As the first Baby Boomers start to hit 60, they’re radically reshaping society’s notions of how “older adults” are supposed to act. Instead of sitting at home with a nice cup of cocoa and the cat, they’re travelling, dating, and refusing to relinquish their youth. Today’s older generation enjoys good health and a vitality that would have been unthinkable just a generation ago.

If you feel young, look young, and have just as much energy at 60 as you did at 40, then why shouldn’t you do what you want, when you want? The post-war generation is used to economic, political, and social power. And they’re not about to let something like mere chronological age slow them down. As proof of this, it’s been revealed that the fastest growing demographic of people using online dating sites are the over-40s. These days, with divorce common, and many of us choosing not to marry in the first place, being single after 40, 50 or 60 is not the stigma it once was. But social life is still great fun, no matter what your age, and thus the “senior dating site” business is booming.

Never before has such a large cross-section of society held so much economic clout, or had so many options when it comes to exercising that clout. So have marketers finally wised up to the untapped potential of the more mature market? It would seem so. Feeling a bit tired? Just pop a pill. Viagra, Botox, and HRT are there to boost youth and vigour when nature starts to let boomers down.

There’s never been a better time to be a 40, 50, 60 or 70-something. Life today is all about options. You can sit at home with the cat and the cocoa, should you choose. After all, you’ll need a night off from salsa class, karaoke, internet dating, rock climbing, and studying for your part-time MBA.

Welcome to aging in the 21st century.

Alison Braidwood is a contributing writer for Senior Dating Site Review - a light-hearted romance resource for singles over 40. Visit us for senior dating site reviews, dating tips and hints and general frivolity. We’re over 40, but not over the hill!

We often hear in Marketing circles the phrase “the Lifetime Value of a Customer or Client”. It is a well known fact, or is it? that one should be structuring your Business to take advantage of this lifetime aspect of creating a Client or Customer. But what about friends? Don’t they deserve some attention?

Of course, until you have been in business for a while, running yourself ragged in the process of trying to reach new clients, it’s not immediately obvious just how important the lifetime value might be. The lifetime value of a friend is incalculable.

The trap of continually chasing new business at the expense of existing clients is an easy one to fall into and clearly one can delude oneself into thinking that you can’t work any harder than you are already doing. This “can’t work any harder” syndrome can actually be rather comforting, especially if you are getting the odd client here and there and business is ticking over. Everything must be going right you tell yourself.

“Build it and They will Come” used to be the War Cry for aspiring Web Site hopefuls until having built a web site and getting traffic that could be counted on one hand proves that this mantra is worthless.

Unless you nurture a business or a friendship it will shrivel and die and you will only have yourself to blame. Keeping in touch with Clients or Friends requires effort but in this day and age of speed of light communication via the Internet and inexpensive Air Travel there really isn’t any valid excuse for letting go of the most valuable resource any human possesses.

The ability of everyone with a computer and an Internet connection to encompass the Globe in seconds is well documented but yet we still find excuses not to send that letter sorry E- Mail or to write that follow up message to clients in an Autoresponder.

I suppose cultivating a solid friendship or business relationship from an early stage is both easy and difficult at the same time. While you are at School, friendships can develop and grow. You are seeing and meeting friends on a daily basis. In your own neighbourhood friendships can blossom .That is until your family moves away or your friends do likewise.

There is really no difference when considering a Business relationship. Clients move… Clients move on …Clients grow… Clients change their focus and they become exposed to other service providers and purchase from them rather than you. It’s quite often not that they mistrust you but purchasing decisions sometimes are made on the spur of the moment and if you are not top of the Rolodex listings then you don’t get the sale. Hey you don’t even get a chance to quote!

In today’s climate of instant gratification particularly on the Internet, you need to be much sharper if you are going to benefit from a longer term relationship.
Stepping back from the day to day humdrum of chasing new business and putting in a system for tracking existing Clients and their possible needs is a worthwhile exercise and will repay exponentially if properly monitored. You might even come up with a groundbreaking new idea that can not only turn an ailing business around but launch you to the Stratosphere in your niche.

