Photo Credit: Photo by Andrew Fosker
Variety.com

Watching the movie Bohemian Rhapsody gave me the goosebumps and made me realize how much I’ve missed Freddie Mercury. The film topped the box office for many weeks because baby boomers like me, who grew up with Queen‘s music, went and sought nostalgia.

Excellent music should give you the goosebumps, and I’m very happy to have discovered three recent albums that belong to this category of touching music. Every year at this time prior to the Holiday Season, I would purchase a new X’mas CD (yes, I still listen to CDs in addition to streaming music). This year, I’ve bought Eric Clapton’s “Happy X’mas” and was pleasantly surprised that at 73, Clapton still sings the blues like no other! In fact, his new X’mas album is one of the best Holiday albums I’ve heard in years. However, for you to like it, you have to be a Clapton fan or a blues music fan, or both. Even though the album encompasses traditional songs such as “Silent Night” and “Jingles Bell,” it was not produced in the run-of-the-mill jolly and festive fashion. After all, Clapton is best known for his guitar, his husky voice and his blues.

Most of the songs on this album show off Clapton’s guitar chops and even the jolliest tune has a “bluesy” feel to it. My favourite track is the only original song on the album written by Clapton – “For Love On Christmas Day” – so sad, and yet so passionate during this festive season. In “Silent Night,” Clapton features his two daughters as back-up singers which I thought was very sweet since Christmas is very much a family affair. My last Clapton album was the Grammy-award-winning “Riding With The King,” the blues album he collaborated with the late B.B. King, some 18 years ago. It’s refreshing to see a boomer musician like Clapton still making great music in his 70s and I hope he would never retire.

During the last year, I’ve also become a fan of jazz musician Jon Batiste, the 32-year-old Julliard School graduate who is, perhaps, best known as the musical director on the “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.” His new album “Hollywood Africans” paid tribute to his “blackness” and his roots from Kenner, Louisiana. According to the Rolling Stone magazine, this brand new album was named after a 1983 Basquiat painting, and is devoted to drowning out and responding to what Batiste likes to refer to as “noise.” For him, the term refers both to the rapidly degenerating state of America ever since Donald Trump became President, as well as the increasingly hectic pace that his own life has taken on since his Colbert adventure began.

As a result, the album is a wonderful collection of original ballads like “Don’t Stop” and “Is It Over?” mixing with classics such as “The Very Thought Of You,” “What A Wonderful World,” and traditional New Orleans favourites like “Saint James Infirmary Blues.” Produced by T Bone Burnett, the album is mostly guided by Batiste’s piano-playing and his vocals. My favourite track is “Chopinesque” – his arrangement and interpretation of a renowned piece by Chopin.

“Hollywood Africans” blew me away to such an extent that I immediately pined for more music from this gifted millennial. This led me to eventually purchase my second X’mas album this season, “Christmas with Jon Batiste,” which was produced exclusively for streaming on Amazon Music in 2016. To my joyous surprise, I found this album available for sale in a CD format on Amazon. Once again, Batiste’s creativity and musical talents are worth the exorbitant price of the CD. This is an album which features his collaboration with other African-American jazz musicians, including Aloe Blaac and Judith Hill in lead vocals; Jason Marsalis in vibraphone; Lee England Jr. in violin; Eric Gales in electric guitar; Sean Jones in trumpet; and Infinity’s Song in voices.

My favourite tracks are “Endless Love,” a duet with Aloe Blaac; “Silent Night,” featuring Batiste’s piano-playing and lead vocals, and violin by Lee England Jr.; and the final track, “Christmas in Barcelona,” featuring Batiste’s lead vocals and piano again. The Jon Batiste Trio is also prominent throughout the record with Batiste on the piano, lead vocals, harmonabord, B3 organ, celeste, percussion and hand claps; Joe Saylor on drums and tambourine; and Phil Kuehn on acoustic bass and hand claps.

I believe that Jon Batiste is such a rising star that he should be hosting his own musical show rather than being Stephen Colbert’s sidekick. But kudos to the comedian for recognizing this young talent and providing Batiste with a mainstream platform to enable more people to appreciate his music.

