Stage, television and film performer Debbie Allen has displayed her many talents as a director, choreographer, dancer and actor.  She says her greatest passion is dance.  After a decades long, intensive schedule of performing, muscle strains and pains have sidelined her seriously enough to require medical attention.  Physicians have prescribed examinations using a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine.  Those MRI exams have helped doctors treat her strains while extending her dancing career and her passion.

While use of an MRI became so important to her life she experienced a life changing revelation that was coupled with her family history of heart disease. She learned that heart disease patients, like those in her family, often have a pacemaker implanted in their chest, itself a life saving procedure.   She also learned pacemaker patients, until recently, have been restricted from getting an MRi.

With 600,000 pacemakers being implanted each year and with the increasing use of MRI’s, this kind of technical conflict has greatly affected people’s lives.  An estimated 200,000 patients in the U.S. annually are denied access to an MRI scan because they have a pacemaker. It has been estimated that there is a 50‐75% probability that cardiac device patients will need an MRI over the lifetime of their devices.

People with a slow or irregular heartbeat (fewer than 60 beats per minute) may have a condition called bradycardia, which can cause a person to feel dizzy, short of breath or faint. A common treatment for this disorder is a pacemaker, an implantable device that uses electrical signals to help restore the heart’s rhythm and ensure that enough oxygen-rich blood is being circulated throughout the body.

Now recent scientific breakthroughs are changing those limitations. Debbie Allen is helping get the word out about some amazing technological changes that will allow future pacemaker wearers to receive an MRI. This issue is timely as the FDA recently approved a new pacemaker now available for use in an MRI environment.

As a major technological breakthrough, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first MRI safe pacemaker in 2011.  Minneapolis-based Metronic has been shipping the devices since then.  This will now permit pacemaker patients access to MRI which allows detection and treatment of serious medical conditions such as stroke, cancer and many other conditions.

Debbie Allen is part of the information campaign.  She says people invest more time in deciding what car to buy than they do on a device that may help improve the quality of their life. “I want everyone to know there are options. That’s why I chose to become an advocate for the Join the Pace Makers Campaign, ” she says.  You can get more information about Debbie’s campaign at

Is it lifestyle? Diet? Both?  Since the world renowned Mayo Clinic helped raise awareness to the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet and its impact on senior health and senior diet, we are discovering that it means more than what you put in your body.

The focus is on senior diet but the most valued foundation of traditional Mediterranean cultures is taking the time to enjoy and share time with people, that you care about.  Instead of refueling you can turn a meal into a ritual for your senses and share the flavors. Cultivating this balance in life will enable you to enjoy a rich quality of life.

Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease. In fact, a recent analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk overall and specificallty cardiovascular mortality, a reduced incidence of cancer and cancer mortality, and a reduced incidence of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.  For this reason, most if not all major scientific organizations encourage healthy adults to adapt a style of eating like that of the Mediterranean diet for prevention of major chronic diseases.

A recent guest on a podcast at Active Seniors HQ is award winning author and exercise physiologist Janet Brill. Janet is a nationally recognized expert in the field of health, wellness and cardiovascular disease prevention,  She is an occasional guest on the Dr. Oz Health show on NBC. Janet says, “Lifestyle is always the first strategy, first line of defense. You can pop up all the pills in the world, but you won’t live a long life unless you live the lifestyle as well and walk the walk.  And even if you are in your 70’s studies have shown that  70 year olds that have not lived a heart healthy, can switch over to the Mediterranean lifestyle and they can actually prolong their life by many many years. So, it’s never too late to change to a heart healthy lifestyle.”

“In spite of what you read in all of the books that are out there now for reversing heart disease The Mediterranean diet in-fact allows you to really, truly enjoy food and the good things in life. So it’s a plant based diet, but with fish, it’s a lot of fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, legumes, and olive oil, and even dark chocolate and red wine.  So, it’s a nice way and a pleasant way of living. It’s easy to follow. The food tastes great and it’s as good as it gets for the really scientifically proven method of prolonging life and treating and preventing heart disease,” says Janet Brill.

Every profession has its own set of verbs, adjectives, pronouns, nouns and general jargon that may require a classroom education to learn.  For senior health, senior fitness, retirement planning  it feel may feel like your are earning a degree just to have the minimal knowledge.

