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No. 78/March 26, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Need Advice? Ask a GrandmaWhat looks like …

No. 78/March 26, 202…

No. 78/March 26, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Need Advice? Ask a GrandmaWhat looks like a lemonade stand in New York City in fact dispenses free Wisdom and loving attention from a grandmother. Mike Matthews built the Grandma Stand to share his… Read more

Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A 25-pound hemisphere of fle…

Photo by Monika Grab…

Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.A 25-pound hemisphere of flesh and fat has annexed itself to my midsection, and it is causing me problems. It makes it difficult for me to fasten my pants. It obstructs my sightlines looking down, such that urination is an act of blind faith. It makes me look old and fat, which is not how I prefer to think of myself.Apparently, it is harder to lose weight when you’re older. For a year I have tried to melt away the annex th…

Photo by Nigel Hoare for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Back in the 1970s, a young office…

Photo by Nigel Hoare…

Photo by Nigel Hoare for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Back in the 1970s, a young office mate who had just received his first paycheck was pissed off at seeing all the deductions that chipped away his already-minimal take-home pay. “And 7.5% for Social Security and Medicare,” he grumbled. “By the time I’m eligible they won’t even exist.”He was wrong. He and I both collect Social Security – at least, as of this writing. But it may not be for much longer, which angers me.…

No. 77/March 12, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Putting a Price on Healthcare AgeismPervas…

No. 77/March 12, 202…

No. 77/March 12, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Putting a Price on Healthcare AgeismPervasive ageist bias and ageist assumptions can have a significant impact on the quality of care older adults receive. Studies by the Yale School of Public Heal… Read more

Photo: Getty Images for Unsplash+NOTE TO READERS: I did a bit of Travel this week, leaving no time to draft a fresh post, but here is one from the archive. Enjoy!It’s widely acknowledged that you ca…

Photo: Getty Images …

Photo: Getty Images for Unsplash+NOTE TO READERS: I did a bit of travel this week, leaving no time to draft a fresh post, but here is one from the archive. Enjoy!It’s widely acknowledged that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Good thing you’re not a dog. You, by contrast, possess a brain capable of learning new stuff for as long as you keep breathing. (Scientists didn’t think that was true until recently. Now they consider it established fact.)It would serve you well if you did keep learning. When your brain actively learns new things it’s growing, staying sharp, and fighting th…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I talk to scores of people about…

Photo by Getty Image…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I talk to scores of people about Retirement. Some love it. Some hate it. Some find it vaguely unsettling. So I was not surprised by the results of a research study published in 2023 by The Retirement Coaches Association. Researchers asked a set of questions about retirement to two groups – people who were already retired, and people who were as much as 10 years away from retirement. What the study revealed was a significant di…

No. 76/February 26, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Climate Change Sparking Great Migration…

No. 76/February 26, …

No. 76/February 26, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Climate Change Sparking Great MigrationsRising seas. Higher temperatures. Longer droughts. Larger wildfires. The impact of climate change is mounting, and the economic costs are starting to hit … Read more

Photo: Getty Images with Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.When I first started to write abo…

Photo: Getty Images …

Photo: Getty Images with Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.When I first started to write about Aging, I described my topic area as “aging with grace, purpose, and joy.” At that time, I saw aging gracefully as a positive.What can I say? I was a lot younger then.In the intervening years I have come to realize that graceful behavior is an elegant way of saying behavior that conforms to social expectations. And let’s face it: The social expectations for older adults are limited. Gracef…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Forgive me for being slightly of…

Photo by Getty Image…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Forgive me for being slightly off-topic this week, but this has been occupying considerable Real Estate in my brain.In January, outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued his “Parting Prescription for America.” It was a call to shore up the eroding impulse toward community. “The fracturing of community in America is driving a deeper spiritual crisis that threatens our fundamental well-being,” he wrote. “It i…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Forgive me for being slightly of…

