Rock Your Retirement Show

When Robin retired, she knew she wanted to explore new fields and expand her horizons. She came across an opportunity to volunteer with troubled youth.

You've probably never heard of an “Independent Visitor For Youth Justice”.  Henry certainly hadn't before this show.  But Robin decided to take on that responsibility when she retired.

When Henry went to interview Robin Turnbridge, they were initially going to discuss downsizing. Robin decided she would rather discuss her experience with Juvenile Justice and it became a wonderful topic of discussion.

Robin intuitively knew that it was important to replace the routine of her working life with meaningful activity.

Once a month, she goes to a Youth Justice Facility which are for teens who have committed serious crimes and are in custody. Robin goes into greater detail in the interview, but they talk with the teens, check in on them, and sometimes act as an advocate for the teens. Robin explains how she found this new role, what it entails, and why she loves it.  She has transitioned the experiences of her working life to use them in a different arena.  Brilliant!

Henry and Robin also discuss:

* What Robin did before retirement

* How she planned for her retirement and what she thought she would be doing in retirement

* Her Retirement Party (or farewell as they call it in Australia) which she says is very important

* Other things she has been doing since her retirement besides working with troubled youth

If you listen carefully, you'll appreciate that this kind-hearted woman's first priority is her family, and her second priority is her role giving to society through her involvement in juvenile justice.

Leave a comment in the box below and let us know if there are avenues other than prison to try and rehabilitate troubled youth, or if you think that is an impossible dream.

Special Thanks to:

* Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track…and helps with these show notes!

* Les Briney, my husband, and Danny Ozment of Emerald City Pro who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific

* Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

* YOU for telling your friends about the show, leaving comments below and sharing episodes you really like on Facebook, and reviewing the show on iTunes

This post about retirement and Retirement Lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com

Caregiving is relentless. It is exhausting beyond belief and caregivers need a break. Adult Day Programs (AKA Adult Day Care) are a way for people to get a break.  They can drop their loved one off in a safe environment.

I spoke with Lisa Tyburski from The Glenner Centers which offers Adult Day Programs AKA Adult Daycare Center from their 3 locations in San Diego. Lisa shared with me the powerful story about how The Glenner started. It was founded in 1982 by Dr. Glenner and his wife Joy. Dr. Glenner was a researcher at the UCSD school of medicine. He was working to advance research in the Alzheimer’s field. One night around midnight, he and his wife Joy received a phone call from the husband of one of Dr. Glenner’s Alzheimers patients. The husband, who had been a caregiver to his wife was frantic. He was absolutely at the end of his rope and he had a loaded gun in his hand. He was going to murder his wife and commit suicide. Dr. Glenner knew he needed to come up with a solution to help the caregivers.

You can go to work, run errands, take a nap, or whatever you need to do to tend to the other areas of your life.  You know that your loved one is being taken care of.

The Glenner Centers provides brain-stimulating activities. This can also help with sundowner's syndrome in the evenings.  Some of these activities include:

* Singing and music

* Listening to and discussing current events

* Animals brought in from the Humane Society

* Socializing

I had NO idea these places existed and I had to learn more.

Have a care giver?  No problem, you can still use Adult Day Programs (AKA Adult Day Care).

Things Lisa says you should look for when looking into an Adult Day Programs (AKA Adult Day Care):

* Do they specialize in dementia if your loved one has dementia?

* What is the staff to participant ratio?

* How many total participants in the center on any given day. You may want to look for a smaller center for more personalized experience

* Do they have a nurse on staff and ask if they can manage medications?

If you would like to contact Lisa or The Glenner Centers you can email [email protected] or [email protected] and the website is www.glenner.org

The freebie for this episode is ABC's of Dementia which you can get by going to http://RockYourRetirement.com/abc

Special Thanks to:

* Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track…and helps with these show notes!

* Les Briney, my husband, and Danny Ozment of Emerald City Pro who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific

* Lesinda Tubalado who helps keep the website up to date

* Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

* YOU for telling your friends about the show, leaving comments below, and sharing episodes you really like on Facebook.

This post on Retirement Lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com

Alison Smith started looking into her family heritage and found some surprises.

By doing some genealogy research she found out that one of her relatives was a bit of a ruffian way back, and another surprise was the amazing amount of information which is now readily available online.

In days gone by you would have to write to get access to birth certificates, or copies of newspaper articles.  Now a couple of mouse clicks may get that information needed to find one's family heritage.

In this show Alison and Henry talk about her motivation for delving into the family background, how she went about it, and the resources she has found useful for locating information.

