Are you still living in your oversized family home despite the fact that your kids have long ago flown the nest? Do you still own a car even though you no longer commute? Are you proudly proclaiming to the world that you are retiring soon and that you will never work again? Then, you could be putting your financial future in jeopardy!

Today, I want to tackle 5 of the biggest assumptions that we make in our 50s and 60s that have the potential to destroy our retirement dreams. But, it’s not too late! Let your neighbors run with the herd while you leave for greener pastures. You dream retirement is only a shift in perspective away!

Here are 5 massive assumptions that we should challenge after 50 in order to get the most from our retirement years.

Do I Really Need a Big House Now that the Kids Have Left?

Unless your adult children have decided to return to the nest recently, chances are your home has a few empty rooms. Of course, if you have paid off your mortgage, you may be tempted to believe that it doesn’t really make a difference whether you move to a smaller house or not. After all, you’re free and clear anyway.

But, is this really true? Not if you consider the costs of owning a larger home, including property taxes, upkeep and utilities. And, that’s not to mention the opportunity cost that comes from staying in your family home.

For example, let’s say you are 50 years old and live in a $500,000, 4-bedroom house with your partner. Your kids are already out of college, but, you keep their rooms empty for Thanks Giving and Christmas when the family gets together.

If you moved to a smaller apartment – let’s say for $350,000 – and invested the $150,000 difference, with a return of 10% per year, you would have close to $750,000 when you reached age 67. That’s a life-changing amount of money!

The point here is not whether you can get 10% a year (although, over the long-term, with the right plan, you probably can). The point is that staying in your big comfy family home when you don’t need all that space isn’t free. It’s actually super expensive!

Is My Car Keeping Me Fat, Unhappy and Poor?

When I was working in my corporate job, I used to commute for 2 hours a day. Even now, almost a decade since I left the corporate world to start my own business, I still shudder when I think about the road rage, heat, exhaust fumes, near misses and honking horns that I dealt with every day!

For several years after I left my job to enter semi-retirement, I still kept my car. Out of habit, I still jumped into the driver’s seat whenever I needed some milk or bread, even though the shop was only a 10-minute walk away.

Gradually, as the days and months passed, I started to realize that my car was costing me more than money. It was also keeping me fat and unhappy. How? By preventing me from doing what I knew that I needed to do… move more and eat less.

If you live in the U.S. chances are you have come to see your car as a “freedom machine.” This is how we are first introduced to cars as teenagers in America and the idea just kind of sticks with us. So, giving up your car might seem a bit crazy.

But, think about it. If you are no longer commuting to work (and maybe even if you still are!) do you really need your car? Or, are their other options that would save you time, money and excess pounds?

Once again, it’s not only the maintenance, gas and insurance costs that you could save by giving up your car before or in retirement. There is also a massive opportunity cost to owning a car. At 10% a year, if you sold your car for $10,000 at age 50 and invested the money, by age 67 you would have approximately $50,000!

Do I Really Want to Stop Working Completely?

Towards the end of my corporate career, I was tired. In fact, like many people my age, I swore that I would never work again… even if this meant giving up some of the finer things in life.

So, like many retirees, I shouted my plans from the rooftops, proudly proclaiming my freedom and assuming that I would never work again. Boy, was I wrong! In fact, I now realize that announcing your retirement is one of the worst financial decisions that you can make!

About a year after I left my corporate job, once my financial situation finally sunk in, I decided to start Sixty and Me and to look for some consulting work. It was extremely difficult (on both a practical and emotional level) to reach out to my ex-colleagues and business acquaintances again. I just wish that I had kept my retirement plans to myself!

So, my question to you is this… is your assumption that you never want to work again in sync with reality? Do you think that it is possible that you might miss having a structured social environment to rely on? Are you sure that you won’t need the money?

As someone who has been through this process myself (and who has talked with hundreds of retirees) trust me when I say that it is not working that we hate… it is working for someone else, 5-days a week in a job that doesn’t inspire us.

Reaching retirement puts options on the table that you may not have even considered. So, challenge the assumption that you never want to work again because this single decision can change your financial future forever.

Has My Family Budget Kept Up with the Times?

One of the most shocking financial reviews that I ever performed was one of simplest; 10 years ago, I sat down with my detailed monthly statement and asked myself one simple question as I looked at each line-item: “Do I still need this now that I am approaching retirement?”

Here are a few examples of the kinds of things that I found as I took a deep dive into my finances:

• A yearly membership to an activity center that my teenage sons used to frequent
• Two magazine subscriptions to business publications I no longer needed
• A website subscription related to my previous corporate job
• A gym membership that I never used
• A subscription to World of Warcraft that I let my son put on my credit card

All-in-all, I found over $200 a month in expenses that made sense when I was a mom, but, that were completely unnecessary in my new life. This money went straight to paying down my debts and increasing my savings. It doesn’t seem like a lot of money, but, over a decade it has made a big difference!

