RetirementRevised

This week on the podcast, we take a look at caregiving. This is a big topic these days, but  the conversation usually is focused around the consumer finance part of the story - things like long-term care insurance, and the rising cost of nursing home care.

On this program this week, we’re going to consider a different angle - the looming shortage of caregiver labor. This hasn’t received much media attention - yet. But its going to have a big impact on the United States in the years ahead.

There’s a growing body of evidence pointing to a dramatic shortage of care-giving labor. The aging of the nation is one part of the problem, since it accelerates demand.

But a big part of the labor crunch stems from bad policy, starting with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, which is choking off the supply of caregiving labor. Another policy failure is that we have failed to ensure caregivers are paid and trained adequately—in other words, treating this work as an important, honorable occupation.

The looming labor shortage has implications for the cost of care. But it also means that more people will be pressed into care-giving service for family members during their working years. That will have a major impact on their careers and lifetime earnings . . . and on their retirement plans. This point is brought to life in this recent New York Times story about how caregiving responsibilities for parents are impacting millenials.

Joining me on the podcast this week is one of the nation’s top experts on the caregiving labor force. Robyn Stone is senior vice president of research at LeadingAge, a large professional and trade group representing the aging services field. She also co-directs a research center on long-term care at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Dr. Stone holds a doctorate in public health from the University of California, Berkeley.

Earlier, Stone was executive director of the International Longevity Center, which was founded by the late Robert Butler, the renowned gerontologist and psychiatrist who did so much to revolutionize the field of aging. Dr. Butler was best known for coining the terms "ageism" and "longevity revolution.”

Robyn has written two excellent papers on this topic recently. One deals with workforce training issues, the other with approaches to developing a quality care-giving worforce.

On the podcast, Robyn and I talk about the looming shortages in the labor market for caregiving. We talked about the root causes, what it will mean for people who need these services - and some possible solutions.

Click on the player icon at the top of this page to hear our conversation.

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This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. The most recent looks at the critical decision between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

If you’ve ever experienced a long wait to get help from the Social Security Administration, the agency has some good news for you - the pace is about to pick up a bit.

Repeated cuts to the agency’s administrative budget over the past decade by Congress have forced the closing of field offices, staff cuts, and long delays on Social Security’s toll-free line - and an enormous backlog of people waiting for appeal hearings on disability insurance claims. 

This week, the Social Security Administration announced that it will restore some previously-cut office hours in field offices, and more than 1,000 new employees to speed things up on its toll-free line and in its processing centers.

On this week’s edition of the RetirementRevised.com podcast, I talk with one of the nation’s top experts on the administrative workings of Social Security - Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Click the player icon at the top of the page to hear our conversation.

You’ll find more on this subject in a post I wrote this week for NextAvenue.org.

Other ways to listen to the podcast

Prefer to listen to the program using your favorite podcast app? You also can find the program on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.

Subscribe now!

This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. The most recent looks at the critical decision between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

If you’ve ever experienced a long wait to get help from the Social Security Administration, the agency has some good news for you - the pace is about to pick up a bit.

Repeated cuts to the agency’s administrative budget over the past decade by Congress have forced the closing of field offices, staff cuts, and long delays on Social Security’s toll-free line - and an enormous backlog of people waiting for appeal hearings on disability insurance claims. 

This week, the Social Security Administration announced that it will restore some previously-cut office hours in field offices, and more than 1000 new employees to speed things up on its toll-free line and in its processing centers.

On this week’s edition of my RetirementRevised.com podcast, I talk with one of the nation’s top experts on the administrative workings of Social Security - Kathleen Romig, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Click the player icon at the top of the page to hear our conversation.

Special subscription offer for NextAvenue.org readers!

This podcast is part of my weekly subscription newsletter on retirement and aging, where I cover the latest news, trends and research in the field. Subscribers also have access to my series of guides on the key issues in retirement - downloadable, quick reads that are paired with podcast interviews with top experts. The latest just came out a couple weeks ago - it breaks down the important choice between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage - you can download a free copy of the guide here.

And, through the end of the year, NextAvenue.org readers can receive a special 20% discount for a one-year subscription. Click here to take advantage of this special offer, or use this link to learn more about the newsletter.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

This week, my podcast guest is the author of an extraordinary book that mounts a strong critique about the way the medical profession and our health care system, care for the elderly. Louise Aronson is a geriatrician, writer and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Her book, published last summer, is Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, and Reimagining Life.

Elderhood is a New York Times bestseller, and for very good reason. Aronson argues that the experiences of older people in our healthcare system are indications that the current approach to medical care care is broken for all of us. But when it comes to old age, she writes that the system has a “devastating ignorance.” One reason the book is so compelling is that Aronson talks about these issues not only from the standpoint of policy and numbers, but from her vantage point as a practitioner. The book is full of riveting stories about her own patients - with their identities protected, of course. Some of the stories are inspiring, but many of them are very disturbing. 