This is called “Geneology” and seems to be all the rage, all around the world, not just in Australia.

Alison talks about a couple of ways you can go about finding your family tree.  Some people want to find out about where their ancestors came from, and a little about their lives.  Others concentrate on just one or two family members, perhaps for the purpose of writing about them, or just for interest.  Both approaches can become equally addictive once you get in to the detective work.

In Any regard, delving into one's family heritage can be fun, and very informative as well.

Below are some of the resources mentioned in the podcast :

* The stories of older living relatives.

* Old photographs.

* Local libraries.

* Historical societies and genealogical societies.

* Cemeteries and gravestones.

* History books of the period to provide context to the search.

* The internet.

Two sites Alison finds helpful are:

* www.trove.nla.gov.au  is part of the National Library, has a massive archive of Australian newspapers.

* www.ancestry.com.au can connect you to information and people from all round the world.

Do you have resources we don't have listed here?  Leave us a comment below if you have other resources which would be useful for people starting the search.  It would be very helpful!

Special Thanks to:

* Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track…and helps with these show notes!

* Les Briney, my husband, and Danny Ozment of Emerald City Pro who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific

* Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

* YOU for telling your friends about the show, leaving comments below, and sharing episodes you really like on Facebook, and reviewing the show on iTunes

This post about retirement and Retirement Lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com

You can attend a class from your living room and ask the professor questions!

As I was interviewing these two, I said to myself, “OMG The Best Adult Learning EVER!”

First a little about these two amazing ladies: Ellen Ervin and Lynne Beachner 

As the former Director of WeMet Distance Learning Consortium, Ellen has worked in all aspects of technology.  Her passion is distance learning because she sees the power in helping organizations and people make connections around the world.

Lynne has worked in education throughout her career in grades K-16 as a teacher/professor, a coordinator of instruction, a principal and an executive director.  She loves the curriculum and instruction side to education because that is where you engage students and create lifelong learners.  She received her Ph.D. from Kansas State University.

Together Ellen and Lynne believe that it is just a matter of time until the world opens up to individuals communicating on a daily basis with museums, archives, health centers, historical societies, community and other groups both locally and internationally in an effort to continue learning and cooperate in projects that will help others. They want to do their part in supporting the inevitable.  The two of them formed the Senior Learning Network, providing interactive learning to senior centers and retirement communities.  Additionally, they have also formed Generations Learning, providing lifelong learning to individuals within their homes.

We talked about their project and I learned:

*

How they started the organization over a cup of coffee and a cookie at Panera

* A non-profit 501(c)3 organization that can accept donations

*

Why it's so cool:

* You can Follow photographers on their journeys through a walk in a park, down a canal in Venice, or on-site at a volcanic eruption

* The teacher can show you artifacts or other things via the conferencing

* YOU can listen, see, and ask questions in REAL TIME

* Technology is similar to SKYPE, the moderator can see who is in the conference

* If you have a large group, you can break up into small groups and have a small group discussion. Each person in the conference can have time to speak.

* To join the class, all you have to do is click on a link. Then you can see and talk to the person or persons on the other line.

* Not sure if the tech will work?  Test it before the meeting if you’d like.

* Don't want to be seen?  You can also turn your camera off if you don’t want others to see you.

* You can make remarkable friendships all across the United States by attending the workshops.

* No limit to location (i.e. they have had programs in Japan and Australia that went across the date line)  They even had an UNDERWATER DIVER conduct the class!  Uh…OMG the best adult learning EVER!

* Many of their programs have been developed for students (K-12) but have been adapted for older adults.

*

How it works:

* Provide educational video conferences from museums, presidential libraries, national parks businesses and individuals

* We discussed the current (2017) fees for the program $40 per month for a senior center, unlimited programing

* How you can get a free pilot

*

How it helps seniors

* Create a lifeline for disabled and older adults in senior centers or those aging in place who feel disenfranchised from society.

* Harness the talents of retired adults who can share interesting life stories, skills or talents

* Provide well-rounded programming on health education, wellness, prevention, and care.

* Provide support for business development and mentoring for those who want to reinvent themselves.

* Create safe places where individuals can talk to one another to give and get emotional ...

Henry interviews Ted Goodacre about his Retirement Lifestyle, which has a lot to do with Lawn Bowling:

Listen to the show to learn how this natural entrepreneur took a wrong turn going home and it changed his life.  Ted tells us about intricacies of lawn bowling and how anyone with a bit of drive can create a lasting legacy.

