So what’s it like to get your butt kicked by your dad? Or even your MOM?!?

It’s amazing to see the level of fitness that some of the “older”
baby-boomers are achieving these days. I was recently at the Victoria International
Marathon and noticed a ton of participants in their late 40’s and even
50’s that would have trounced me! My uncle was a participant in this race
and managed a very respectable 3:39:20 which placed him 18th in the 55-59 age
group - very impressive.

Especially considering my personal best (at 33 years old) was 3:36:20 and I’m
an Ironman Triathlete for crying out loud. In any case, having participated
in quite a few races around the world, it is just amazing to see the participation
and involvement of the baby-boomer generation - and how darn fit they
are.

With today’s huge emphasis on fitness and exercise, and especially coming
from the West coast here in Vancouver, it is not uncommon anymore to see fathers
and sons or mothers and daughters participating in races - and I’m
not talking with their 5 year olds at sports day at school.

I’ve seen a full generation of grandfather, son, and granddaughter all
cross the finish line at Ironman and that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I
was lucky enough to run with my own father during the last mile before I finished
Ironman 2006 and that was something I will never forget.

So the next time you’re at the gym, or watching an athletic event -
don’t discount that 55 year old that doesn’t look like he can run
around the block. Chances are, he’ll kick your butt if given the chance

How do you reduce the symptoms of menopause? For women, the onset of menopause
is unavoidable. Women typically experience a number of symptoms as they move into
the menopause cycle.

Common symptoms in menopause include:

• Hot Flashes
• Night sweats and difficulty sleeping
• Changes in vaginal tissue
• Thinning of bones
• Abnormal vaginal bleeding or spotting
• Mood changes
• Urinary problems
• Increased risk of heart problems
• Heart palpitations
• Memory or concentration problems
• Lack of interest in sex
• Changes in physical appearance

These symptoms are triggered by low levels of the female hormone oestrogen
and can affect both the physical and mental feeling of well being for women.
Menopause cannot be prevented, however its negative effects can be minimized
through relaxation and exercise.

In fact the benefits of exercise can be significant for menopausal women. Exercise
can do a lot more than you might think. For example did yu know that a minimum
of four 30-minute exercise sessions each week will help to keep a women’s body
to actually produce a little oestrogen? This happens because exercise stimulates
the adrenal glands to convert the male hormone androstenedione into oestrogen.

When continued over several months, exercise helps build stronger bones and
lowers the risk of osteoporosis as compared with non-exercisers. Although every
woman is different, it is a fact that most women lose upwards of 25 percent
of bone mass by the age of 65. This is accompanied by reduced muscle strength
and flexibility, making the body less adaptive and more prone to injuries

However this can be reduced when a regular exercise program is maintained.
Here are some of the benefits of exercising for women:

Regular exercise can reduce the risk of heart disease . The risk of heart disease
increases for women after menopause due to a deficiency of oestrogen, which
has a protective effect on the heart.

Exercise will lower the chance of developing diabetes mellitus. Blood sugar
imbalance often can accelerate due to menopause.

Exercise maintains muscle tone and strength and is a defense against the loss
of muscle mass post menopause. In fact studies show that women performing aerobic
activity or muscle-strength training reduced mortality from cardio vascular
disease and cancer. Activities like walking, cycling swimming and rowing work
well.

What do you do to incorporate exercise into your lifestyle?

Family relationships have really taken a downturn in the last 30 years. Seems
parents are too busy to spend much time with their children and children are too
busy to spend time with their parents.

Sometimes it’s the fault of the system. In many areas it takes at least two
incomes to pay the bills. But it has been that way for years. Why is it different
now? Why is it that family relationships are falling apart even though throughout
the last hundred years both parents often had to work?

I think it is because more than ever before both parents are working away from
home. My parents both worked, but my mom worked at home. She set up a day care
at our house. My grandmother worked very hard. She and my grandfather had a
farm. They were available at all hours for their kids (who spent many hours
working in the fields with their parents).