The world of music is constantly changing and influencing so many of us in a variety of ways. While it is nostalgic to listen to the music that we grew up with, boomers should continue to discover new music that touches our hearts and souls.

It was recently drawn to my attention that there is an Infographic on “The Elderly and The World Wide Web” which explains the U.S. seniors’ relationship with digital technology and how they increasingly rely on the internet to seek healthcare solutions. The infographic at https://medalerthelp.org/elderly-the-world-wide-web/ was developed by medalerthelp.org, a U.S. website that helps seniors differentiate and choose among the many medical alert systems that are available to them in the marketplace. The infographic is very creative in terms of colourful and user-friendly graphics illustrating evidence-based research and content.

Key findings, drawn from different reliable sources including the AARP, Pew Research, and other surveys, include the following:

• Studies show that educated seniors with higher incomes tend to use the internet at higher rates
• 82 percent of boomers/seniors use search engines to gather information on topics of interest
• Baby boomers spend about 27 hours per week online
• 70 percent of internet users aged 65+ use the internet on a typical day
• 66 percent of information accessed by the mature population online is access to news and weather; 57 percent of usage is related to shopping; 44 percent is accessing food information and 43 percent is to play games and related activities
• 71 percent of older internet users go online everyday or almost everyday
• 11 percent go online three to five times a week
• 25 percent of grandparents use email to communicate with their families; 75 percent of seniors use the internet to communicate with friends and family; and 55 percent of seniors follow a group or organization on social networks
• 40 percent of seniors are viewing online videos to stay up-to-date with the latest news
• 53 percent of seniors use the internet to learn about healthcare or medical issues
• 54 percent of seniors watch online video for entertainment
• 26 percent of the mature population say that mental sharpness is an extremely important reason for playing games and 50 percent say it is very important

The top three internet usage by category among American boomers and seniors are: getting health or medical information (66 percent); visit a local, state or federal website (58 percent) and doing banking or financial activities (55 percent).

Other interesting facts include 63 percent of 50 to 59-year-old Americans now access TV content via the internet and baby boomers are 19 percent more likely to share content on Facebook compared to any other generation.

In Canada, a recent study from Media Technology Monitor (MTM) also found that boomers and seniors are enthusiastically consuming content via digital media. Smartphones have found a comfortable home with the boomer demographic – 78 percent of younger boomers (aged 51 to 60) and 66 percent of older boomers (aged 61 to 71) report ownership. Younger boomers are more likely to own tablets and a healthy number of the younger demographic also have gaming consoles.

Canadian boomers’ desktop computer usage is similar to our American counterparts (56 percent vs 58 percent among American boomers). They also don’t appear as interested in wearable technology. The vast majority of older Canadian boomers still have a TV subscription (86 percent), compared to 91 percent of seniors over 72 years old and 65 percent of millennials. While 21 percent of millennials say they have no TV subscriptions but watch that content online, only five percent of young boomers say they have done so. Meanwhile, 21 percent of younger boomers are very or somewhat likely to cancel that subscription.

Around 55 percent of older boomers watch TV exclusively on a traditional TV set, and only one in 20 boomers reported watching TV exclusively online. Seniors over 72 years of age demonstrate the stronger affinity for traditional TV, radio and news platforms. More than nine out of 10 pay for conventional TV, nearly half have newspaper subscriptions and 83 percent report heavy viewing of news specialty channels.

Device use is also predictably lower among older Canadians – 18 percent say they access the internet via a TV set and 24 percent own a smart TV. Another 68 percent own a computer, with laptops surprisingly edging out desktops (47 percent vs 44 percent). Smartphone ownership tops out at 36 percent of seniors aged 72 and above, with tablets appearing in roughly as many senior households (33 percent). Another 25 percent of seniors report owning a “basic” or feature phone. Of the 91 percent of seniors who have a TV subscription, 11 percent were identified as being very or somewhat likely to cut the cord.

According to a TD Bank Group survey titled “Too Shy To DYI,” Canada’s baby boomers are comfortable with the Internet for most things, but a glaring exception is investing online through discount brokerages.

Almost four in five baby boomers (79 percent) use the Internet for banking, but only a meagre 16 percent are online do-it-yourself (DYI) investors, say the poll of 2,000 Canadian adults conducted in July 2017. TD Direct Investing said this behaviour can be attributed to the fact that many say they are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with online investing tools. The survey also found that boomers would invest online if they had a human being to hold their hands in the beginning and ask them investing questions.