Lawyer and Certified Geriatric Care Manager Buckley Fricker has created a shortcut to that learning curve with her newest book, Elder Care: The Road to Growing Old is Not Paved.  Fricker brings a very unique perspective to the subject and she tries to cut through the jargon.

Fricker explains, “I’m the only attorney and geriatric care manager in the country, so I do bring a unique prospective of understanding of a much bigger picture. I have covered so much about medical care, and social security, and also about the state planning documents, and also about who can help, whether it’s home health aide, companions, and geriatric care managers.”

She adds: “I talk about assisted living facilities, the different kinds, and nursing homes and what they cost, and what pays for it, financial options, like long term care insurance and annuities.”

She knows from where she speaks.  Fricker followed in the footsteps of her mother who joined the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys in 1988.  Fricker worked with her mother after she graduated from law school.

She says, “I want people to know about the future and what it is going to cost, and what it might look like, and what options are available, because on a daily basis I see what it looks like when somebody didn’t do that kind of planning and considering things 20 years earlier.”

Fricker says she wrote the book because she found many great books to help seniors but she wanted something different. “What I found is there wasn’t anything that was a straight forward reference manual, that really just gives the information as clear and as concise as possible, so that people can look things up and then if they feel like it applies to them or it gives them an idea of something to tackle and plan for, then they know and they can go and find the various professionals that they would need depending on what they found in the book. So, it doesn’t have heart felt stories in it – it’s just really a straight reference manual,” add Fricker.

Maybe most important, she eliminates the jargon, code words and professional terminology that can do more to confuse than to clarify.

She recommends, if you are interested, its easy to download from Amazon.   Look at it briefly, and go form there.  Use, Elder care – The Road To Growing Old Is Not Paved.  When questions arise you can get quick answers about your questions: “Because there isn’t anybody else who is approaching it from the two specialized backgrounds that I have,” says Fricker.

Need a new hip? Well, you may laugh now, but statistics show that over the past 2 decades the number of Americans having total hip replacement has more than doubled. The number of knee replacements is also expected to reach over 4 million by 2030.

Dr. Stephen Barnett is a board certified orthopedic surgeon with a practice specializing in joint replacement and adult reconstructive surgery for arthritic conditions.

“You know, osteoarthritis and various forms of arthritis are very common in our population. And for the most part there is a fair amount of misunderstanding as far as treatment modalities and what’s available for people,” says Barnett.

He adds, “I think what’s important for people to understand that they do not necessarily have to suffer from these afflictions, that there are treatments out there not necessarily just surgical, but medical treatments as well.”

Definitely age is a factor. He says, “The most common arthritis that we see is osteoarthritis, which is a wearing down of the joint service and can occur with age and as the joints age they lose some of their elasticity, which in respect to the articular cardiology, which can pre expose people to arthritis, but age is not the only component.”

Dr. Barnett says: “Certainly we see patients who have sustained some form of trauma to their joints.  And there are a multitude of inflammatory conditions. The most common one that people would know about is rheumatoid arthritis. And this inflammatory conditions could be related to the patient’s immune system. Their own body can actually start attacking the cardiology in their joints, which leads to the disease.

But the good news is there are medical procedures than can really help people.  Dr. Barnett says, “These days our treatment modalities are so good, whether it’s surgical or nonsurgical. I think the days where you just say: ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ And gradually become sedentary sitting on the couch are gone. We have treatments that can allow you to be very active and participate those activates that you really want to do.”

He adds,  “advances that we’ve seen in the last decade are the longevity of the implants that we put in. So, if you think back, you know, 40 years when hip and knee replacement surgery was brand new, really that was reserved as an absolute last resort for patients that were maybe wheelchair bound and just needed enough help to get around the house.”

Barnett who practices in Southern California, regularly receives pictures from his patients who are returning to their favorite activities.  He says he gets plenty of pictures of activities like surfing, skiing, tennis and hiking.  He believes exercise, keeping your weight down and your mobility up, along with a healthy diet is an important key to staying healthy.

Just like when you sift through your winter clothes after the season and discard what you no longer need, similarly you will want to comb through your retirement planning to ensure it’s on track and working for you and there may be investments you want to get rid of.

