Matthew Heimer

Do you lie to yourself about retirement?

Lying to yourself—it sounds so harsh when you put it that way. The more gentle way to frame the question is: “Do you tell yourself reassuring things, things that probably aren’t entirely true, so that you can live with the financial decisions and compromises you’re making?” That’s a little less blunt, but, when you think about it, no less unsettling.

Audi, Toyota join self-driving bandwagon

I believe I’m a pretty good driver (although I’m also aware that, in perhaps the world’s most often-cited example of the Lake Wobegon Effect, most Americans feel the same way). I’m also reasonably sure that I won’t be as good a driver twenty-five years from now, when I’ll be in my late sixties and my senses and reflexes are likely to be considerably less sharp.

Is too much running bad for boomers?

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with running for the last two decades (love being able to fit into my pants, hate the actual running). And like many of my peers I’ll be cautiously reinvesting in that relationship this week as I do penance for my holiday excesses. But as I do so, I’ll be mindful of Kevin Helliker’s recent article in the Wall Street Journal, One Running Shoe in the Grave. The thesis: While running, like all forms of cardiovascular exercise, is undoubtedly beneficial to boomers, doing too much of it can essentially erase many of the health benefits.

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In long-term care, the U.S. lags

Without much fanfare, the Senate Special Committee on Aging released a report earlier this month on the subject of how the U.S. is progressing in caring for older adults diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The committee compared health-care infrastructure with that of Japan, Australia, France and the United Kingdom – countries chosen because they have demographics and economies similar to ours.

The report found that these countries were all ahead of us on the Alzheimer’s care front. But as Judith Graham points out in a sharply observed piece today on the New Old Age blog, the study also unearthed statistics that suggest that long-term care for America’s elderly in general is lagging behind the rest of the world’s standards.

Get smart about Social Security in 2013

In a day and age when fewer and fewer people have a pension and many people don’t have a lot socked away for retirement, it’s becoming increasingly critical that you calculate the best time and strategy for you and (if you have one) your spouse to take Social Security.

So my wish for you is this: Get the timing right.

Finding safer cars for older drivers

The car-key debate can be a thorny source of friction in families where the elderly parents are still healthy and active. While self-aware seniors will usually admit that their reaction times and sensory acuteness aren’t what they were in their prime, they’re seldom willing to risk forfeiting the independence that comes with being able to drive on their own from place to place.

A Web tool can help elderly drivers–your parents, perhaps?– zero in on models with the right “assistive features.”

Is too much running bad for boomers?

I have great respect for the midlife athletes I know, so I’m not deriving any schadenfreude from Kevin Helliker’s article from Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, One Running Shoe in the Grave. Helliker’s thesis: While running, like all forms of cardiovascular exercise, is undoubtedly beneficial to boomers, doing too much of it essentially erases many of the health benefits . . . New research suggests that over-50 athletes’ health can suffer if they run too far or too fast.

What Boomers won’t do with their phones

It’s been a while since cell-phone obsession was something that separated the middle-aged from the young. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reports that more than 85% of adults age 50 to 64 now own mobile phones, and about a third own smartphones. Even those with, er, dumb phones are getting more adventurous about how they use them, according to a Pew study released this week.

Women face long-term care price hike

For most of recent history, American women have been living longer than men – and now it’s going to cost them more. As the Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Greene reports, the insurance industry, which up until now has charged men and women the same prices for long-term care coverage, is beginning to factor women’s longevity into their underwriting.

Insurers, citing women’s longevity, are boosting premiums for policies that cover nursing care and assisted living.

Elder-care costs, state-by-state

MetLife Mature Market Institute has now published its annual survey of nursing home, assisted living, and other elder-care costs, and, as always, it’s valuable reading for anyone who’s nearing their own retirement, or helping older relatives navigate theirs. Here are a few points worth pondering: “Should we move Mom to Shreveport?”

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Bond fights boomer job angst in ‘Skyfall’

“Skyfall” is first and foremost a movie about middle-aged job angst – whether your skills are sufficiently up to speed to stay competitive in the global marketplace, and whether age discrimination will keep you from doing the work you’re best at . . . In the new movie, Agent 007′s worries include tech-savvy 20-somethings and questions over whether he’s still “field-ready.” Sound familiar?