Keeping in touch with friends has never been easier and again requires a little organisation and a regular contact. An annual newsletter of your activities during the year sent by snail mail or e mail is perhaps the minimum required in order not to lose touch.
Christmas time is a good time of year to do this. Even a simple Christmas card can work wonders and we all know the thrill of receiving a letter or card from a long lost friend. It can make your Day.

This Author is just a few weeks away from attending the 50 th Anniversary of the founding of his school where he, along with 55 other little scruffy adolescents(the boys that is !) it was a mixed School, spent the first year in three prefabricated shacks while the school was being built.

On that first day at De Burgh School in Tadworth, Surrey, U.K. in September 1957 friendships were made that endure to this day. The value of these friendships is priceless beyond belief and despite most of us living in many different locations around the Globe and not seeing each other that often, it is as though the last fifty years never happened when we meet face to face.

Put a lifetime value on early friendships and existing clients and reap the rewards well into the future.

Lost touch with friends from the past? Then write an article and post it on your blog or an Article Directory and you may be surprised at the outcome.

Robin Piggott is a Driving Instructor in Ireland who brings four decades of experience to his Astral Driving School based in Limerick. His web site can be found at http://www.astraldrivingschool.ie and is an attempt to reach out to more Learner Drivers than can possibly be accomodated in his local area.

Here you can find a treasure trove of everything for the Learner Driver from getting a Provisional Licence to Motorway Techniques to Reasons for Failing the Driving Test . Pick up a free seven part mini course“Passing the Driving Test First Time” and stack the cards in your favour.

OK. So we’ve all heard about how our generation is gonna make the social security system go bust. Forget about the fact that we’ve been getting our pockets picked since we saw our first pathetic paychecks from that crummy teenage job all those years ago. When we stared at it in adolescent dismay and squeaked out something like … “Ah, gee – Mr. Smith, what’s all this stuff that got taken out of my pay?”

It was then that we were explained to in paternal tones, that after Big Brother (the Government – City, Sate and Federal) got through picking our pockets, they came back for one more round with a little doozy called; Social Security. An interesting little shell game that we’ve all come to find out is neither very social nor secure.

I know we’ve all heard this before, but the not so subtle message - that we better put our hands back in our pockets if we expect to collect what SS is due to us, has been becoming a lot more ominous as of late.

Have you noticed for instance that the retirement age for us – The Baby Boomers – keeps moving forward; 62, 63 64, 65 – 67…! It’s kinda’ like that mechanical rabbit at the Dog Track. You know the one that they use to keep the dogs running at top speed. And the poor old mutts never seem to catch on that the faster they go, the faster the rabbit runs to keep just tantalizingly ahead of them. Just like SS, where as we approach the current retirement age, it moves tantalizingly ahead – just barely out of our reach. Just like the dogs and the rabbit.

Now the message has begun to alter slightly. “Hey Boomers – forget about that measly little SS check. Just stay on and work at those lucrative big-time, high-stress jobs that you’ve been over achieving in since you were in your twenties. Yes sir and yes ma’am – that’ll work out just fine for your friendly helpful government, ‘cause if you do it will mean that…”

a.) You won’t ask for the Social Security (that we don’t have to pay you) and;
b.) You’ll keep making ‘big bucks’ that will enable you to buy cars, boats and second homes for retirement (that you’ll never get to actual retire in but it will make the housing and condo markets happy) and you’ll be able to keep the economy humming along as well as;
c.) You’ll be able to continue to pay lots and lots and lots more City, State and Local taxes. And best of all;
d.) You’ll continue to pay into Social Security instead of collecting from it! (which will make your friends in the government much happier at not having to break the bad news to you that they’re spending it faster than you make it.!)

Well whew! Now that you put it that way, that sounds a lot better to me. You know, pay in instead of collect. Yes indeed, a whole lot fairer.
Plus if we take the governments obviously well meant advice, then we get to keep working at the ‘fun’ jobs we’ve been plugging away at for the 20, 30 or 40 years!

