Real Sage Advice

Inspiration - Aging is no big deal

Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.

Groucho Marx

For other inspirational quotes, see these posts

Mortgage Fraud Rampant

Found on the FBI website...

This photo is  from a condo that was involved in a mortgage fraud. The appraisal described “recently renovated condominiums” to include Brazilian hardwood, granite countertops, and a value of $275,000.

Minnesota is in the top 10 for Mortgage Fraud. As Senior Housing Vacancy Rates Increase, and seniors and their families become more anxious to get the family home sold, they are prime targets for schemes to refinance the home, or for innacurate appraisals. 

If it seems to good to be true, it probably is.

Suburb says 'no' to senior housing development

The Beaufort Gazette out of South Carolina sent a developer back to the drawing board when they decided a proposed senior housing development was too large for the neighborhood.

When city and state budgets are tight, it's much easier to compromise on principles and say "bring in the development and additional tax dollars!" However, compromising on things like: traffic flow, character of the neighborhood, disruption of views from neighboring homes effects home values, and in turn, the community as a whole. In Minneapolis we have fought against our own neighbors tearing down original homes built in the 1920's and 1930's and building McMansions that obstruct views and sunlight from neighboring homes, and are that are way out of character with the neighborhood.

I've gone on record to say that Minnesota does need more ownership opportunities in senior communities. The challenge is for developers to recognize what boomers say they want (which is to remain vital, viable and part of a community, which does NOT translate to being segregated into a senior high rise) and to provide it in an economically viable way.

Possible? I think Yes!

Main Reasons Seniors Move

A slide from a Minnesota Board on Aging presentation. More than double are moving into a larger place. Surprised?

Thanks to the Minnesota Board on Aging

Other Blog Articles

Boomer impact on housing

Aging in Place-The Paradox of Building Accessible Homes

10 Things Your Assisted Living Facility Won't Tell You

Minnesota Health and Housing-Demand Model

Where will the seniors live in Minnesota?

Even a native Minnesotan can have a hard time reading these county maps so here it is in English-

Minnesota Counties that can expect a 100-368 percent increase in 2030 of seniors aged 65+ include:

• Cook
• Beltrami
• Itasca
• Hubbard
• Cass
• Crow Wing
• Aitkin
• Carlton
• Pine
• Otter Tail
• Becker
• Douglas
• Stearns
• Benton
• Mille Lacs
• Sherburne
• Isanti
• Chisago
• Anoka
• Wright
• Hennepin
• Carver
• Scott
• Dakota
• Rice
• Goodhue
• Waseca
• Wabasha
• Olmsted
• Dodge
• Houston
• Carlton
• Pine

MOST of these counties are outside the 13 county metro area known as the Twin Cities. Now is the time to ask:

How will we support our elderly in greater Minnesota?

Health Care Plans by Presidential Candidate

I don't usually use this blog to comment on political candidates, but this seems appropriate given the readership who care about aging issues.

Here's an article passed on to me by Albert Camus:

It's that time in an election year when the air is filled with promises and sound bites of how health care will be fixed. Each of the current presidential candidates offers different solutions for extending available care while controlling costs. At the same time, each candidate faces a climate in which lobbyists spend around 17 million dollars every day in Washington (see “Health Care, Insurance Dominate Lobby”).

The front runners admit that there is no magic bullet and generally endorse a multi-tiered set of solutions which embrace both public and privatized elements.

Barack Obama's Health Plan

Barack Obama proposes that affordable and quality universal health care coverage can be achieved through a mix of private and expanded public insurance. Quality and cost containment would be encouraged by various types of oversight, improved and more efficient systems and regulation to ensure better competition between insurance companies.

The cost of the Obama plan, when fully phased in, is estimated to be between $50 to $65 billion a year, with savings coming from within the system and from discontinued tax cuts.

Hillary Clinton's Health Proposal

Hillary Clinton likewise proposes a combination of oversight measures, incentives, system improvements and other means of leveling the availability of care. The cost of the Clinton plan is estimated to be $110 billion a year, also with savings from new system quality and efficiency, savings from Medicare private plans, constraining prescription drug costs and the discontinuing of tax cuts for both individual incomes above $250,000 and for employer-paid health insurance tax exclusions. The Democratic candidates both intend to make health insurance a requirement, either just for children or for every American.

The John McCain Health Plan

John McCain opposes insurance requirements. The McCain campaign proposes to provide access to affordable health care by only paying for quality care, providing for a diversity of insurance choices, and encouraging personal responsibility. Like the Democratic candidates, he proposes a variety of fixes, including improved system and technological efficiency, tort reform, improvements in incentives and competition-driven prices.

Predictably, the McCain health care plan relies on more market-driven initiatives, such as increased competition between providers and drug companies, better alternatives and information for consumers and insurance deregulation that would enhance competition. There is no estimated cost of the McCain plan as of yet, but the campaign indicates that cost containment will make insurance more affordable.

More Reading

Study: Health Care and Insurance Dominate the Washington Lobby Health-Insurance.org. Accessed 4/22/08.

Providing Affordable and Accessible Health Care Hillary for President. Accessed 4/22/08.

Healthcare Obama08. Accessed 4/22/08

Straight Talk on Health System Reform.On the Issues, JohnMccain.com. Accessed 4/22/08

Lanier, Safiyyah Health Care: John McCain vs. Barack Obama. Health Care Today. Accessed 4/20/08.

Inspiration - Sophia Loren

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.

Sophia Loren

Inspiration - Knowledge

The old believe everything; the middle aged suspect everything: the young know everything.

Oscar Wilde

Inspiration - Problem Solving

Here is the secret of inspiration: Tell yourself that thousands and tens of thousands of people, not very intelligent and certainly no more intelligent than the rest of us, have mastered problems as difficult as those that now baffle you.

William Feather

For more inspirational quotes see these posts

Inspiration-throw a snowball

The aging process has you firmly in its grasp if you never get the urge to throw a snowball.

Doug Larson