Boomers & Beyond Premier Issue, June 18, 2014

Sassy • Spirited • Successful

Mid June 2014

PREMIERE ISSUE! • Nifty After Fifty • What the Flock? • Deal with it

and beyond!

Sassy • Spirited • Successful Welcome to the premiere issue of Boomers & Beyond, a publication celebrating the unique challenges and joys of being 50 plus. We will connect you to the sassy, spirited and successful in Northwest Ohio to add a bit of BOOM to the next chapter of your journey. Mark Twain once said, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

Get ready to expand your mind and get to the heart of the matter as we embrace the now and prepare for the beyond. sas•sy

spir•it•ed

suc•cess•ful

adjective very stylish; confident and energetic

adjective full of courage or energy; very lively or determined

adjective having the correct or desired result : ending in success having gotten or achieved wealth, respect, or fame

BeBopping Boomers Mary Helen Darah Nancy Jomantas Connie Torrey

Bond with the Boomers infoboomersandbeyond@gmail.com 419/824-0100 Beyond Boomer Consultant Sharon Lange Boomer Contributor Kathy Rotte

Boomer (to be) Layout and Design Elissa Cary Shannon Scully

Boom Your Business with Advertising adsinboomersandbeyond@gmail.com 419/824-0100 BOOMERS

& Beyond

Enjoy this issue

• Nifty After Fifty

Find your inner core with Pilates

3

• What the Flock?

Tips for when the kids return to your nest

4

• Words from the Wise It's not to late to prepare for retirement

5

• Hit the Road!

New travel club ventures out

6

• Deal with it Tips for keeping grandkids drug free

7

• Sprout into Action Gardening advice for late bloomers

8

2

Nifty After Fifty Be gentle!

Getting to the Core

with Pilates

By Mary Helen Darah

Mary Arend, fitness and Pilates instructor at ProMedica Wildwood Athletic Club, walked into a Pilates class by mistake in 2001 and wondered what they were doing. “I took the class and was amazed with the workout,” says Arend. “Pilates reminded me of my old days as a gymnast; youthful, strong, and disciplined. I noticed that my back wasn’t stiff when I woke up each morning. I began the process of getting certified, which can take months, even years. I developed a new respect for Pilates instructors and 13 years later, Pilates is and will be part of my life forever. Joseph Pilates once said, ‘in ten sessions you will feel the difference, in 20 you will see the difference, and in 30 you will have a whole new body.’” This Boomer, who was intrigued hearing ‘new body,’ sat down with Arend to find out more about this unique form of exercise.

How do you respond when you’re at a dinner party and someone asks “What is Pilates?”

Pilates is an exercise program developed

by Joseph Pilates in the 1920s. It’s a workout most people can do using simply a mat along with some additional equipment or a machine called a reformer. All the moves force you to engage virtually every part of your body. It requires concentration; you can’t simply go through the motions like you can on gym equipment. It stretches the muscles and strengthens the body.

What motivates people to do Pilates?

People want to improve posture, experience less back pain and joint stress, increase flexibility, and strengthen their core. Many clients admit they’re only in it for a flatter stomach.

Are the majority of your clients women?

Yes, but we are seeing more and more men who are starting to realize the benefits of Pilates. Men are typically less flexible and overall have more muscle mass. They need to work the everyday muscles to keep them injury free. Many professional athletes also do Pilates (golfers, football players, tennis players, etc.)

How long is a normal session?

A session is typically 45 minutes to one hour. I also have clients who will train for 30 minutes, which, with focused intent, can feel like an hour.

What results should a client expect to see?

Clients will notice improved flexibility, a stronger core, heightened neuromuscular coordination and mind-body awareness, fewer injuries, stronger spine and overall tone. Plus, they will notice increased circulation, a reduction in stress and a boost in energy.

FROM THE COVER “I never thought I would be doing Pilates. It has helped me aer years of physical abuse due to extreme training. I have greater flexibility and I just feel better.”

–Alex Due Executive Vice President Stapleton Insurance Group

Pilates instructor Mary Arend demonstrates some moves that will lead to a stronger core and greater flexibility.

MID JUNE

3

What the Flock?