So, I want to recommend Elderhood to you. And, to get a taste of what it’s all about, check out my interview with Dr. Louise Aronson. Click the player icon at the top of this page to listen to the podcast.

Other ways to listen to the podcast

Prefer to listen to the program using your favorite podcast app? You also can find the program on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher.

Subscribe now!

This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. The most recent looks at the critical decision between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

This week, the podcast focuses on some trends in housing that have some disturbing implications for older adults. But I also wanted to update listeners on the final numbers for next year on the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

So, the podcast is a bit of a twofer this week.

Medicare premiums and Social Security

The Social Security COLA was announced in October - but the real COLA isn’t apparent until Medicare announces premiums for the year ahead. That’s because Part B premiums are deducted from Social Security checks. Medicare released those figures late in the day last Friday - probably hoping no one was paying attention heading into the weekend, because the numbers are not pretty. The standard premium for Medicare Part B (outpatient services) will jump 6.7% to $144.60 next year, and the  annual deductible will jump by a similar amount. 

The earlier-announced Social Security COLA is 1.6% - but the net COLA will be much smaller for most beneficiaries. For example, if your Social Security benefit is $1,500, your COLA will be just under 1% - an increase of 14.90 rather than $24. Learn more about this in my column this week for Reuters Money.

Housing inequality has hit unprecedented levels

My guest on the podcast this week is Jennifer Molinsky. She’s a  senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS), and a lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. At JCHS she works on housing policy and planning issues including homeownership, housing for older adults, and land use regulation. 

Jennifer is co-author of a new report that sheds light on how inequality is impacting older Americans, with a particular focus on housing.

The report finds slipping rates of home ownership, especially among racial minority groups. It also found a growing share of older households are carrying mortgages and other types of debt into retirement.

And here’s the finding I found most disturbing: the number of cost-burdened households aged 65 and over grew by more than 200,000 to a new high of nearly 10 million. The Harvard researchers define “cost-burdened” as paying more than 30% of income for housing. And out of this group, about 5 million of these households were severely burdened, paying over half their incomes for housing.

Listen to the podcast by clicking on the player icon at the top of this page.

Subscribe now!

This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. The most recent looks at the critical decision between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

Original Medicare, or Medicare Advantage?

This is the most basic decision you’ll make about health insurance at the point of retirement.

If you opt not to join Original Medicare at that time, you forego the preexisting condition protections offered in Medigap supplemental policies. Medicare Advantage can save you money on premiums, but Original Medicare remains the gold standard for its flexible access to providers and predictability of total costs over your lifetime.

The latest in my series of retirement guides and podcasts addresses the Original v. Advantage choice. The guide is available exclusively to paid subscribers to the newsletter; the podcast is out there for everyone to hear. My guest is one of the nation’s top experts on Medicare - Dr. Gretchen Jacobson, an associate director with the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program on Medicare Policy. Much of Gretchen’s research focuses on the Medicare Advantage program.

In our discussion, Gretchen reviews the basics on enrolling in these two Medicare options. We also review the differences in access to health providers with these two options, the trade-off on costs, and the overall plus/minus of both approaches. Listen to the podcast by clicking the player icon at the top of this page.

If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter, it’s never too late. You’ll get access to the new Medicare guide, plus guides that already are out on topics like claiming Social Security, how to hire a financial planner and aging in place. And, you’ll be doing your part to support unbiased, independent journalism.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green button below, or by visiting retirementrevised.com/enewsletter.

Chicago readers: interested in co-mentoring?

For Chicago-area readers of the newsletter - I wanted to bring to your attention Ageless Innovators, a cutting-edge program that connects successful innovators across generations and across businesses to provide reciprocal learning.

Ageless Innovators is seeking applicants for its third cohort of co-mentors; the idea is to build intergenerational community and relationships built around the value of diverse perspectives. Co-mentors in the program receive memberships to The Village Chicago and Chicago Innovation, as well as tickets to attend monthly events.

All ages are welcome to apply - the deadline for applications is end of business on Friday, November 22nd. Click here to learn more; fill out an application here.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

If you’ve listened to this podcast much, you know that I’m a big fan of fee-only financial planning. It’s the only way I know to make sure that you’re getting unbiased advice, not sales pitches for commission-based products.

For the longest time, I’ve wanted to interview my own financial planner for a story. Debbie Wise has been a leading proponent of fee-only, holistic planning for years, and we have a lot of lively, fun conversations about everything going on in the business. Debbie always has great observations and thoughts to share. So, this week she joins me on the podcast.