Is My Definition of a “Safe” Investment Too Narrow?

None of what follows is financial advice and I am by no means a financial expert. That said, in my opinion, many people of my generation have an overly narrow definition of a “safe investment.”

For many, a “safe” investment is one that *by itself* has an extremely high chance of returning your initial deposit – think CDs, U.S. Treasury Bonds and money-market accounts. The problem, of course, with these investments – especially over the last 10 years – is that they pay extremely low-interest rates. In fact, in some countries, interest rates on government bonds are actually negative!

A few generations ago, when our grandparents might have expected to live 5 years in retirement, it made sense to think short-term. But, now, most Boomers reaching retirement will live for 20-30 years.

As a result, it makes sense to work with a financial advisor (preferably a fiduciary) to develop a diversified portfolio (probably including some amount of equities) that is optimized for your situation. He or she can help you to find investment options that *in combination* have a high chance of returning your month, while still giving you a decent return.

Don’t just assume that “I’m retired… it’s time to put all of my money in something safe.” Get professional advice and play the long game.

When was the last time that you sat down with your partner (or a trusted friend if you are single) to challenge your money assumptions? What have you done recently to optimize your family budget? Let’s have a conversation!

I knew I was a poster child for
low bone density as a small framed, petite woman, but as a movement and Pilates
teacher, I was shocked and embarrassed to discover I had osteoporosis in my
femoral neck.

Luckily, I was already certified
in Buff Bones exercise for osteoporosis, which made me familiar with
studies on exercise and nutrition for bone health. Diving into osteoporosis
research was natural for me. 

Taking into account what I
learned, I began walking with a weighted vest, and I created a research-based weightlifting
program for bone health that I will follow for the rest of my life.

Additionally, my research led me
to take action in the ways I outline below. I reversed my osteoporosis in two
years. I cannot tell you that any one thing was the magic bullet, but I can
tell you that I feel much stronger and more confident today.

Review Your Intake of the Necessary Nutrients for Bone Formation

Contrary to popular belief, it
takes more than calcium and vitamin D for the body to form bone. There are 20 nutrients that are necessary for new bone formation! I suggest focusing on
the following seven to start.

If you’re not getting enough
nutrients with your food, use complementary supplements of high quality to help you in your battle with Osteoporosis.

Calcium

Take calcium for bone
formation and strength. Get it from greens, nuts, bone marrow, seaweed, and
figs. Milk is a much debated source so I don’t make it a primary focus but that
is a personal choice.

Magnesium

Magnesium boosts calcium
absorption and helps in the production of the bone preserving hormone. It
regulates bone breakdown and is involved in the conversion of vitamin D to
active form. Best sources are spinach, wild rice, flax, beans, almonds,
cashews, avocado, squash, and tofu.

Vitamin D3

D3 is vital for calcium
absorption. You can get it from sunshine, fatty fish, beef liver, eggs, and
butter.

Vitamin K2

Another vitamin that helps
with bone structure and binding of calcium to bone is K2. It’s found in natto, hard
cheese, and fermented food.

Zinc 

As a micromineral, zinc is
involved in bone protein recycling, bone healing, and bone building with
collagen protein threads. Get it from wheat germ, oysters, liver, and crab
meat.

Manganese

Manganese is involved in bone
cartilage and bone collagen formation. You can take it with whole grains, leafy
vegetables, greens, and blackstrap molasses.

Boron

Boron helps with the proper
metabolism of calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Best sources are chickpeas,
almonds, beans, prunes, and raisins.

Add Weight Bearing Exercise into Your Activities – A Must for Bone
Formation

Muscles and bones are a connected
system. Strengthening your muscles with external load (weights) creates forces that
send signals to the bones to build more bone as an adaptation to the force.

In addition, the load is site
specific. Thus, one must load at the hip, the spine, the wrist, and so on to protect all these
areas. 

There is a direct
dose relationship with using load. This means that even a little weight has some benefits. Heavy
weight and lifting more than once a week creates even more benefits! 

Lifting weights does not have to
be intimidating. You can start out at home, learning the proper form, then
progressing to increasing loads. My Bone Bootcamp program begins with the basics of
breathing and alignment and takes you slowly through a home-based program that
targets bone building sites.

Once comfortable, many of you will
want to lift heavier weights at a gym. It is always best to seek out a
qualified professional at the gym of your choice to make sure you know how to
use all their equipment safely.

A weighted vest is another way to
incorporate weight bearing exercise into your life. Wear it when you take your
regular walks. Ask your doctor or physical therapist to determine if you are a
good candidate for a vest.

Should you purchase a vest, invest
in one that has pockets that allow for adding weight in ½-pound increments.
Ideally, the goal is to wear 10% of your body weight in your vest. 

My favorite vest is the Ironwear
Fitness Vest. 