My husband’s grandmothers worked. During the depression one grandmother took
in laundry and boarders. She worked very hard washing extra clothes (without
an automatic washer and dryer) and did the cooking for a bunch of men who rented
rooms in her home. She was available all the time for her sons because she worked
at home. They had meals together and talked about what was happening. They were
a close-knit family.

My mother-in-law worked, too. She sold Avon. She worked out of her house and
was available to her children whenever they needed her. It seems that in the
past more women worked out of their house than do today. That’s a much better
way to build strong family relationships than when both parents work away from
home from nine to five.

What do you think? If you grew up during the 50s or 60s, did both of your parents
work away from home? If they did, do you feel like your family was close? Did
you grow up during the 70s, 80s or 90s, when more moms went into the workforce
than before?

I personally think it takes a great deal of effort to keep a family together
when both parents are away from home all day. The problem is, most parents do
not have the energy to put out that effort after a full day at work.

The financial needs of baby boomers can be very challenging at times. With
both adult children and elderly parents to look after, the stresses and strains
can really start to show as more and more money is spent trying to look after
them. If you are not a baby boomer yourself then you are likely to know at least
one person who is.

There are a couple of old family friends that I know who are in this exact
position. Margaret and her husband Derek are baby boomers and they spend most
of their money helping their three older children and their elderly parents.
Their youngest child Sarah is currently attending university and the cost of
tuition is often too much for her. Even though she has a part time job, she
still has trouble paying all of her fees. That is why Margaret and Derek often
step in and pay her tuition and accommodation fees for her. They cannot afford
it really either but they see it as their duty to help their daughter through
university.

Their elderly parents also need a lot of looking after and with one parent
in a home, the costs for that can also be expensive. This has meant that over
time Margaret and Derek have had to take out a few personal loans to afford
the extra money that they just do not have. The trouble with baby boomers is
that they often do get themselves into a lot of debt because they want to help.
They feel responsible for both their parents and their children and they would
rather get themselves into financial hardship than to see either of their loved
ones go without. But is this a healthy attitude to have?

There is no reason why you cannot help out your elderly parents, but when it
comes to your children, when they are fully grown should you really still have
to help them? There should be a cut off point where they have to stand on their
own two feet. If they have a job and they are trying their hardest to earn the
money that they need then it is perfectly acceptable to help them if you can.
However, if they aren’t helping themselves and they just expect your help
then you should ideally back off and let them deal with it themselves.

Baby boomers are financially under strain but it really doesn’t have
to be that way. You just have to learn when to take a step back and when to
step in.

They say that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and when I call my son
into my office to help me with a computer problem, I believe it. I’ve always
considered myself a hip guy, I’m certainly nothing like my depression-era parents
who believed in two economic forces: hard-work and real estate. Pinching pennies
wasn’t even an option for them, it was just a fact, but investing in property
and working your fingers to the bone was their version of investing in the stock
market.

I guess that’s why it hit me so hard that I was as far away from Generation
Y as my parents were to me.

I invest in stocks, it has always made money given enough time, and even when
you do poorly you wind up doing well if you diversify. Compared to my parents
I’m advanced, they still think that real-estate is the only way to make money
and the stock-market is just another form of gambling (and in principle they
ARE right). However, I feel the same way about investing in websites, penny-stocks,
and Adsense revenue as my parents feel about the stock market…and the evidence
is slowly proving that I might be wrong.

I have heard no end of self-made millionaires due to investments in penny-stocks
and web based companies, and to my chagrin the statistics support it. Let’s
not forget ground breaking books like Friedman’s “The World Is Flat”,
and dozens of other who keep pointing out that the nature of the globe is changing,
and I find myself being left behind by this “Generation Y”.

A generation that not long ago I was criticizing for not being in-tune with
values and reality is quickly demonstrating that they are more in sync than
myself when it comes to how the global economy works.

So as this world turns just another revolution, I think what many of us Boomers
need to ask ourselves is, “Do I stick to the relics of my past for contentment,
or do I take the scary plunge and join the flow of humanity to survive?”