying vacation homes like never before. Thanks to our lifetime of instilled work ethics and access to medicine, most boomers are active, healthy, skilled and practical. Today's 60 is the new 40. Yet the honors went to companies focused on everything today's boomers generally are not. Boomers are not hobbling, incontinent, computer illiterate, nearly blind and deaf, ignorant sufferers of failing hearts and influenza, wearing orthopedics. (All products represented among the finalists.) And they're definitely not excited about the prospect of being charged for text messages on prescription pick-ups, something boomers already know too well to pick up. (The last nod.) Come on venture capitalists! These are not services for those in their 40s, 50s and early-60s. In the rush to profit from the baby boomer influx, financers are forgetting the key: Is this a product that people of boomer age group want and need? Without this business must-have, all of this VC money is down the drain - not unlike all the money dumped into red-lined dot-coms. For shame, because I know of plenty of boot-strapped companies that really are addressing boomer needs.

Tom Murphy,  June 17, 2007

The market goes up, the market goes down, then it goes up again. It's a little tricky these days to figure out whether to keep your cash in stocks because US companies are reporting record earnings, or take it out because there are so many signs of an imminent economic slowdown. But don't get confused between the stock market and the way the economy affects your life. Oil companies may do well when gas prices rocket higher, but we all know it's taking precious cash away from the poor and retired folks on a fixed income. The mortgage rates may be reasonable, but only because foreclosure rates are at an all-time high. Inflation is tame because so many things we buy come from China. The people who use to make those things in the US are now unemployed. What can you do? Buy less gas and ride a bike. Buy things made in the US. Buy things for cash instead of credit. Buy stocks in companies that do the right thing. The 78 million US baby boomers spend $2 trillion a year - that's a very powerful force, and it can change the way the economy affects our lives.

Jennifer Meacham,  June 13, 2007

New analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics bears an interesting find: more and more jobs are being held by at least 40 percent of people over the age of 45. That's boomer territory. The findings not only second RedwoodAge.com editor Tom Murphy's story Older Workers Staying on the Job, but also bears the question: What are the 25 "best jobs" for boomers -- the ones with the highest salaries, fastest growth and ample job openings? The answer comes from data analysts Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin Ph.D., co-authors of the book "25 Best Jobs for Baby Boomers." You'll find Anesthesiologists, Management Analysts, Psychiatrists and Government Service Executives amongst the top-25 boomer job mix. With the business world now on board with the concept of hiring, and retaining, boomer workers, now just may be the time to check out your options.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 31, 2007

As I read Part 2 of the RedwoodAge.com series on cohousing, I was reminded of the new real estate development in my hometown of Portland, The Heights at Columbia Knoll.  It's 208 well-appointed apartments with green construction materials, weekly housekeeping and linen service, utilities paid (except phone), courtyards, French balconies and a park-like setting. And here's the clincher for boomers planning to retire on fixed incomes: The Heights at Columbia only accepts renters age 62 or older who make no more than $32,580 per household - excluding any one-time gains. The rent? $1,425 to $1,720, all included - a real bargain by local standards. Yet, nearly a year and a half after opening, only 90 of the 208 apartments have filled. What does that say to you? The oldest boomers are now 61. I suspect The Heights will be full soon enough.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 25, 2007

Home Sales Soar by Record Level. Or so says the headline. Read into the report and you'll see that in April new home sales were up 16.2 percent while median prices tumbled 11.1 percent. Consider it a short-term real estate "fire sale," which makes sense if you look at the factors. There's continued fall-out on the no-doc loans, those sub-prime mortgages  heading to foreclosures unless borrowers sell the homes first. Home vacancy rates in the first quarter 2007 were 10.1 percent for rental housing and 2.8 percent for homeowner housing, roughly .6 percent higher than one year before. And homes are now mortgaged to the hilt, with the amount of money sunk into home loans at the highest point in 37 months. (Note that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages were 6.18 percent in April, down .34 percent from one year before.)  All of these groups could be motivated to sell and it's the natural market cycle that with increased supply comes decreased prices. And with lower prices and cheaper credit, comes increased demand.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 24, 2007

I love road trips, which is a great trait for a business traveler. But today for the first time I caught myself thinking that I might not take a trip because of the cost of gas. I've already cut down much of my driving, and I walk or take mass transit many places I'd otherwise drive. However, I do that for fuel conservation rather than cost. Until this point, I simply compared what I pay for gas here (around $3.40 a gallon now in Portland) to the cost I'd pay if I were in, say, Europe ... at $7 or so a gallon. And I felt like I was coming out ahead. News today threw me off. I guess it's not surprising. New research, covered on RedwoodAge.com in "Consumer Inflation Moderates in April," shows that, for one of the first times since Hurricane Katrina, gasoline prices are indeed affecting what people buy. Spending on clothing, airlines and tobacco all went down last month, while spending on gasoline jumped 4.7 percent. Here's a tip: if you go to MSN Gas Prices Database and type in your zip code,  this tool will find the lowest price for gas near you.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 19, 2007