Photo by Getty Image…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Forgive me for being slightly off-topic this week, but this has been occupying considerable real Estate in my brain.In January, outgoing U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued his “Parting Prescription for America.” It was a call to shore up the eroding impulse toward community. “The fracturing of community in America is driving a deeper spiritual crisis that threatens our fundamental well-being,” he wrote. “It i…

No. 75/February 12, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Deportation’s Impact on Long-Term Car…

No. 75/February 12, …

No. 75/February 12, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Deportation’s Impact on Long-Term CareUnauthorized immigrants make up about 4% of current long-term healthcare workers. If the Trump Administration implements its announced policy of mass deport… Read more

Photo by National Cancer Institute on UnsplashJust 10 years ago, there were 43.1 million Americans aged 65 and older. By 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, that number will balloon to 83.7 mil…

Photo by National Ca…

Photo by National Cancer Institute on UnsplashJust 10 years ago, there were 43.1 million Americans aged 65 and older. By 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, that number will balloon to 83.7 million.The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Our so-called healthcare system, functioning with all the efficacy and efficiency of a rocket cobbled together from spare parts, is not up to the challenge currently and unlikely to be up to the challenge in the coming decades. Healthcare workers are in short su…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I was surprised to learn recentl…

Photo by Getty Image…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I was surprised to learn recently from The Economist that you and I and all our peers are responsible for the ills of our troubled world. The article, written anonymously, is titled “Why People Over the age of 55 are the New Problem Generation,” with the subhead “Baby-boomers are keeping their bad habits into retirement.” Its premise is that we as a generation are still drinking, drugging, and spreading venereal diseases…

No. 74/January 29, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Another Fall Risk: Blood Pressure MedsCl…

No. 74/January 29, 2…

No. 74/January 29, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.Another Fall Risk: Blood Pressure MedsClose to half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, or hypertension, which poses risks to the heart, kidneys, and nerves. But a recent study of patients i… Read more

Photo by Eric Prouzet on UnsplashIf you believe life begins at conception, then consider me a native of Chicago. That’s where a young married couple who were about to become my parents were living w…

Photo by Eric Prouze…

Photo by Eric Prouzet on UnsplashIf you believe life begins at conception, then consider me a native of Chicago. That’s where a young married couple who were about to become my parents were living when I was conceived. Once they learned they were expecting, however, the couple high-tailed it back to Louisiana, where both were from, and where I was born. By relocating, the couple unknowingly gifted me with an extra risk factor for dementia.The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Share The EndGameYes! …

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.When I first began this newslett…

Photo by Getty Image…

Photo by Getty Images for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.When I first began this newsletter, I made a conscious decision not to write about finances, and after researching this piece, I am remembering why. In brief, I am somewhat math-impaired.But I was curious about some rumblings online, questioning the conventional wisdom about how much retirees could safely spend down from their retirement savings annually. For years, that safe rate has been pegged at 4%. Was that number still a g…

No. 73/January 15, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.When Disaster Strikes, Elders Are Victim…

No. 73/January 15, 2…

No. 73/January 15, 2025NewScan is a biweekly briefing on news relevant to readers of The EndGame. NewScan is a premium feature exclusively for paid subscribers.When Disaster Strikes, Elders Are VictimsIn disasters such as the Los Angeles wildfires, elderly and disabled residents are the most at risk. In Hurricane Katrina, 71% of the victims were aged 60… Read more

Photo: Rowen Smith for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you are a male born in the first…

Photo: Rowen Smith f…

Photo: Rowen Smith for Unsplash+The EndGame is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.If you are a male born in the first wave of the baby boom (1946 to 1957), you probably absorbed some problematic ideas about masculinity.Yes, it’s true that we (I’m including myself, born 1951) lived through major social upheavals in the 1960s and 1970s that brought into question traditional values about gender roles and gender equality. And yes, we may have adopted “progressive” or “enlightened” views over time. But in…