Debbie and I discuss:

* How my wife and I decided to hire a planner, and how we found her firm

* How our retirement plan changed after we hired Debbie

* How Wise Planning assesses new clients' retirement plans and the biggest mistakes Debbie sees clients making when they first walk through the door

* How her planning practice has evolved over time

* A few areas where we don't agree

* Who needs a financial planner - and who doesn't?

Hope you enjoy the podcast - to listen, click the player icon at the top of this page.

Next week: Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage?

Newsletter subscribers will receive the latest in my series of retirement guides next week - how to make the choice between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage?

This is the most basic decision you’ll make about health insurance at the point of retirement, and it’s an important one. Advantage plans can save you money in some cases, but Original Medicare remains the gold standard from the standpoint of flexible access to providers and predictability of total costs.

Why subscribe?

“Why do you charge for your newsletter - isn’t everything on the internet free?”

I get this question often, so I thought I’d take a minute this week to answer.

You know the old saying, “there’s no free lunch.” What’s not free when it comes to free personal finance information on the internet?

Let’s start with this: no one in the retirement and personal finance marketplace creates content just for the fun of it - there always is a commercial motive. Sometimes that’s obvious - you’ll see advertising running in a newsletter or a podcast. I don’t accept advertising for a couple reasons. First, it could create a conflict of interest for me as a journalist covering this space. If I accepted direct payment, let’s say, from a mutual fund company that I cover in articles I write for news outlets like Reuters or the New York Times - that’s a conflict, or it creates the appearance of a conflict. Beyond that, I don’t want to deliver advertising to you for financial products that I don’t think are particularly good deals for my listeners. And, there are lots of them out there. 

Sometimes the not-free lunch is more subtle. There are loads of radio and tv shows, podcasts and newsletter hosted by people positioning themselves as financial gurus. They don’t make money from their media products per se. The programs are sales vehicles aimed at bringing you in the door to trade stocks, buy annuities or worse. In many cases, the radio and tv shows air on blocks of time the hosts buy from the stations. Literally, they are advertisements - masquerading as programming.

So, doing a subscription newsletter makes it easy for me to cover what I think matters on retirement and aging, free of any possible conflicts, or the appearance of conflict. It’s not free to subscribe, but it’s not expensive. My aim is to deliver ideas, suggestions and concepts that will help improve your financial picture and retirement in ways that pay off far beyond paying a few dollars a month for the newsletter.

This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. Next week, I’ll be publishing anew guide comparing Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. For a sample, check out the recently-published guide to the cost of healthcare in retirement, featuring a podcast interview with retirement educator and actuary Steve Vernon.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

This week, the podcast takes a look at the public health problem of violence among older adults.

Violence is often portrayed in the media as a problem that affects mainly younger people. But a new study in the research journal Health Affairs shows that it’s common for violence of various kinds to affect older people. And, the problem will grow more acute in the years ahead as the population of the United States ages.

Joining me this week to talk about violence and the elderly are two of the study’s co-authors. Dr. Emmy Betz is an emergency physician at the University of Colorado Hospital. She conducts research in injury epidemiology and prevention, and has special expertise in the topic of suicide. Dr. Tony Rosen is a researcher in elder abuse and geriatric injury prevention at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a practicing Emergency Physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. 

I talked with Dr. Betz and Dr. Rosen about the most common types of violence impacting older people and the role of firearms. We also discussed strategies for violence prevention that individuals can take to protect their families and friends, and public policy that might help reduce the incidence of violence.

Listen to the podcast by clicking the player icon at the top of this page.

And, here is some further background reading on violence and older adults that I have found useful:

Unlocked And Loaded: Families Confront Dementia And Guns. As America copes with an epidemic of gun violence that kills 96 people each day, there has been vigorous debate about how to prevent people with mental illness from acquiring weapons. But a little-known problem is what to do about the vast cache of firearms in the homes of aging Americans with impaired or declining mental faculties. Kaiser Health News.

When older Americans with depression and dementia have access to firearms. A study finds that older Americans with risk factors for harming themselves or others don't seem to be any less likely to have access to firearms than anyone else their age. Pacific Standard.

Household Firearm Ownership and Storage, Suicide Risk Factors, and Memory Loss Among Older Adults. Firearm access poses a danger to older persons with cognitive impairment; their families and caregivers; visitors, such as grandchildren; and potentially others. Annals of Internal Medicine.

In Elderly Hands, Firearms Can Be Even Deadlier. About a third of Americans over age 65 own a gun, and an additional 12 percent of them live with someone who does, the Pew Research Center report. The New York Times.

Subscribe!

This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. More are in the works. For a sample, check out the recently-published guide to the cost of healthcare in retirement, featuring a podcast interview with retirement educator and actuary Steve Vernon.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

Most people enroll in Medicare when they become eligible at age 65. But you also can change your coverage each fall. Fall enrollment runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. This is your chance to switch between original fee-for-service Medicare and Medicare Advantage, the all-in-one managed care alternative to the traditional program. You also can re-shop your prescription drug coverage — whether that is a stand-alone Part D plan, or wrapped into an Advantage plan.