With the tax season over, now it is the perfect time.   You can use the period to revamp your retirement planning and take a close look at your bank statements, receipts and other documents, emphasizing your debits and credits. Take a look at your bank balance, and ask yourself – Are your debits surpassing/overlapping your credits? Are your bank balances where you expect them to be? Can you think of some steps/remedies to minimize expenses and maintain a proper account balance for the succeeding year?

Financial experts always advise retirees to review their account balance or financial statements at least once every year. Unfortunately they find retirees don’t follow this, and usually their spending exceeds their savings/investment.

When they say ‘saving,’ that does not mean the money you save today and will be spending the same in a week or a month to meet your lifestyle needs.  That means the amount you save for your 60’s, 70’s and post-retirement phase.  Financial advisors say what happens is retirees spend more than they can afford.

Work with your accountant to see if there exists any way to reduce your tax burden or expenses. Retirement planning doesn’t require you to cut your necessary expenses; it just makes you aware that you might be spending unnecessarily and where you shouldn’t spend.

Keeping your spending under control on lifestyle and leisure activities works best, and even looking at ways to reduce those expenses. Balancing your funds – debit and credit is more of an art than mathematics and accounting.

Higher Interest Rate

Good retirement planning comes from the wise investment decision. Invest your money where you’ll get maximum returns, and where the interest rate is higher.

Secure your post-retirement days with good and healthy retirement planning!

The retirement is the best time to experience the beauty of different destinations; that is the period when you need to spend quality time with your spouse and family. It is the most exciting period to explore the world and learn new things; if not anything, then just chill out! With a little planning and caution, you can design a wonderful trip to your favorite destination and relax completely. However, in the course of your senior travel planning, ensure you stay healthy and fit.

Health comes first!

‘Health is Wealth!’ Health is the inherent part of trip planning; it comes with every trip package by default. A weak or unfit body could ruin your trip completely. If you have a stable health condition, you can plan an enjoyable and healthy holiday to nearly any destination.

If you have any health problem, typically one that requires meditation or special assistance, plan things accordingly – a place that has all these facilities, and only then leave home. Here are a few senior travel tips you should consider before planning a trip:

Carry Portable Health Kit

Health kit does not only mean a first-aid box or medicines/tablets. Today, there are digital health kits available on the internet and in market. You can carry these kits anywhere you go, as it may assist you with plenty of health information, suggestions and tips. A simple travel health kit includes general information like health tips for senior, what to eat and what to avoid and exercise types/tips etc. This should be a mandatory item in your travel bag.

Consult your doctor before traveling

For a healthy and fun-filled trip, it is advised for seniors to consult their family doctor prior to their holiday. Consider your physical limitations before you go for expedition. For instance, if you are an asthma patient, your tour itinerary should include arduous activities, especially outdoor sports or excessive walking or running. A little exercise or a short and slow paced walk is good for senior health.

Be prepared for emergencies

Emergencies don’t come with prior invitation; they are like an uninvited guest! Therefore, always be prepared for the worst. Carry a bunch of your regular medicines as well as traveling medicines; it is strongly recommended for seniors to visit their doctor and get the check-ups done, before leaving home.

Read articles related to senior travel, and carry some wonderful health magazines. Enjoy a safe, healthy and lovely trip!

Sometimes it is easier to believe in miracle cures…food supplements and medical breakthroughs than simple proven formula’s for healthy living.  Author and nutrition expert Janet Brill, Ph.D., adheres to the simple formula.  “There is no medicine more powerful or supplement more effective in promoting health and longevity than the combination of good nutrition and daily exercise.” Along with that, she is a huge proponent of the Mediterranean diet.

She has just published her latest book, Blood Pressure Down.

Her overall message is that most Americans will die from cardio vascular disease – either heart attack or stroke.   She emphasizes that these are preventable diseases and they can be treated.  She adds that for people over 50,  knowing that these are, hands down, the leading causes of death, and with a healthy lifestyle you  can actually treat and prevent your premature mortality.  “I think the important message is to start now to take control of your health and to do everything that you can because your lifestyle can easily prevent early death from heart attack and stroke,” she says.