Too many cooks in the kitchen I wish I could give you some sound advice in how

By Mary Helen Darah to orchestrate the eclectic mix of hunger pains and It wasn’t so long ago that I was suppressing sobs culinary preferences but that would be an impossiand keeping a stiff upper lip (the only body part left on this fifty year old that can get firm at a moment’s ble task. However, as a former basketball player, I have implemented the “three seconds in the key” notice) as my young adults departed for the great unknown. Due to a series of circumstances, I was an rule for the area in front of the sink and stove when I “empty nester” for roughly 12 minutes. Our “nest” is need my space to cook.

Sleep now bursting at the seams as five residents vie for You will feel your child will need “love’s first kiss” bathroom time, an empty washing machine and or a major catastrophic natural event to refrigerator space. My once vacant get vertical. Unless they need to couch where I would stretch out be at work, let sleeping dogs to read for leisure now is (precious children) lay. filled like a clown car with Find the floor young adults. I have Your child has lived clung to my sense of in a dorm with unhumor and sanity speakable clutter and after a year of living smells.

Your ideas of with people whom at cleanliness and times I feel might theirs may differ. My possibly be from anlittle rule is that I need other planet or at to be able to walk a least time zone. Below straight path from the are a few things to pondoor to their beds without der to ensure your feathers hurdling athletic equipment, are not ruffled as your adult clothing or overnight guests. Yes, children (not an oxymoron) fly back their room may look like a scene from a TV into your life. crime drama, but I suggest you pick your battles In need of a valet carefully.

I found myself offering free meals (what’s one Bigger battles more mouth to feed) to a valet parking attendant if Discuss alcohol, overnight guests and curfews he would come home with me to organize our situaclearly to avoid any miscommunications. If things tion. Landing in La Guardia Airport would be easier get dicey, gently remind them the parent that is fithan finding a spot in our drive. We have tried a ronancing their education is far more productive when tating “garage privilege” schedule; a brilliant idea in theory. If your child/children are in a perpetual state not stressed.

These are the days you will remember, and one of looking for cell phone chargers and missing asday soon your children will take that giant step into signments, the probability of them recalling where to full adulthood.

As you look at the empty kitchen park is slim. We now have a key holder and it is table that was once cluttered with laughter and MANDATORY everyone’s keys are present and acchildren, you will wish for the days when you waited counted for while in the house. Yes, reshuffling cars to use the bathroom, searched for the remote and is time consuming and problematic but at least I found thongs and Bob Marley t-shirts in your launnow know the musical tastes of my offspring as I dry basket. back up their vehicles listening to everything from Chinese classical to hip hop.

The offspring return to the nest

4

BOOMERS

& Beyond

Words From the Wise

The Three Legged Financial Stool

ticipation in a qualified retirement plan. Most Baby Boomers are offered the opportunity to contribute to a 401(k) retirement plan. Most of these employer-sponsored plans provide an employer match. Take advantage of these plans and don’t leave the employer match on the table. You can contribute up to $23,000 in 2014 if you are age 50 or older. All this deferred money is not subject to current income tax. However, beware, as all income received at retirement is subject to normal income tax and you have no idea what the tax will be when you retire.

The third leg of your financial stool involves after tax investing and saving. By purchasing stock, mutual funds and real estate and holding these investments for at least one year or more, you would be subject to a maximum capital gains tax of 20% plus the Obamacare surtax of 3.8% upon sale. This is far less than the maximum income tax rate of 39.6%.

Finally, you could purchase permanent life insurance.

The cash values in the policy would increase tax free and be available during your lifetime, including retirement. If you have a dividend paying policy from a mutual life insurance company, you could receive income tax free dividends up to the investment in your contract. You could borrow from the insurance company using your policy as collateral.

Such loans would be received income tax free. In the state of Ohio, life insurance and annuities are not subject to the claims of creditors. The death benefit from life insurance paid to a named beneficiary is not subject to income tax.

I hope that the Three Legged Financial Stool will help you achieve your dream of a retirement filled with joy rather than sorrow.

By Jim Scheib, Chartered Financial Consultant Due to the Great Recession of 2007-2009, statistics from Money News, April 9, 2013 are grim for Baby Boomers expecting to retire.

• 46% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement (Employment Benefit Research Institute) • 40% of Baby Boomers now plan to work until they die (AARP).