According to a Financial Post article, the issue isn’t so much technological savvy as confidence and knowledge about investing. It’s obvious that baby boomers have already integrated technology into their lives in a variety of forms. They can set up a broker account or robo account and transfer money in and out. But many are confused, intimidated or fearful about making the right choices from the thousands of investments available to them.

TD found that 50 percent of boomers spend at least 15 hours a week on the internet, only a tad  less than 58 percent for millennials. Ninety-four percent of Canadian boomers use the Web because it’s convenient and 84 percent find it easy. Seventy-seven percent use the Internet to read news online, 66 percent to shop via Amazon or its rivals, and 64 percent stay connected with friends and family through social media such as Facebook or Twitter.

The main reason for low boomer use of online investing is lack of investment knowledge. TD says 79 percent of those surveyed don’t manage their money online because they simply don’t know enough about investing, while 22 percent say they don’t have enough time to invest on their own.

Unfortunately, when compared to our American counterparts, Canadian boomers are less likely to adopt digital health technology, according to a 2017 study commissioned by Telus Health. According to the survey, Canadians in the boomer (aged 52+) and senior categories (aged 71+) reported that they are most likely to access a healthcare provider (78 percent). However, while 58 percent in this demographic agree that digital health tools would help them connect with their healthcare provider, this group ranks the lowest to use them (20 percent). Further, Canadians aged 52 years and over are 10 percent less likely than younger generations to agree that digital technology empowers them to take control of their health.

While these findings highlight the need to educate and engage all Canadians on the role of digital health technologies, a supplementary survey of Canadian healthcare providers uncovered tremendous support for the role that digital technology plays in staying connected with patients and other healthcare providers.  Whether it’s to book appointments or send an alert when medications are low, three in four healthcare providers report using digital technologies to communicate with patients. Of those healthcare providers surveyed, 80 percent reported using digital technology to communicate with other healthcare professionals; and six in 10 believe that this integrated health team interaction improves patients’ overall wellness.

It looks like that although Canadian boomers and seniors are increasingly comfortable and versatile with technology, they might need more education on the important role digital solutions can play in their financial investments as well as their overall health and wellness.

The big hoopla about Canada’s legalization of cannabis has finally subsided a bit. I believe that very little will change in terms of behaviour. According to Statistics Canada, 4.9 million of Canadians already consumed $5.7-billion worth of cannabis in various forms, both medical and non-medical, last year. Boomers, in particular, are no strangers to cannabis. From their Woodstock days, boomers have smoked joints at concerts and college parties. Now that they are aging, baby boomers are seeking cannabis more as a pain relief rather than for recreational purposes.

Investor’s Business Daily cited a report from the marijuana delivery platform Eaze, which operated in California where recreational cannabis is also legal, which found that monthly marijuana spending last year among its thousands of users increased to US$179-$189 from US$125-$152 in 2016. An average-size pot dispensary draws more average yearly sales per square foot than a Whole Foods, and slightly less than a Costco, research from Cowen and Marijuana Business Daily has shown.

One reason why investors seem to have confidence in cannabis stocks is because a few alcohol companies, such as Molson and Constellation Brands, have taken on minority stakes in Canadian cannabis companies. Alcohol and tobacco companies are actually taking heed of the cannabis market because it directly affects their own businesses. As of 2016, the monthly rate of binge drinking was around 13 percent lower in the U.S. states that had fully legalized pot than in states where it was illegal, according to research from Cowen.

Tobacco companies may also look into having a share of the cannabis market. Vaping is one of the fastest-growing segments in both nicotine and cannabis. According to a Cowen analyst, upon federal legalization, big tobacco could leverage its expertise to explore the legal cannabis market through vapor. It was estimated that big tobacco companies could nearly double their underlying growth via the cannabis market and grab around a fifth of the overall share of the marijuana industry by 2030 in a fully-legal U.S. market. In the meantime, Canada presents a big opportunity for both the tobacco and alcohol industries.