Cool. Just a couple of quick questions for the friendly, ‘man from the government who’s here to help’. You have cleared all of this with our employers, right? I mean they’re all on board with us sticking around the job until we’re into our nineties – right?
Perhaps we could be issued with government subsidized Depends and Metamucil to keep us at our desks longer.

On the other hand there is the little matter of those pesky younger generations who are already beginning to make unpleasant noises, saying things like, “Why don’t you guys retire and get the ‘bleep’ outta here so that we can move up to better jobs!”
And if that one doesn’t move you, then how about this. “Hey if you don’t retire, then we’re never gonna get those better jobs with the big bucks which also means that we’ll have to keep living in your basement which will mean that you’ll have to continue working to support us … Forever!”

Instead lets remember that we were the generation of ‘Protest’! The generation that The Who spoke for when they sang, “We’re not gonna take it!”

So remember that the next time the friendly government man tells you what fun it will be to keep laboring away at the same old popsicle stand all through your ‘Golden Years.’
Tell him you want that crummy little check that you’ve been bustin’ a hump for all these years. And that you’re gonna take it and go bird watching, or fly fishing or back packing in the rain forest. And when you stuff the measly little thing into your pocket and amble off to ‘do your own thing’, just keep on whistling that cool old anthem of our generation … “we’re not gonna take it!”

Ric Wasley - Author

Shadow of Innocence - Kunati - April 2007

Acid Test - Fall 2004

http://www.kunati.com/shadow-of-innocence-hip-myster/

Ric Wasley has spent almost forty years wandering through corporate board - rooms and honky-tonk bars. He now divides his time between writing mystery novels – Shadow of Innocence & Acid Test - McCarthy Family Mysteries – and observing the really ‘juicy parts’ of the human condition

New from Kunati Publishing: SHADOW OF INNOCENCE - The Newport Folk Festival - The Newport Folk Festival provides a groovy backdrop for this fun and exciting mystery set in the music and drug soaked sixties. The Baby Boomers and everyone else are sure to enjoy this appealing mystery featuring a pair of musician partners in love and danger. Don’t miss Shadow of Innocence! From Kunati Publishing. Available now at: http://www.amazon.com

As a Baby Boomer, are you in agreement with the results of an American Association of Retired Persons’ position paper - that the definition of work in retirement will be uniquely yours? Fully 80% of those who responded to the survey expect to continue some type of work after they reach retirement age.

Many women don’t have control over the decision regarding changes in their work situation. They may be faced, unexpectedly, with the loss of a job or a business. Or, out of financial necessity, they have no choice but to continue supporting themselves and their families. In addition, the aftermath of 9/11 and the economic downturn drove women into the workforce who otherwise would have reduced their workload or retired completely.

The recent New Face of Work Survey, conducted by the Princeton Survey Research Associates International, found that the majority of their interviewees had an interest in post retirement careers that help others. Over 70% of the women in their 50’s agreed that “It is very important that a job in retirement gives a sense of purpose,” and allows them to stay involved with other people. The shift to a “working retirement” is definitely a baby boomer phenomenon.

Maxine, a school social worker, gradually realized that she had many options and the luxury of deciding how she wanted to spend the rest of her life. Two of her daughters were having babies at opposite ends of the continent. She wanted to be able to spend time with them after the births and to be with the grandchildren as they grew. Her third daughter also lived away and was embarking on a new career. All in all she intended to be more mobile and accessible to her family.

“After quitting my job of 30 years, I was often asked how I was enjoying my retirement. My reply was always: Are they talking to me, what’s retirement?

Here’s the reality. I spend a lot of time in airports. I stay in my pajamas until after 10:00 a.m. on many weekday mornings. I’ve become more actively involved in both urban renewal and heritage aspects of my city. I sit on a hospital board and am learning more about the healthcare system. I have become involved again in local politics and helped an old friend get elected. I’ve been to lunch with friends four times and knitted 1 1/2 baby sweaters.