Her message is unfailingly simple.  Lifestyle is always the first strategy, first line of defense. You can pop all the pills in the world, but you won’t live a long life unless you live the lifestyle as well and walk the walk.  And even if you are in your 70’s, studies have shown that even if you have not lived a heart healthy life, it’s not too late.

One of Janet Brill’s prescriptions for healthy living is devoting yourself to the Mediterranean lifestyle.  It can actually prolong life by many, many years, says Brill.  So, it’s never too late for a change to a heart healthy lifestyle.

The Mediterranean diet benefits allow you to really truly enjoy food and the good things in life. It’s a plant based diet,  but includes fish.   It’s a lot of fruits and vegetables, and whole grains, and legumes, and olive oil, and even dark chocolate and red wine.  So, it’s a nice way and pleasant way of living. It’s easy to follow. The food tastes great and it’s as good as it gets for the really scientifically proven method of prolonging life and treating and preventing heart disease.

The Mediterranean diet has not only been scientifically proven, it really is the best optimal diet in terms of longevity. It also is so much easier to follow and so much better than unpalatable diets that are being promoted by a lot of cardiologists that actually prohibit extra virgin olive oil, and nuts, and avocados and all those really beautiful heart healthy products that make The Mediterranean diet so easy to follow.

“That’s what I love about of this Mediterranean way of eating – the food tastes great. So as I say a little dark chocolate and red wine, garlic and extra virgin olive oil, fresh fish off the boat, you know that’s not deprivation.”

There are a lot of financial terms and jargon that a financial adviser may throw out at you when it is time to address your retirement planning.  The important thing to ask yourself when you walk out of that advisor’s office, are you really sure you understanding everything he or she is telling you.

Other financial advisors will tell you they are moving away from fancy terminology.  Financial advisor and author, Minneapolis based Bruce Helmer is one of those.  He says, the piece missing from “personal financial planning,” is the personal part: your relationship and your values.

Helmer recently recorded a podcast for Active Seniors HQ and his new book on retirement planning called Real Wealth, How to make Smart Money Choices for what matter most to YOU.  “From my prospective I’ve read a lot of these books, and a lot of the ones I haven’t read I’m at least somewhat familiar with, and to me what’s missing from personal finance books is the personal part of it. They are very laboratory, they are very ‘how to invest,’ when to buy stocks or sell stocks. It really doesn’t start with what I think is the obvious starting point, which, you know, what is the purpose of the person, what are their core values, what are their goals and what are they trying to accomplish. And when we understand those things then the financial advice and making good advice, making good decisions gets far easier.”

Helmer says he uses a straightforward values-based approach to managing wealth. After the worst recession in our country’s history, we all have different sometimes difficult decisions to make about how to manage our money.  But he says:  “I’m a little bit blessed or fortunate in that, I didn’t really see this. Let’s say somebody wanted to retire or did retire in late 2007 – early 2008 and then their accounts got decimated in the great recession when the market declined. And now all of the sudden they are confronted with a situation where either they had to really reduce their standard of living or they had to find a part time job.   “I think that was fairly prevalent, although again I didn’t have personal experience like that,”  says Helmer.

“Our clients, we were very fortunate and did not go through anything like that. But on the bigger broader picture about positioning and getting ready for retirement, to me again it starts with questions that are not just financial. Financial is certainly a part of it and money is a tool, but I really try to coach my clients in being prepared for the synergistic changes and the lifestyle changes or even the changes in a relationship.”   That, Helmer believes, his how he uses his approach of “personal financial planning,” to his job of  retirement planning.

When we think of tough grueling sports that take a toll on the body, it’s normally for the young.  After all, their  bodies haven’t gone through years of wear and tear.  A contradiction to that notion, is a favorite among the senior set, says The Long Ride author Lucian Spataro.  At 55, Spataro is one of those active participants in what is called  Endurance Riding. He  says the majority of the athletes in his sport, are over 50.

It has lead him to several conclusions.  “I think the human body could do these kinds of sport and other sports until our 70’s and 80’s. And I know a lot of folks who are running  in their 70’s and 80’s.  They are still running 10K’s. I know a guy who just ran a marathon and he  is 75 years old.”

