What’s It Really Like Being 80 Years Old? Surprise, surprise! Nothing changed.

  Image by annca from Pixabay As you might expect, turning 80 generates this question a lot. There’s a strange significance tied to it, perhaps because something less than half the U.S. population gets there. Well, I just got there — with much more fanfare and celebration than I expected or deserved. Having gotten there, I don’t find […]

How Come Some Older People Don’t Want To Live That Long?

This is one of those basic existential questions that we all wrestle with at some point in our lives. Do I want to live long? It’s easy to understand why one would want life to be over if they are in constant pain, lonely/isolated, and are merely drawing breath, using up oxygen, and taking up […]

Open Letter to Someone Who Needs to Be Rich to Avoid Suffering.

Image by Siggy Nowak from Pixabay Someone, somewhere, popped this question recently on Quora.com. I had to respond. How can I be rich? Am I suffering too much? May I ask – are you talking intrinsic riches or extrinsic riches? The difference? Extrinsic = external, materialistic, possession-based riches such as money, houses, cars, clothes, etc. Intrinsic = internal […]

Are You Prepared For the Challenges Presented When Both Spouses Retire? Here Are A Few Tips to Consider.

Spousal relationships can be heavily impacted by retirement, especially when both have been working and both decide to retire, regardless of the timing of the respective retirements. The key to this and to the other elements of retirement that may take place is to start the planning process early, ideally 3–10 years ahead of the […]

Can One Live to 80 Without Any Ailments? It’ll Take More Than Luck and Genetics.

Turning 80 is apparently a pretty big deal. I just did it and found that it drew a lot more attention than when I turned 70 – or any other age I recall. Except, perhaps, 21. For stupid adolescent reasons, I don’t remember much about that one.  I was somewhere in Cheyenne, Wyoming with a […]

As Someone Who Is Over 80, What Advice Would You Give To a Younger Person Who Is Worried About Growing Older?

Image by Harpreet Batish from Pixabay I post answers every day to questions on Quora.com.  I’m amazed at the number of questions that come from young people, in their 20s and 30s, expressing angst about getting old. Here’s my answer to a recent one that is the headline for this article. Simple. Get over it! Embrace it! Remember […]