Because the legalization of cannabis is so new in Canada, the marketing of pot has become a major challenge as well as a huge opportunity for marketing companies and law firms. Building brand recognition for cannabis brands is not easy. The Canadian government has rightly imposed hefty restrictions on cannabis companies’ ability to advertise. They cannot use endorsements from celebrities or other well-known individuals or offer up customer testimonials or product reviews. They also cannot advertise cannabis as part of an attractive lifestyle. Anything that could be appealing to young people or visible in media that could reach young people, is banned. That means no billboards and TV commercials.

Many marketers see the evolution of the cannabis industry as similar to the alcohol industry after Prohibition. But as the Federal Health Minister has pointed out, the Liberal government will measure the success of pot legalization in this country by looking at evidence that youth consumption via the black market is on a downward trend. Until the government sees that youth consumption is not rising as a result of legalization, that people are consuming responsibly and that the legal market is leading to a reduction in illicit sales, restrictions about the marketing of cannabis will continue to be very strict.

Cannabis can, of course, be harmful when used irresponsibly, but our nation has a much bigger health crisis in opioid overdoses than the potential harm of smoking weed. To boomers, cannabis therapy can relieve PTSDs and physical pain. We should be proud of our country who is moving forward when the whole world is going backward. After 96 years, marijuana prohibition has finally ended. As the second country, after Uruguay (where users must provide their fingerprints in order to buy pot), and the first major Western country to legalize cannabis and allow its undocumented use, Canada is showing the world how a mature country is handling this in a safe, disciplined and responsible way. The whole world is watching!

Photo Credit: CBC

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Perhaps that’s why more and more North Americans are finding joy in “living apart together” (LAT) relationships.  According to Statistics Canada, one in 13 Canadians are in this kind of relationship, and the lifestyle is catching on among older, divorced or widowed women looking for financial independence. Some 1.9 million unmarried adults were in an intimate relationship with someone living elsewhere, according to 2011 data. That’s in addition to 240,000 married people who live apart from their spouse in “commuter marriages.” These are often long-term committed couples who choose not to reside together. LAT partners can be married or unmarried, living apart because they want to or for practical reasons, such as work. Many speak of their residential separation as long-term, if not permanent.

A Globe and Mail article reported that today, sociologists say it is older, heterosexual, divorced or widowed women who are most enthusiastically adopting the trend. They are dating again monogamously but not interested in moving in with their new boyfriends. Financially independent and living in empty nests, these women are ready to focus on themselves. They want companionship but not the domestic drudgery of their previous unions: more dates, fewer dirty laundry to tackle.

What most LATers share in common is their drive for autonomy and self-fulfillment. That, and a deep urge to avoid the daily grind of traditional marriage that can kill all the romance, such as the fights over house chores and finances, and the ways familiarity can breed contempt when people live on top of each other for too long. Many traditional conservatives say that commitment means living in a shared nest and compromise for the relationship to be meaningful. Catholicism also frowns on the LAT relationships because living separately is not the same as the holy sacrament of matrimony. LATers, on the other hand, argue that they are quite deeply committed. With no practical ties that bind – no mortgage, joint finances or shared children – they are only in it because they choose to be.  As Canada’s divorce rate hovers around 41 percent, LATers see living apart as a hopeful alternative to marriage under one roof.

LATers are dedicated but also respect each other’s independence and space. But because it’s unconventional, it’s also not for everyone. This is attractive to people who enjoy their own company and don’t need to be around people all the time. It will work less well for people who have attachment or trust issues, or who just don’t like being alone. The together-but-apart arrangement increasingly interests women in middle age and beyond, women who have suffered decades-long droughts of “me time,” according to sociologists. Two sociology professors who interviewed partners in heterosexual LAT relationships separately, said that men perceived the LAT as a stage. They talked about the eventuality of moving in together and didn’t see this as unlikely at all.  Meanwhile, the women stressed they had no intention of living with these men. They said they were very tired of having to care for everyone. Wives who lived apart from their husbands because of work in “commuter marriage” discovered they had less housework to do and more leisure time at their disposal, a point not echoed by their husbands.