• 36% of Americans say they don’t contribute anything to their savings (NBC).

• 87% of adults say they are not confident about having money for a comfortable retirement (Lifehappens.org).

• Expected retirement age is up to age 67 from age 63 (Zero Hedge).

Jim Scheib of Scheib Snow & Company, LLC, • What is one to do facing these statistics for their own 4159 Holland Sylvania Rd., Ste. 206, Toledo, OH 43623, retirement?

419/841-3300.

I would suggest some basics from the Three Legged Financial Stool. The first leg is Social Security. You can retire as early as age 62. However, in so doing, you would receive only 75% of the income available to you at your normal retirement age of 67. Every year you work after age 67 would increase your monthly income by 8%. Where do you find a guaranteed rate of return of 8% per year these days? Most CD’s offer a conservative interest rate and it may be taxable.

The second leg of the Financial Stool involves your par-

MID JUNE

5

Sprout into Action-Older than Dirt Blooming at Any Age

By Italian Gardener Rick Cozza While some say that 60 is the new 40, and 70 is the new 50, we seniors continue to carry two interesting genes that seem to grow more dominant in some of us as we ‘season’ with age. Some of us recognize their presence, and fight them with all we have, as part of the ‘aging gracefully’ recipe. I see them all the time in gardening/landscaping, and they often get in the way of creativity and the enjoyment of new ideas.

The first is the ‘stubbornness’ gene: “I’ve done it this way all my life, and you’re not going to get me to do something different now.” Oftentimes this can be an uncertainty of something that we aren’t familiar with, but it often is a lack of belief that any other way is better. My father would put lime on his lawn in Pittsburgh every spring, and then compact it with a heavy roller, because his father had taught him to do that as a child.

Soil in southern Italy was acidic and needed lime, and the upheaval of the rocky soil in winter was a problem. In Pittsburgh, the soil was already alkaline, and all the roller did was further compact an already hard soil. But he would not hear of any other way. No, our lawn was not very healthy, but he kept at it. If you do the same thing over and over, expecting different results . . .!

The second gene is the “I’m older, and there isn’t anything I don’t know” gene. I have watched people who should know better do some awfully dumb things to their yards, simply because they just don’t know any better, but insist that it is the right way. I am ignorant (just ask my daughter), but I have learned to ask, even if I think I know.

Grandkids?

Will they have a place like this that they’ll always remember?

Quality Garden Design & Installation by

The Italian Gardener, Ltd (419) 902-9110 You’ll appreciate the difference!

6

Spending hours several times a year keeping a potentially twenty-foot shrub at six feet tall is maddening, to say the least. Replace it with a six-foot maximum shrub. I have seen potentially prize trees butchered and ugly in the name of “I know how to prune a tree.” Just this week, as I drove through Ottawa Hills, I noted how very many home landscapes have the same oversheared Yews and Junipers that they had sixty years ago, even though they are mostly wood stems now. But the owners could never feel that their wonderful home could ever look old and ragged.

So, now that I have insulted everyone (remember that I am one of ‘us’, too), what do I recommend we do about it? While we may not like our children’s and grandchildren’s music, the work of their generation of plant breeders is simply astounding. Go to a good nursery and look over the new varieties of trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. The breeders have simply outdone themselves. Use some of them.

“I don’t need to ask (or read) directions. I’ve been gardening for years.” Humble yourself, and read the tags on plants. Is it sun or shade? Is it three feet or thirty? Wisdom comes with age, but stubbornness seems to cling to those of us over 50. It takes a real effort to brush it off occasionally. And ask those who work there. They know, if you are at a good nursery (you shouldn’t be anywhere else... you aren’t saving money in the long run).

I went back to school in my fifties with all those younger students and learned that what I thought I knew was outdated and supplanted by better ideas. It was amazing how much I didn’t know, and how much I had never heard of.

Very humbling!

Honestly look at your yard, your entry, your patio. If the original plants were planted before the War of 1812, re-do.

We boomers really do like change; be bold in the change.

Your kids will marvel at the new you.

You will, too.

BOOMERS

& Beyond

Let’s face it...

You’re a boomer...what’s (your) beyond?

