Boomer411 is a wealth of useful and fascinating information. The site uses a powerful tagging system to tap the collective experience of large numbers of Boomers to select the best websites, blogs, video and other content. Check it out! http://www.boomer411.com
More information and registration is available at http://www.chalkinstitute.org/boomers.html for these three events:
Book Swap and Career Talk 3pm Sunday September 7
Boomer/Senior Career Paths Mini-Conference and Job Fair 6pm Tuesday October 7
Lunch & Learn Webinar 12Noon Friday November 7
Working for pay keeps Boomers & Seniors active, engage, healthy, and wealthy. Options include staying in a current position, finding a new position, becoming a contractor/consultant, or starting a company. Add a fifth option: becoming an inventor. Mature adults have been inventing for centuries. They are close to the needs of the 100 million strong boomer/senior market and have the maturity to see the intersection among need, technical possibility, and market acceptance. A major advantage of invention over other options: a continuing stream of income.
Be choosy and selective when buying. Have one best sweater instead of five mediocre ones. Extend this practice to everything you purchase. Buy a smaller, nicer house and a few pieces of high-quality furniture. You will be surrounded by luxury while spending less. Take it a step further with a few great friends instead of dozens of acquaintances.
On the return from a short gold country visit, Dave and I stopped at Knight’s Ferry crossing. Well worth a stop or even a special trip. The small town started with a ferry crossing of the Stanislaus River at the height of the gold mining era. An uncovered bridge, a grist mill, saw mill, power plant, covered bridge all followed. Today the covered bridge remains and sustains pedestrian traffic. The historic power plant, an Army Corps of Engineers visitor’s center, picnic grounds, and hiking trails are part of the attractions. We did not visit the town itself but the brochure indicates that a dozen historic buildings are still standing.
The Anna Banks website and blog are a great boomer career resource. Every posting is worth reading. Some recent topics include “Career Planning for Baby Boomers — Staying Motivated” and “Baby Boomers - Turn your Creative Practical Hobbies into a Business”. Ms. Banks is a career and financial coach and college instructor.
blog website: http://www.annabanks.com
rss feed: http://annabanks.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Traditionally career advancement has meant climbing the management ladder. More recently attention has been given to adding breadth to a career by making lateral moves into other functions. This could mean moving within the current department, e.g. from Finance to Accounting or from Marketing to Sales. Or it could mean moving out of one area to another, e. g. from Manufacturing to Development.
There is a third path for careers: greater depth. Increasing knowledge and skill in the current job can make the manager more valuable to the current and future employers. Adding depth also makes a career more interesting and rewarding. Methods include completing classes, attending professional events, writing articles, giving industry presentations, and more.
I love coffee. I also know it is expensive in money, time to buy and consume, and the occasional ruined outfit or chair cover. Ranging from a few cents for homebrew to several dollars at a gourmet shop, I estimate an average of $1/day. Flavors and added milk/cream mean unneeded calories and fat. So I now embark on an experiment to cut back and eventually cut out coffee. I cannot go cold turkey because the headaches will be ferocious. The lure: $1/day for forty years at a modest interest rate mounts to $40,000!
Need or wish to buy a gift or a door prize? With rising food prices, items such as wild rice, gourmet vinegar, and fancy olive oil appeal to nearly everyone. You save up to 10% over comparably priced non-food items because there is no sales tax on food. A $10 food gift will seem like a luxury whereas $10 spent on a book or picture frame wil make you look cheap. Wrapping food gifts is a breeze. Just tie on a ribbon with a tiny gift tag.
Proposition 98 is a rare gem of legislation. It should not be necessary; the federal and state constitutions should protect our property rights.
Proposition 99 further erodes rights.
Vote yes on 98 and no on 99. The right to keep what we produce and own is almost as important as the freedoms of assembly, speech, religion, and the press.