I still have not met my husband for lunch in the middle of the week, cleaned out my drawers, put photos in albums, exercised regularly, mastered the computer or the game of bridge, read enough books, or browsed the many corners of the city that I promised myself I would.

So, where am I now? I’m still very much in the process of learning what retirement means to me.”

Whether you’re beginning to play with the idea of retirement or the gold watch presentation is just around the corner, here are some tips for you:

1. Approach this stage of life with humor. Maxine’s rhetorical questions are examples of how not to take yourself too seriously. This is a major life change and yet a positive attitude will enhance your transition and the experiences that follow.

2. Be aware of your motivation. Being able to reflect and evaluate are valuable skills. Hone them, and discover what is driving you and what you want at this point in your life. Do you want to focus on volunteering, working in a different way, taking better care of your body, or spending more time with family and friends? Make choices for reasons that are right for you.

3. Much ado about all or nothing. Perhaps leaving your job, at this time, is not feasible for emotional or financial reasons. Look for ways to satisfy some of your unmet needs while still working. This is also good preparation for when that change does occur.

4. Go with the flow. Recognize and accept that any transition involves a process of change. Follow your dream yet don’t automatically say no to anything. Be willing to open your heart and explore all possibilities.

5. Make a list but don’t check it twice. We all have a myriad of wishes that have not come true because life sometimes has a way of intervening. Be patient with yourself and the situation if you have to change course. At this stage of life, anything can happen.

Now is a chance like never before. And balance can be the key to unlocking the “good life.” How would you create your own sense of equilibrium? Think about being involved in community service and pleasuring yourself. Plan to have a purpose and to have fun. Find ways to be productive and playful. Enjoy the magic of the seesaw.

© 2007, Her Mentor Center

Phyllis Goldberg, Ph.D. & Rosemary Lichtman, Ph.D. are co-founders of http://www.HermentorCenter.com a website for midlife women and http://www.NourishingRelationships.Blogspot.com a blog for the Sandwich Generation. They are authors of a forthcoming book about Baby Boomers’ family relationships and publish a free newsletter, Stepping Stones, through their website. As psychotherapists, they have over 40 years of collective private practice experience.

Blogging Betty Boomer was created by artist, Ray Horner Jr.to characterize the many blogging boomers who may not realize their full impact on the blogging world. She is so busy creating and sharing ideas that she is not fully tapping into her richness as a blogger who happens to be a boomer.

Yet many boomers do not blog because they feel it is for “young folks. They shy away from the computer and the social marketing power of the internet for their business or non-profit interests.

Blogging Betty Boomer is a woman who is so involved in her mission and reasons for blogging that she does not focus on the mental limitations that many other boomers may allow themselves to experience. She has chosen not to sabotage her efforts by telling herself she is too old. She will learn as she goes and share her frustrations and sometimes steep learning curves but she will not stop.

Why Does Blogging Betty Blog?

The reasons why Blogging Betty Boomer blogs can include the following:

Before you start blogging decide on WHY YOU ARE BLOGGING! What is your objective? There are so many reasons why people blog. Some of them I have run across are listed below.

* To be seen as an expert in her niche by current and potential customers.

* To systematically write a book or booklet with a series of postings

* To rant about issues.

* To be the “go to person” for the latest updates. (For example, news commentaries, reviews on books and movies, etc)

* To provide a platform for others to discuss common interests.

* To share information gained on a new area of interest.

* To earn money via ads, affiliates, product sales, memberships, coaching,etc

* To direct traffic to a static website.

* Because non-boomers are blogging she does want to be left out.

Think about what you could blog about. Your name may not be Betty it could be Ben but you still have a lot to say especially if you are a baby boomer. If you are already blogging. Appreciate and strut your stuff. You have so much to share and a lot to say. Help someone else with your expertise and experience.

Rosie Horner
http://www.bloggingforboomers.com
Learn how art tips
http://www.hornerartworkshop.com

All Rights Reserved, 2007
You have permission to reprint this article

When you become a parent, your life changes dramatically. Sometimes it can seem that your life is the kids, and there’s nothing else there… not even a personal relationship with your spouse or significant other.