Ted is the last active foundation member of the Lismore Bowls Club, and in recent years has taken on the job of green-keeper.   He takes the game very seriously and is highly competitive.  In this interview he describes the game, the rules and traditions, the type of people involved, and strongly asserts that there are no performance enhancing drugs involved in the sport!

Like many activities, we suspect lawn bowling becomes more and more addictive the longer you are involved.  It is a game which:

* Can be just for fun and socialization

* Bowlers can aim for the pennant competition

* Doesn't take a lot of money to get started

* Women and men of all ages and abilities can play, even those with minor disabilities.

If you think this is a sport which might interest you he recommends visiting a local club.  Chat with the members and see if its for you.

* Henry searched “lawn bowls clubs Victoria” onand found http://www.getagameofbowls.com/clubsearch.php?   The same site also lists the clubs in the other Australian States.

* Kathe searched “Lawn Bowling San Diego” and found http://www.sandiegolawnbowling.org/

Henry and Ted also spoke about the Lions Club.  This is an international service club open to both men and women.  Henry knows that his local Lions' become involved in some excellent projects.  These ranged from providing specialist walking frames for disabled children, to cleaning up the roadsides of major highways.  In San Diego, CA, the Lions Clubs give free eyeglasses to children every year

You can find Lions Clubs worldwide at:  https://directory.lionsclubs.org/

Special Thanks to:

* Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track

* Les Briney who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific

* Lesinda Tubalado who helps keep the website up to date

* Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

* YOU the listener for sharing on social media, and telling your friends about it

This post on Retirement Lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com

Michael’s mother had a stroke and could no longer care for herself, so Michael became her caregiver.

He discovered the constant need to repeat care giving information to various caregivers so he ended up carrying a binder with him that contained his parent's medical documents. During this period Michael’s company hired an Elder Family Resource person to help manage the complexities of her care.

James, a longtime friend of Micheal’s, had a similar experience. His father developed sudden onset Parkinson's after his mother passed away and so couldn’t care for himself. James lived far away, but his sisters lived near his dad. As his dad’s needs increased, it became increasingly difficult to manage the household and care giving information between siblings.

Michael and James talked about their respective care giving challenges and the need for a way to store and share critical documents became obvious. This led to their forming ElderAdmin to fulfill this very important need.

This service stores images of their documents, and you can access it anywhere!  OK…anywhere Internet can be accessed.

Whether you use their program or not, you'll need access to documents.  Some of the critical documents that are needed for care giving are:

• Advanced Healthcare Directive

• Power of Attorney

• Will or Trust

• Estate Planning Documents

• List of Medications

• Health Status

• Insurance Documents

• Financial Account Statements

ElderAdmin can help take the headache out of keeping track of your parent's medical documents:

It is a membership plan that can be accessed via computer, tablet, or smartphone. There is a free service is for individuals.  If you need more than one person to be able to access the info, then you can get that for $9.50 per month (as of 3/2017) for unlimited access and storage.

One of the great features of ElderAdmin is in the area of security. Whoever posts the document has ultimate control over who can and who can’t access particular sections containing information. Encryption with unique IDs and passwords protect your parent's medical documents.

Today's Freebie is The Important Documents Checklist, and it can be found at http://RockYourRetirement.com/documents

Website: www.ElderAdmin.com  Phone: 844-350-4582  Email: [email protected]

Special Thanks to:

* Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track

* Les Briney, my husband, and Danny Ozment of Emerald City Pro who edit the show and makes me and my guests sound terrific

* Lesinda Tubalado who helps keep the website up to date

* Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

* YOU the listener for sharing on social media, and telling your friends about it

This post on Retirement Lifestyle first appeared on http://RockYourRetirement.com

*******************************************************************************

A little on their backgrounds:

Michael Blevins

Managing Director and Co-founder, Michael Blevins knows from personal experience the need for ElderAdmin's unique services. Ongoing care for a mom afflicted with dementia led to his knowledge in the ever-changing health care procedures and programs, which makes him especially sensitive to ElderAdmin member needs. With over 32 years' experience in performance management with nationally recognized financial institutions, including 10 years with a Fortune 500 company, Michael has the qualifications to oversee the operation of ElderAdmin.

Today Henry interviewed Rosemary Savage, a retiree who tells us what its like to volunteer for Meals on Wheels in Retirement:

Henry found out that Rosemary and her husband were a regular couple who raised a large family. They looked forward to traveling and also helping others.  Rosemary's husband Keith passed away, but they had discussed the fact that he wanted to volunteer.  He found that he wanted to volunteer for Meals on Wheels in Retirement.