Joining me on the podcast this week to talk about fall enrollment is one of the most knowledgeable people in the country on Medicare. Frederic Riccardi is president of the Medicare Rights Center, an advocacy and consumer rights organization. Before taking the top job at the center earlier this year, Fred oversaw all of Medicare Rights’ client programming, including its National Consumer Helpline, which handles around 20,000 questions each year about Medicare. 

It’s a good idea to do a checkup on your coverage, even if you are happy with your current choices. Prescription drug plans often revise their lists of covered drugs and their coverage rules. If you’re enrolled in an Advantage plan, this is your opportunity to make sure your health care providers will be in your plan during the coming year, and whether a move to original Medicare might make sense for you.

Fred and I talked about why it's important to shop, how to evaluate your current coverage, the tradeoffs between traditional and Medicare Advantage and much more.

Listen to the podcast by clicking the player icon at the top of this page.

Subscribe!

This is a listener-supported project, so please consider subscribing.

The podcast is part of the subscription RetirementRevised newsletter. Subscribers have access to all the podcasts, plus my series of retirement guides on key challenges in retirement. Each guide is paired with a podcast interview with an expert on the topic; the series already covers Social Security claiming and the transition to Medicare, and how to hire a financial planner. More are in the works. For a sample, check out the recently-published guide to the cost of healthcare in retirement, featuring a podcast interview with retirement educator and actuary Steve Vernon.

You can subscribe by clicking the little green “subscribe now” link at the bottom of this page, or by visiting RetirementRevised.com. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher, I hope you’ll leave a review and comment to let me know what you think.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com

This week, subscribers to the newsletter are receiving the latest in my series of guides on key topics in retirement - aging in place.

Staying in your current home as you age can be a good option - but doing it successfully requires some careful thought and planning. What’s more, aging in place is not always realistic - issues to consider include the cost of maintaining your home, proximity to healthcare, family, recreation, leisure activities and transportation.

Deciding where to live in retirement can be a big challenge. The decision doesn’t lend itself to dispassionate analysis, because so much emotion is involved. Just as important, you’re attempting to make decisions now that depend very much on your future lifestyle, health and social environment.

“Most people have tremendous difficulty envisioning what might happen going forward,” says Dr. Stephen Golant, a gerontologist and expert on long-term care, housing, mobility and transportation for older adults. “The idea that your health might decline or that your spouse could die, or that your financial situation is going to become more tentative - these are obviously things that we should be thinking about, but it’s difficult to put ourselves into that future tense in order to plan.”

Dr. Golant is my guest on this week’s podcast. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Florida, and his latest book is called Aging in the Right Place.

In our conversation, we discuss the reasons people might want to move - but don’t in most cases. And he also thinks some new factors are emerging that will increase the odds that people will stay put.

Listen to the podcast by clicking the player icon at the top of this page.

To receive your copy of the guide, subscribe to the newsletter by clicking this link, or use the little green “subscribe now” below.

The guide series

When you subscribe, you’ll receive the weekly newsletter, plus all editions of the retirement guides. Along with the new guide to aging in place, the series already includes:

* The transition to Medicare: How to get it right. The transition to Medicare from other types of insurance is fraught with pitfalls that can be costly. Signing up for Medicare at the right time is critical, along with understanding when the program’s coverage is primary. Getting this wrong can lead to costly lifetime late enrollment penalties on Part B premiums, and lengthy gaps in your insurance coverage. Featuring a podcast interview with Joe Baker, recently-retired president of the Medicare Rights Center.

* How to hire a financial advisor. Why hiring an advisor can improve your retirement - if you hire the right kind. And that means hiring a fiduciary. Featuring a podcast interview with Sheryl Garrett, a certified financial planner and a pioneer in the movement to provide everyday Americans with unbiased financial advice.

* Timing your Social Security claim. Social Security is the most important retirement benefit for most Americans - full stop. That is true for low- and middle-income people, and for more affluent households. In this guide, I explore how your benefit is calculated and strategies for getting the most income from the program. Featuring a podcast interview with journalist and Social Security expert Mary Beth Franklin.

* The cost of healthcare in retirement. Surveys show that many Americans worry that healthcare costs will consumer a large portion of their resources. One reason is that we are exposed to a steady stream of news headlines with daunting forecasts of what you will need to spend over the course of your entire retirement. But these forecasts can be misleading, since you won’t be spending these big sums all at once. The more important questions: What are the outsize risks that could upset your retirement plan? And, what can you do to mitigate those risks? Featuring a podcast interview with retirement educator Steve Vernon.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit retirementrevised.substack.com