Kids can be a wonderful addition to any relationship, but they can also be a cause of great stress and strain. It’s common to be wrapped up in a newborn baby for the first few months for instance, but if your lives revolve around that baby solely for the next twenty years, your personal relationship may suffer greatly.

As children get older, and particularly if you have more than one child, life can become even more hectic than it was in the beginning. Instead of trying to schedule private time with each other around friends and work, you’re now struggling against work schedules, sleep schedules, food schedules, daycare and school schedules, home work time, sports time, time with friends, extracurricular activities, after school events, doctors, dentists, and more.

Sometimes that list of things to schedule for seems endless in fact, and the personal relationship between you and your spouse always seems to take a back seat to everything else. Some couples even find themselves sleeping at different times of the day and night, and barely passing each other in the hall a few times each week.

There is nothing wrong with being loving and devoted to your family and children. But adults must have private lives aside from their kids. Keeping your personal time and interests alive is difficult and it can take some work, but it’s more than worth the effort in the end.

The first thing you need to do is start scheduling things weekly. Sit down together, or even as an entire family, once each week. Sunday is usually an excellent time for this. You can all talk about the week that’s ending if you’d like, discuss things that happened, talk about what made you happy, sad, angry or frustrated.

After talking about your lives and feelings, then take some time to conduct family business. This is a time in which everyone discusses their upcoming schedules for the next week. This is not just a time to mark down all the kids events though, you need to block out time and attention for just the adults to spend alone together.

Making a standing date once each week if you’d like, and mark that off right from the start before anything else can be put onto the schedule. Block off and evening, an afternoon or an entire weekend that is just for you and your spouse without any kids. Don’t just block that time off to spend together though, make plans about what you’re going to do. In other words: Make a date.

Plan a night for movies and a dinner for instance, or plan to go see a concert or play. Make plans for a spa weekend, or a camping trip alone. Just make plans, and make them specific. If you leave the time blocked off but have no specific plans of things to do during that time period, you’re more likely to let other events and activities intrude on that time. And spending that time alone with your spouse outside of family engagements and activities is critical to keeping your sanity, and keeping your love alive.

Looking for more information on Marriage or Long Term Relationships YourLifeAfter50.com is an authoritative site for baby-boomers and issues that affect them.

Jerry Stearns is a writer and the editor for YourLifeAfter50.com, which is a website devoted to baby-boomers and their issues such as Family Relationships, Health and Dating.
Copyright 2007 YourLifeAfter50 http://www.yourlifeafter50.com

Talking to your spouse or life partner can sometimes seem like one of the hardest things in the world to do. It’s not uncommon for one partner in a relationship to feel as if the other doesn’t understand them, or doesn’t listen to them, or doesn’t even care what they have to say. Over time this becomes quite frustrating, and can be the cause of a relationship breakup too.

Talking to each other is quite possible, but the real trick is learning to listen to and understand each other. Some people communicate quite differently than others do, and if you don’t understand your partner’s specific differences in communication style, it can often lead to frustrating silences or loud screaming matches that leave both of you miserable.

Learning how to talk to each other effectively takes time, patience, and effort from both parties involved. Both of you need to realize too, that being able to talk effectively to each other is not just about talking… it’s about listening and understanding too.

You see, many people in this world never seem to learn how to actually listen to what other people are saying to them. If you’re constantly interrupting others, or thinking about what you’re going to say next when someone else is talking, you’re not likely to catch much of what they’re saying. And when you don’t really know what they’re saying because you haven’t fully listened to them, they often feel as if you don’t understand them, or don’t care about their thoughts and opinions.

So your first step in learning how to talk to each other is to start listening to each other better. When your partner is talking to you, make a conscious effort to actually tune in and listen to what they’re saying. Try to clear your head of your own thoughts, and try to restrain yourself from formulating answers or additional comments in your head while they’re talking. Simply listen.

