As baby boomers prepare for retirement, many have a vague feeling that they’d do well to insure themselves against the potentially disastrous cost of long term care. But when they start delving into the details of long term care insurance—perhaps by conducting research on the Internet—they find the subject to be unpleasantly complex, confusing, and downright mysterious. But understanding and weighing your many options need not be a drawn-out and harrowing experience. Here are seven simple points to bear in mind that can serve as a compass as you navigate the various plans and policies currently available.
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For many, the dream of retirement in a warm paradise in the sun seems far out of reach. But Costa Rica offers countless Americans, Europeans, and Canadians (among others) the chance to retire in a beautiful, tropical climate; and unlike many other overseas destinations, this small, stable Central American country is both affordable and relatively crime-free. Here are some of the reasons why many Americans have retired to Costa Rica, and why future retirees should at least consider it.
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If you’re a Baby Boomer, born between 1946 and 1964, you may be starting to notice a few more creaks and groans in your joints when you get up from your recliner than you did a few years back. Since Baby Boomers are by far the largest segment of our population, at least you have the knowledge that you’re not alone in this. But is there something you can do to improve the quality of your life and increase your longevity while forestalling age-related illnesses? Yes, better Baby Boomer fitness is possible and exercise is the key.
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If you’re a future retiree, it’s never too early to start thinking about where you’ll live when you retire. Here’s how to get started, in five easy steps.
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Like our younger friends and our kids (and increasingly, our grandkids), we baby boomers listen to our music on CD players or iPods. But unlike them, most of us still have a stash of vinyl albums tucked away somewhere. The old turntable has long since found its way to a remote corner of the attic and probably wouldn’t work even if we tried to dust it off and fire it up again. And since the music we grew up with (now referred to as “oldies”) is readily available in the new formats, there’s little practical reason to save all those old 12-inch records. But we haven’t been able to part with them.

Now, finally, our pack-rat instincts may finally be paying off. According to an article in the northern California Ukiah Daily Journal, “vinyl is vibrant again.”

A few collectible singles and albums fetch $1,000 and even more. But classic rock in general is in high demand, and reggae, punk, and blues, even more so.

As always, if you want to turn your treasures into cash, eBay is an excellent place to start. But if you’d rather hang onto them and wait for them to become really valuable antiques, you can still enjoy them in the meantime. A strange new mixture of old and new technology has surfaced: a turntable with a USB port that makes it possible to transfer the music from vinyl to digital formats. You can get a USB turntable on amazon.com for around 100 bucks.