Boomers Drive Second-home Market on RedwoodAge.com talks about the surge of boomers buying homes they can vacation-rent, convert to a retirement property in the future. I looked further into the National Association of Realtors boomer study used for the article,  and it turns out that 39 percent of the nearly 2,000 boomers it interviewed said they plan to buy that investment real estate by cashing out their Individual Retirement Arrangement. But why cash out your IRA when you can have it working for you instead? It's apparent to me that at least 39 percent of us don't yet know that IRAs don't have to be cashed out to invest in real estate. In fact, real estate can be an important component of diversifying within your IRA account, where the IRA itself holds title to the property. So the IRA collects the rent, gets the tax-shelter of the IRA (where income is either tax-deferred or tax-free) and the vacation home can be taken as a valid IRA distribution, without cash out penalties, after age 59 1/2. It frustrates me to see that we're still not hearing that our retirement accounts are an even-more-forgiving alternative to 1031 exchanges, and that people are still cashing out their plans - losing not only their tax-sheltered account benefits but also the cash value of the account through fees - when a much better option is available.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 16, 2007

Gas prices have set a record and are 60 cents higher per gallon than they were one year ago - nearly $2 more than when George W. Bush took the presidency in 2001 ($1.47 versus around $3.10 today). It’s gotten so bad that the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Task Force announced it would look at the oil industry's (possibly illegal) stake in it and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee launched into an official hearing on summer’s gas and oil outlook. The end result? Optimistic news at least. According to on hearing hearings insider, gas prices should be down to "$2.75 by the end of the summer, drifting down even if oil is not." A few U.S. Senators also proposed a rollback of the 25-cent-per-gallon gas tax for Memorial through Labor days (May 28 through Sept. 3). But although the gas-tax roll-back may seem good news on the surface, I have to wonder what that will do to demand – which as we know from economic theory will only increase costs again as supply goes down. And to top it all off, as I suspected, high gas prices hasn’t fazed motorist consumption – other than in places like California which has its first drop in 10 years.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 15, 2007

I predict the Defense Department's move to block MySpace, YouTube, photo-sharing site Photobucket and eight other web sites from US troops heralds sweeping changes in how companies worldwide manage employee time online. A Defense Department spokesman says it’s bandwidth – slowing down the speed of other military applications online – that’s the reason for shutting down these sites, which the story notes are used by soldiers to stay in touch with loved ones back home. I suspect that office workers“killing time” is another reason. Too bad, since a clamp down on online YouTube-fueled “coffee breaks” would mean missing videos like musician Tom Rush’s ode to boomers.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 10, 2007

The Fed’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged means banks will continue to charge each other 5.25 percent interest. That still allows for nice net-interest margin at the 8.25 percent they may charge you for consumer or business loans. There’s been no change in the U.S. rate since June 29, so the announcement is a disappointment to few investors who had hoped the Fed would cut rates in response to plateauing real estate prices. With U.S. production rates down and jobless rates up, we are indeed in the midst of an “economic slowdown.” However, for now, the Fed is doing its own job in fighting inflation. Analysts say it’s only a few more months before the rates move. Up or down, it’s a double-edged sword. If they go down, it will probably be because consumers have less money to spend. If they go up, you won’t be able to buy as much because of higher loan rates.

Tom Murphy,  May 8, 2007

Our economy is overly dependent on people spending money they don't have. And the lenders are only too happy to keep lending it to them. Sure enough, consumers borrowed money at a quickening pace last month. We saw what happened in the subprime mortgage market. We've seen signs that's spreading to the middle class. We note the unemployment rate is on the rise, with joblessness spreading from the building sector to the retail sales sector. What do you think is going to happen when all that credit comes due? The bankruptcy laws are nearly as forgiving as they were a few years ago. This will be a painful period that will change lives, particularly for middle-age and older Americans who won't have time to recover from a steep fall. Be sensible. Stick to your budget, even if you have to cut up your credit cards. If things get better, lenders will be only too happy to send you new ones. But if a deep recession sets in - and a storm is brewing - you'll be awfully glad you saved a few dollars.

Jennifer Meacham,  May 1, 2007

In Boomers Drive Second-home Market, Cecily O'Connor uncovers baby boomers’ contributions to a record-setting rise in vacation-home sales in 2006. But even beyond homes in places like the beach or the mountain, boomers have an even broader role in the real estate market. This generation makes up 37.5 percent of U.S. households, with 10 percent of boomers planning to buy some form of real estate within the next year and another 40 percent planning to convert their vacation homes into primary residences in retirement. It's also unique in its quest for main floor master bedrooms, one or two home offices, and low-maintenance properties. Yet only a handful of builders are building homes specifically for this demographic. I challenge RedwoodAge.com readers to let their voice, and their “almighty dollars,” be heard. As Maya Angelou says, “If you don't like something, change it.” Next time you see a home that doesn’t fit your bill, protest loud and clear. It may not be time to return to the Ranch-style homes of the 1980s, but it is time for builders to get in tune with their market.

Jennifer Meacham,  April 25, 2007

Dow Passes 13,000 to New High. At first glance, this headline seems like cause for jubilation. However, our article notes a single number shouldn’t alter long-term financial plans. And MoneyNews.com calls that number “a mirage,” noting that with inflation, the Dow needs to pass 13,756 before setting a true record. Keep in mind that American corporations are purchasing up their own shares at record levels, which drives up stock prices and, in turn, the Dow. The good news here is that those corporations are also reporting record earnings, so the average price-to-earnings ratio is in the best spot for investors in nearly a decade.