When they’ve said their piece, try to repeat back to them in your own words what you feel they said. This one small exercise can tell you a lot about your partner’s communication style. By repeating back to them what you think they said, in your own words, you’ll both begin to see how your communication styles differ.

One person may say X while the other interprets that to mean Y. And ms-interpretations are just one of the reasons many couples feel they’re unable to talk to each other. By rephrasing what you heard while actively listening though, your partner can help clarify or correct their statements and your interpretation of them. And by doing this, you’ll have a much better understanding of how your partner thinks and talks, and you’ll be able to communicate with them better in the future.

The same process should be repeated with you talking, and your partner actively listening. Once you’re done, have them repeat back to you in their own words, what they feel you were saying. Then you can gently clarify, explain, and rephrase things as needed, so that they fully understand what you intended for them to understand.

Looking for more information on Marriage or Long Term Relationships YourLifeAfter50.com is an authoritative site for baby-boomers and issues that affect them.

Jerry Stearns is a writer and the editor for YourLifeAfter50.com, which is a website devoted to baby-boomers and their issues such as Family Relationships, Health and Dating.
Copyright 2007 YourLifeAfter50 http://www.yourlifeafter50.com

When you’ve spent all your time, attention and money devoted to raising children for twenty to thirty years or more, life can seem more than a little empty once those kids are grown up enough to leave home. There’s actually a feeling of emptiness, loneliness, and loss that’s known as empty nest syndrome. Many parents have a difficult time getting used to the children being gone, and sometimes it can take awhile to adjust.

Empty nest syndrome is often more difficult for Moms than it is Dads, but both men and women experience the feeling of loss. In most cases, Mom and Dad aren’t quite sure what they’re supposed to be doing in life now that they’re no longer raising kids. It’s perfectly natural to feel a bit sad or depressed during this period, but there are also things you can both do to help yourself deal with empty nest syndrome.

First and foremost, you need to allow yourself a period of rest. When the kids first leave home, there is often a whirlwind of activity involved. Maybe they just finished graduating high school and are now off at college, a new job, or in the military. Getting them ready for those new life experiences was a very busy period, and you may be both physically and mentally exhausted.

Once you’ve had time to rest, relax, and enjoy your quiet time though is when things can get the most depressing. The house may start to seem too big and quiet, and you may start wondering what in the world you’re supposed to do with yourself now.

The answer is to try and get active. If you have friends and family around you, try spending more time with them. Go out on dates with your spouse for instance, or organize outings, parties or get togethers for friends and family.

Also think hard about your personal likes and dislikes. Now that your children are grown and gone, it’s much more easy for you to take up new or old hobbies, try something different, and explore various interests. Think about when you were younger, before you settled down to have a family. What did you like to do with your free time then? Did you have dreams, goals and ambitions that had to be set aside when you started your family?

Think too, back along the last twenty to thirty years as you were raising your children. Did you ever dream about doing something else? Did you ever wish you had the time or money to devote to a specific hobby? Maybe you’ve always longed for a trip to an exotic land, or dreamed of writing a book you started as a teenager.

Doing something new is always fun and exciting. If you feel like you’re not yet ready to make any major changes in your life or lifestyle though, think about taking small baby steps. There are plenty of hobbies that can be done right at home for instance, such as sewing, gift basket making, and scrapbooking. In fact, scrapbooking may be an excellent transition activity for you to do. You’ll be able to dig out all the kids stuff you’ve been collecting over the years, and start to put it into some sort of organizational format that can be enjoyed for years to come.

Looking for more information on Marriage or Long Term Relationships? YourLifeAfter50.com is an authoritative site for baby-boomers and issues that affect them.

Jerry Stearns is a writer and the editor for YourLifeAfter50.com, which is a website devoted to baby-boomers and their issues such as Family Relationships, Health and Dating.
Copyright 2007 YourLifeAfter50 http://www.yourlifeafter50.com

Once your grandchildren reach the pre-teen and teenage years, you may start to feel as if they no longer want to spen