* Meals on Wheels is an international organization which involves delivering meals to elderly or incapacitated people in your own

* Community.  Even though Keith is no longer with her, Rosemary continues “meals on wheels” with the help of her daughters, not because she feels obligated, but because she loves it.

* You can volunteer around your travel plans.

* Let your basic humanity shine through.  Henry was impressed by Rosemary's humble nature and her humanity certainly shined through.

* By being a volunteer for Meals on Wheels you can help your neighbors and give your own life purpose and meaning.

Because Keith and Rosemary planned for their retirement financial, they were able to travel the world.  They drove with a caravan (RV in the USA) to almost every part of Australia and loved it.  They also made lasting friendships along the road.  If you are interested in caravaning (RVing for US based people), listen to the episode on RVing or Read MORE here.

Get Today’s Freebie, Five Steps to Living in an RV (Caravan) full-time, at http://RockYourRetirement.com/RV

To learn more about Meals on Wheels, find your location below and click on the link.

* Australia Meals on Wheels: http://mealsonwheels.org.au/

* USA Meals on Wheels:   http://www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/

* San Diego, CA Meals on Wheels:  http://www.meals-on-wheels.org/

 Special Thanks to:

• Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track

• Les Briney who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific

• Lesinda Tubalado who helps keep the website up to date

• Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

• YOU the listener for sharing on social media and telling your friends about it

So many people in my life in 2016 were grieving it's difficult to track them all.

Some of them lost a family member.  Some lost a pet.  And some were grieving over their lost candidate after the election. One of the things that most of us have to deal with in retirement is grief – either our own or someone else's.  What do you say to someone who's grieving?  That's exactly what I asked Natalia Volz and the answer may surprise you.

Natalia Volz is the founder of Passing Through Grief and the RELIEF Process.

She helps individuals who feel lost and down after experiencing a significant loss or change in their life such as a death, divorce, or children leaving home to heal their pain so they can rebuild their life and find renewed purpose.

She has first hand experience with loss and grief.  In 2010, after a two-year battle with cancer, her husband died at the age of 49. Lost, alone, and very frightened, she eventually found her way through the devastating pain of loss and grief.

There is a lack of understanding and a fear in our culture about loss and grief, and she found herself struggling to find help to get through. She worked diligently to move beyond her own grief and on to living happily and purposefully.   Natalia read every book she could get my hands on, took courses on the subject, and completed grief recovery certification training, and in the process became passionate about making a difference in the way our society deals with loss, change and grief.

It's easy to tell that she feels passionate about getting out accurate information on a subject we normally avoid but all have to confront first hand at some point in our lives.

I asked Natalia, “What do you say?”  I know that I'm always at a loss for words when I'm confronted with someone who is grieving, because I know that nothing I say or do is going to bring their wholeness back. She had a very interesting answer:   Be a heart with ears.

For the person who is grieving, she said that time does not heal all wounds.  The person suffering a loss needs to talk about it.  Keeping busy does not heal. So what do you say to someone who's grieving?

Natalia gave us some steps to take to help with our own grief:

* Find a place to talk about the feelings of loss.

* Write about your feelings about the loss.

* Connect with others.  See if there is one friend who will listen to how you are feeling.  Tell them you just need to talk, and to have them listen.

* Say it or write it while you are feeling the emotion.

* Grief causes a lot of energy.  Move through it through your body. Don't stuff it.  Take a walk if you can.

* Listen to music that makes you cry. Get your tears out.  Crying releases a stress hormone that actually helps you release the stress.  Don't worry, you can't cry forever.  Normally it takes about 15 minutes and then you feel better.

* Writing really helps with the relief process.

So what do you say to someone who's grieving?  For dealing with others, remember you can't fix it so don't even try.  Be a heart with ears.  If your friend is telling you about some guilt that they might feel, don't discount it by saying “He knew you loved him”, instead say something like, “I can imagine that would be really painful.  I can't imagine what that would feel like.  Tell me more”.

Natalia gave us some excellent advice, but unfortunately my internet went out right when we were wrapping up the show.  I hope to have her come back someday because what she had to say was so valuable.  The good news is that we were wrapping up, about to give out her contact information, which we have below.

If you'd like to contact Natalia, you can reach her at 877-606-0909 or [email protected]

Her website is http://Pa...

Bird watching in Retirement? Henry interviews Philip Jackson about Bird Watching in Retirement. 

Phillip is an avid bird watcher (also known as “twitcher” in Australia).  He planned to pursue that interest when he retired from teaching.