I remember fondly a former colleague of mine, a female VP working out of our London, U.K. office, who only met up with her Italian husband in Florence over weekends. Their LAT relationship is a “commuter marriage” which focuses on the individuals who both value their careers as much as they cherish their marriage. Now my godson and goddaughter-in-law are also experimenting with their “commuter marriage.” Both are young resident doctors getting their specialist degrees in internal medicine in two separate cities in California – one in Bakersfield and the other in Santa Barbara. With brutally long hours, sometimes working overnight shifts in their respective hospitals,  this young doctor couple lives in separate residences and meets up only on their days off, sometimes not necessarily over weekends. There may not be time to raise a family yet, but the LAT marriage has been working fine.

What’s interesting is that LAT is a growing model among people aged 60 and over. In fact, over 80 percent of the young couples in LAT relationships planned on living together one day, while only 30 percent of those over 60 said the same. An Ipsos poll commissioned by Global News surveyed 1,501 Canadians and found that 40 percent believed that living apart makes their relationship stronger. This concept is especially appealing to people in their boomer and senior years today, particularly women, because after decades of caring for their husbands and children, these divorcees or widows are reluctant to take on the mantle of caregiving once again. Times have changed and women are no longer the ones who are always pushing for commitment in all its traditional trappings. In fact, it’s almost never the men who want to live apart from their partner, it’s always the women now who want more space and independence.

In the U.S., there is a similar demographic trend about these unconventional couplings. According to NBC News, at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America in Denver in April 2018, a graduate student in sociology at Bowling Green State University presented an analysis of nearly 7,700 Wisconsin adults aged 50 and older surveyed in 2011. Married couples accounted for 71.5 percent of that group, single people accounted for 20.5 percent, and people who were “partnered but unmarried” accounted for eight percent. Of the partnered group, 39 percent were in LAT relationships, compared with 31 percent who were dating and 30 percent who were cohabiting. Another 2016 qualitative study of 25 older adults (from 60 to 88-year-old) in LAT relationships found various motivations for these partnerships. Seniors wanted to have “intimate companionship” while maintaining their own home, social circles, customary activities and finance.

Very few studies have evaluated the quality of such unconventional relationships, which has implications for seniors’ well-being. One found that older adults in these relationships tend to be less happy and receive less support from partners than people who are married. Another, presented at last year’s Population Association of America meeting, found that the quality of LAT relationships isn’t as strong as it is for marriages.

Only time will tell whether this trend will continue to grow. What we’ve heard so far is that LATers really like their space, their time alone, and consider their emotional commitment to each other as very strong without needing to be together for 24 hours a day. Maybe absence does make a heart grow fonder.

Everybody wants to live a longer life, but to a lot of Canadian boomers and seniors, longevity may actually become their biggest enemy. According to a recent national survey by the Financial Planning Standards Council (FPSC) and Credit Canada, one quarter of Canadian seniors fear they will run out of money before they die and the same 25 percent worry they won’t be able to pay for long-term care. Others fear not being able to pay off their debt; not having enough money to retire; having to sell their house, or needing to depend on their children for financial support.

The survey also reveals that 20 percent of Canadians are working past the age of 60, and six percent of those are 80 or older. Three in 10 of those working past age 60 say they can’t afford retirement, one in eight have too much debt, over 25 percent don’t have enough savings, and 12 percent are still helping their children financially. Only one-third say they continue to work because they enjoy their job.

Indeed, a worry-free retirement may be a thing of the past, according to another recent Sun Life Financial Survey, which finds that a quarter of retired Canadians are in debt in their golden years. About 25 percent of the 750 Canadians polled between the ages of 55 to 80 years said they have debt that ranges from mortgages to car payments. Retired Canadians on average had $11,204 in non-mortgage debt, according to the survey. Unlike a Bank of Nova Scotia commercial most famous for its tagline “You’re Richer Than You Think,” people are actually poorer than they think.

The FPSC survey report shows that 56 percent of Canadians age 60 and older carry at least one form of debt, with a quarter carrying two or more types of debt. Credit card debt leads the way at 32 percent, followed by lines of credit (23 percent), mortgage debt (19 percent), and auto loans (14 percent). Thirty-five percent of seniors age 80 and older are carrying at least one form of debt, including credit card debt (24 percent) and car loans (9 percent).