“I think our body can do this. I think is just a matter of constantly moving and ratcheting up over time, you can’t go out and run a marathon tomorrow , but you can walk a mile or two at some pace and then maybe a couple of weeks from now you might be able to jog a little bit of that, and then maybe a little bit later  you can jog a portion of that 10K’s, but you are still moving.”

Endurance riding is an internationally recognized sports based on long-distance horse races.  Switzerland based International Federation of Equestrian Sports is the governing body that oversees endurance riding.

“I think that this sport, these endurance rides, they might be a little extreme, but we have people in this endurance sport who are in their late 50’s and 60’s and predominantly most of the riders in this endurance ride sport, are in their late 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.”

Spataro is a huge advocate of activity for seniors.  “I think that you can find a sport that you can participate into your 60’s and 70’s.  Now it may not be riding, it could be swimming, or it could be bike riding, or it could be jogging, or it could be just walking. But I think that there are sports that you can do and stretching is a big part of this as well, but I think that people are reluctant to pursue, because there is a little ache and pain. But if you push through it a little bit you’ll get to the next plate and you’ll be fine. Our bodies are meant to move. If you eat properly, and you exercise properly , and you stretch you can do this for a long time.”

“If you do a little bit of walking, a little bit of running and you add a little bit of diet nutrition in there, when you see the results from just that little change, a very small step forward. It’s very positive and people really take that ball and run with it once they’ve seen that. So, the first step is to do a little bit of something. Change your diet or something. Break it down to 2000 or 2200 calories a day, cover percentages of carbohydrates and protein. And then drink 6 – 8 glasses of water every day and walk a couple of miles and they’ll see those changes they’ll we be actually very motivating. And so that’s what I talk about with folks.  It’s about  making incremental small changes.  Once people start seeing the results they take the ball and run it from there.”

Spataro wrote The Long Ride, in part to help motivate others but also about the people who helped along the way. And it’s really a “Thank you” from me to those folks who really helped me accomplish that objective and that bucket list sort of item, that I always wanted to do when I was growing up as a kid in Ohio. So, this book is really a “Thank you to them”.

Encore careers are becoming the focus of more seniors at they approach or enter retirement. Many people discovered the traditional definition of retirement doesn’t fit them any longer. The thoughts of lounging longer in bed, spending time in the garden or daily golf eventually lost it’s appeal.

For retirement planning, Financial Coach Todd Tresidder says: “Now is the time to question the underlining premise of retirement.   Retirement is no longer the cessation of all activity.  There is no reason to define retirement that way. You can actually enter a whole second phase of life, all the way until 70 or 80.   He says “more people are looking toward, part-time or occasional careers to supplement their income.” There are a couple of factors that are generating the change. Greater life expectancy and seniors are enjoying more robust health in the much later years than they did previously.
The Wall Street Journal recently published a story that focused on several active seniors who launched new ventures as part of their retirement planning. Roslyn Tanner Evans is a 73-year old retiree living in New York is one person highlighted in the article. She makes and sells jewelry online and at craft shows. She uses the proceeds to supplement her pension.
Another retiree focused on in the story is 66-year old Tony Nestoraone who embarked on an encore career in an online business called BackUpBetter.com. He uses his website to sell a car window attachment that helps drivers when backing-up their vehicle to avoid accidents. After becoming “burned-out” after 40 years as a financial planner, Nestora launched the business with a $50,000 investment.
He runs the business out of his home in Redding, Connecticut and now is actively working on marketing the venture. The business started in 2012, but says it hasn’t been easy. He hoped sales would be generated by word of mouth advertising but it has been slower than expected. He is now launching some new marketing schemes and has brought on a tech savvy partner in hopes of boosting disappointing sales.
The Journal article focused on one recent retired entrepreneur who has realized some quicker results. 64-year old Bruce MacDermott has been able to transfer his background in the construction business to a home-inspection franchise. He invested $24,000 and hopes to become profitable in late 2013.
But a warning note sounded from one expert is to be careful with how much you invest. After all if the venture does go sour you have less time to recapture your losses. Babson College M.B.A., faculty director Michael Cummings also reminds that if there is a steep learning curve in the new enterprise, that encore career may never adequately get off the ground.
Finely, Financial Coach Todd Tresidder reminds us in retirement planning, choosing the right encore career can allow you to earn enough to take the pressure off your assets and just enjoy the heck out of your life.