Phillip has actually retired twice.  Henry said he liked it so much he had to do it again.  Listen to the episode to find out how.

Henry talked with him about how he managed his two retirements, how he supplements his income, and why he supplements his income now he has left full time work.

But what Phillip really likes to do is bird watching in retirement.  Henry and Phillip talked about it and they discussed his retirement lifestyle:

* Anyone can enjoy bird watching.  Novices can enjoy it as much as experienced people.

* It is truly an activity for all ages, sexes and variety of people.  It doesn't matter if you are athletic, male or female.  The birds are there for everyone to enjoy.

* Philip introduced us to the resources he uses to locate specific species, and the cataloging which he enjoys.  Of course cataloging is not mandatory to the hobby.

* Bird watching is compatible with a great number of other activities which birders often run simultaneously.  For example, camping and photography are the two obvious ones, but some people come to the hobby from simply keeping a couple of pet budgies (parakeets) and developing the interest from there.  Some people start simply by gazing out their window at their bird feeder.

Philip recommended a book for people interested in Australian history, but he couldn't quite remember the title.  Henry found it:  ‘Lost Relations: Fortunes Of My Family In Australia's Golden Age' by Graeme Hewett, published by Allen & Unwin.

Other Books that were mentioned in the interview include:

* ‘The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia' by Graeme Pizzey and Frank Knight

* ‘Field Guide to Australian Birds' by Michael Morecombe

Special Thanks to:

* Angie Strehlow who helps us get great guests that help us with our retirement lifestyle while keeping everything on track

* Les Briney who edits the show and makes my guests and me sound terrific

* Lesinda Tubalado who helps keep the website up to date

* Henry Shapiro, host of Retired Excited that airs on Fridays

* YOU the listener for sharing on social media, and telling your friends about it

Today's episode with Chris Cooper was value packed!

If you are currently a family caregiver, or about to become a family caregiver, you need to know about Fiduciaries, and what they do.

A Fiduciary is responsible for the following:

* Medical

* Psychological

* Social

* Environmental

* Legal

* Financial

What you might not realize is that Family Members are also responsible for those same areas.  Many family members don't realize that they are responsible for all six areas, and tend to only focus on legal and medical issues.

Chris explains that the problems are not necessarily in areas #1 and #5, but are often in the other four areas.  For example, people with Alzheimers often have depth perception issues, something which we don't normally think about.  Their living space can be an environmental hazard.  (See Episode 34 for tips).

Many of the issues that baby boomers need to think about are alien to us, because we don't think about these things.  Some of the problems arise when a family member is assigned the task of taking care of mom or dad, and the family doesn't agree. This is where a Fiduciary comes in.

Fiduciaries are trained to work with all six areas. Unlike family members, they've received training.

Children are often not prepared to do all of these things.  We have our own lives to live.  We have our own stresses.  When a family member needs help, we get thrown into the pool, and get our “baptism by fire”.  We don't often realize that our parent needs to be seen as an adult. We need to let them live their lives in dignity, and then we can live their lives in peace.  Is it right for the children to sacrifice their lives for their aging parents?

Licensed Fiduciaries come from all walks of life.  Its many times “the Third Career”.  Many are in their late fifteens and sixties.  The median age is 58, but many are in their seventies.  Their backgrounds are varied, but they have a common bond.  They want to help protect seniors.

Chris said that sometimes abusers are a family member, but sometimes they are professionals (like financial advisers or caregivers).

Having a Fiduciary can help protect your family member.  Many of these professionals are not trying to harm their clients, but they “don't know what they don't know”.  Many are ignorant.  They do not know what is in the best interest of their client now that their client's capacity has diminished.

* Where is mom to live?

* Can you uproot her without harming her?

* How does the family get along?

* Is there a neighbor bringing donuts to mom, who is a diabetic?

* Do you need a guardianship?

* How can you reduce expense?

* Do you need an attorney?

* How can you keep your privacy?

* Is Lindsay Lohan's information public because she is being “conserved”?,

* Can we take lessons from the past, and plan for our own retirement lifestyle?

Who needs a Fiduciary?

* Alzheimer's Patients

* Disabled Adults and Children

* Middle Class

* Wealthy

* People who need Long Term Care

* Caregivers who are having issues within their own families due to the stress of caregiving

* Family members who don't agree on care options

Public sources might pay for services that a fiduciary recommends.  For example, Medicare might pay for family counseling.    The fiduciary can take a look at what is available under public services such as Veteran's Benefits, Medicaid or Medi-Cal, or other programs.