Mary Westphal, President, Sylvania City Council, Executive Director, Susan G. Komen NWO My personal hopes and dreams for the future are simple and filled with the basics – faith, family, friendship and good health. My hopes and dreams for the future of our community and our country are filled with great optimism! Recently I had the privilege of attending three high school senior class events. It was an honor to be present at these meaningful events focused on the ‘rite of passage’ for young adults. These accomplished, professional and respectful young people are ready to take the next step toward adulthood and I have every confidence that they will lead with vision, integrity and wisdom. I don’t remember being so wise at that stage in my life. If this snapshot offers any indication of the type of people who will be leading this country as I move through my ‘senior’ years, I am certain that we are in good hands and this country will be just fine.

Alan Sattler, Chief Financial Officer, ProMedica Health Systems I don’t consider my age to be a milestone, but what gets me up every morning is knowing that I am making a difference in healthcare for our patients and their families. I want to leave a footprint that makes the world a better place for the next generation. I’ve been a lifelong resident of northwest Ohio and have a passion for it. My wife and I have raised our three boys here. In my new role at ProMedica I will have the opportunity to allocate resources and support initiatives in a more direct way to make our community healthier, more vibrant and better overall.

MID JUNE

Pat Nowak, Executive Director, Sylvania Area Chamber of Commerce How does one plan for being a boomer and beyond? You can certainly agonize over your bucket list painstakingly crossing off each triumph but that’s not me. I wake every day wishing for just enough happiness, enough time for my husband, children and grandchildren, enough educational opportunities be it wine tasting, cooking or golf to enjoy my third act. I want to be able to give back with just enough to those organizations who might want my seasoned abilities and I want to sit and marvel at sunrises and sunsets over beautiful waterfront settings with a great glass of wine, wonderful friends and beautiful memories.

Brad Rieger, Ph.D., Superintendent, Sylvania Schools Rock concerts, t-shirts from universities our daughters attend, a little more stretching after exercising, and notes of gratitude to students, colleagues, family members and friends.

Sharon Lange, Publisher, Sylvania AdVantage Even a beyond-boomer keeps looking ahead ...especially when one chooses to ignore silly things such as age. And that beyond continues to involve doing only that which is fun, helpful and worthwhile, hanging out with my family and people I care about. Actually, my ultimate beyond is doing just what I have been doing!

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GOINGBEYOND

attendEVENTS Thursday Art Walk The Art Commission Thursday, June 26, 6-9 pm www.acgt.org

49th Annual Crosby Festival of the Arts Toledo Botanical Gardens Saturday, June 28 - Sunday June 29 www.toledogarden.org Sylvania’s “Star Spangled Celebration” Thursday, July 3, 7 pm–midnight Centennial Terrace The Blade’s Red, White, KABOOM Fireworks Celebration Friday, July 4, 6-11:59 pm Promenade Park, Downtown Toledo

getMOVING

Portage River Bicycle Tour Maumee Valley Adventurers Sunday, June 22, Elmore, Ohio www.mvadventurers.org Thanks for the Mammories Golf Outing Benefit for the Northwest Ohio Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Saturday, July 12, Bedford Hills Golf Club www.facebook.com/thanksforthemammories

buyLOCAL

The Market on Main Tuesdays in Sylvania Downtown Sylvania Association Tuesdays through October, 4-7 pm www.downtownsylvania.org

Toledo Farmer’s Market Saturdays 8 am – 2 pm 525 Market Street, Toledo www.toledofarmersmarket.com

searchWEBSITES

Toledo.com Events, happenings, information on Toledo Bakespace.com For the kitchen and cooking lover Thirdage.com Health for Boomers and Beyond Familysearch.org Genealogy Petfinder.com Find a rescue pet; report a lost pet

helpCHARITIES Assistance Dogs for Achieving Independence “Pay it Forward” Campaign Art Van Furniture Matching funds through June 23 www.crowdrise.com/abilitycenter-avf

MS Bike-to-the-Bay June 21 & 22 25th Anniversary ride to raise funds to help the fight against Multiple Sclerosis www.bikeoha.nationalmssociety.org

serveVOLUNTEER Marathonclassic.com LPGA tournament July 14-20

Metroparkstoledo.com Throughout the year, various fun areas to serve Basketsofcare.org Knitters, sewers to help those diagnosed with Breast Cancer