For single boomers and seniors, the situation is even more dire. The latest Statistics Canada data show that 51.5 percent of people aged 15 and over are unmarried, making the first time that unmarried people have outnumbered married people since census information began to be compiled in 1871. According to an Investors Group survey of more than 2,600 Canadian baby boomers, many are concerned about who will take care of them in retirement, and 43 percent expect they will need to work longer because they are single. The survey also found that 40 percent of single boomers don’t have a financial plan designed to meet the needs and expenses of being single.

Expenses such as housing, utilities and cars can take a big bite out of income when only one person is paying for them. Aging singles are more likely to need housekeepers, home health care and maintenance help than those who can rely on a spouse for assistance in some areas. While a couple may be able to remain in their home longer because there are two people to help each other, a single person may need to move to an assisted-living facility at an earlier age.

According to financial planning experts, a single person will need as much as 30 percent more retirement income than a couple to live in a comparable lifestyle and meet the additional expenses of being single. Increasing longevity also plays a role in retirement costs with many people now living into their 90s. Because women usually live longer than men by an average of five years, chances are that more women will end up single even if they are not single now. Of the 4,000 Canadian centenarians, 3,400 are women, according to StatsCan data. Research also shows that by age 80, one in three men and two in five women will spend time in a nursing home.

With these doom and gloom statistics, it’s surprising that not more financial planners and insurance companies are offering and marketing financial products such as annuities, reverse mortgages and others that would help alleviate Canadian boomers’ and seniors’ anxieties about outliving their savings. According to another survey by Ipsos for RBC Insurance, only 12 percent of Canadians say they are using or planning to use an annuity to ensure they have enough money to lead their chosen lifestyle in retirement. Most Canadians, however, are unaware of annuities and lack an understanding of the product, which can be the reason why few are building them into a retirement plan. For Canadians who have a home, most do not understand whether they should look into reverse mortgage, home equity line of credit, or annuities to help fund their retirement. With the rising rate of single households, most financial institutions are not doing enough to help single people plan their retirement.

The Globe and Mail recently reported on a new C.D. Howe Institute report that advocates longevity insurance as a new financial product that could help fund long retirements. The report suggests that what’s needed for retirees is a product that could allow a 65-year-old to purchase a guaranteed-for-life stream of income that doesn’t actually begin until he or she is in her 80s. A person who was able to purchase longevity insurance could feel free, in an extreme case, to spend every penny in their portfolio between the ages of 65 and 85. The buyer would know that at the age of 85, their longevity insurance would start paying them a regular income which would last for the rest of their lives. The report also recommends that the Federal Government could radically simplify Canadian retirement planning with a few simple, low-cost changes to the tax code in order to allow such an innovative product to be introduced.

Although this ideal product would be similar to the annuities now on the market, the annuities that currently exist start paying out money immediately, but longevity insurance would not start paying out until a couple of decades in the future. A longevity insurance product is not without its challenges: someone buying such a product today would face the risk they might never collect on the insurance if they die before the date that payments begin. But that risk could be offset by the obvious positives, especially for people with reasonably large, but not huge, retirement portfolios. Longevity insurance, if priced correctly, would nearly certainly be far less expensive than accumulating the big amount of money that would otherwise be required to ensure a couple can live comfortably until the age of 100 or even beyond.

According to Don Ezra, author of the C.D. Howe Institute report, the problem why longevity insurance is not already available  in Canada is the country’s tax code. Its punitive approach to taxing deferred-payment products has deterred annuity providers from coming to market with such products. Under existing rules, buyers of longevity insurance would be forced to pay tax on gains in the underlying portfolio even in the years before they started collecting money. Of course, nobody is going to buy a product that would require them to pay tax today on future income, especially if they might not live long enough to even receive that income.

Mr. Ezra recommends that the rules would have to be altered to tax the income from longevity insurance only when it actually gets paid out. Longevity insurance products would also have to be made exempt from the minimum-withdrawal rules in tax-sheltered accounts. Changing the tax code to reflect those shifts should not cost other taxpayers much, if anything. The same total pool of money would still wind up being taxed; it would only be the timing that would shift. Let’s hope Ottawa would listen to this suggestion and pave the way for a very useful new product for our aging population who might be concerned about the possibility of outliving their money.