Make sure you’re getting enough
protein while you weight train as this will assist in building bone as well. Use
this calculator to see how much protein you need.

Prioritize Sleep

An often overlooked component is
rest. We know that 7 to 9 hours of sleep are absolutely crucial for top
performance of our mind and body. Not only does the brain restore and repair
during sleep, but so does the body (which includes your bones). 

Matthew Walker, a renowned expert
on sleep and its impact on your mind and body, explains in his book “Why
We Sleep” that sleep reboots the body systems and not just the brain.

Although the direct causal link
from sleep quality and quantity to osteoporosis has not been definitively shown
in research, the association is clear and evidences itself in many,
many studies. 

Since we know that sleep is
important for brain health, is there a downside to prioritizing sleep? Absolutely
not!

Incorporate Balance Work into Your Daily Routine

We know that falls can be
particularly damaging for individuals with osteoporosis. We also know that the
fear of falling can be a huge barrier to bone building activities like moving
and exercising.

The best preventative for falling
is exercise and balance training combined.

What
you can do:

Train Your Brain/Body Connection with Your Vestibular System

One of my favorite little “training”
tools can be done seated, standing or lying down. Try lying on the ground or
couch with your knees bent and your feet on the floor or couch.

• Begin by fixing your eyes on a spot or object on the ceiling. While you keep your gaze on this point, move your head to make a yes nod. Up and down. 
• Then change and move your head to signal “no” while keeping your gaze on the object.
• Next, keep your head still in the straightforward position and play with looking left and right with only your eyes. Then try up and down.
• Try this back and forth for two or three rounds. You will be surprised at the greater ease you’ll feel with your balance.

Train
Your Balance in Novel and Unpredictable Ways

Falls often happen at
night or on uneven surfaces, so training on uneven surfaces is important:

• Walk on a row of pillows.
• Walk over stones barefoot.
• Perform a hip hinge with your feet close together (chair or counter near by).
• Practice your hip hinge with one foot in a kickstand position (less weight on that foot).
• Try standing still with your eyes closed (hold onto a counter at first).

To combat your osteoporosis or
osteopenia diagnosis, there are quite a few actions you can take. It’s my goal
to help you feel more empowered as you deal with the idea of low bone density
instead of overwhelmed or stuck.

I hope that you leave this article
with a few next steps that you can begin to implement in your life today. Small
efforts do add up!

What do you do to protect and
build your bones and muscles after menopause? What supplements do you take in
addition to a nutritious diet? How much sleep do you usually get at night?
Please share with our community!

Tanya Sam’s Black Asymmetrical Dress in Greece

Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 12 Episode 18 Fashion

While I’ really wish that there was at least one more franchise of Real Housewives airing during this crazy time while we are all at home—the fact that Beverly Hills is normally on right now isn’t lost on me and I keep waiting for Andy to save us all with a surprise premiere date within the next three weeks—I am happy that at least the Real Housewives of Atlanta are bringing it with their Grecian vacation fashion. There are so many good pieces it’s hard to figure out where to start, however I immediately recognized Tanya Sam’s black asymmetrical dress and had to post.

Tanya’s mesh dress is a staple shape for this designer and comes in many colors (I’m also loving the pink and neon for spring and summer). The ruching makes it super flattering and the length makes it wearable by those of us who aren’t into rocking mini dresses. And those of us who are have the option of shorter versions of the same style.

So while we may be stuck and unable to do many of the things we are used to, here at Big Blonde Hair we are feel super grateful to still be able to do what we are best at. Watch Bravo and shop.

The Realest Housewife,

Big Blonde Hair

Click Here to Shop Her Norma Kamali Dress

Click Here for Additional Stock

Originally posted at: Tanya Sam’s Black Asymmetrical Dress

The Coronavirus pandemic is challenging beauty brands to step their game up in raising awareness and supporting initiatives focused on the vulnerable. The warm messages on social media and the constant reminder that we can shop online are a welcome reprieve from the news cycle. However, the escalating numbers and economical impact of this crisis call for a lot more. Lipslut’s Coronavirus donations initiative is hardly a surprise, and other brands should take note…fast.

The social justice brand has never been afraid to stand on the frontlines of championing a cause or shedding light on an issue with potentially dire consequences. Ever since it made headlines with a F*ck Trump lipstick back in 2017, Lipslut has continued to release provocative but important campaigns along with products whose sales always go toward a related organization. Up until now, that charitable mission has been limited to just part of the overall sales for a respective product.

Now, in response to the urgent need for resources that uplift those negatively impacted by school closings, sudden job loss, illness and more, Lipslut is taking their brand objective to the next level. From now until March 20, 100 percent of its online sales will be donated to a list of charities focused on food distribution. According to PopSugar, they include Meals on Wheels, the CDC Foundation, No Kid Hungry and more.

Source: Instagram

In such unpredictable times, deciding how to spend your money becomes more important than ever. For those of us who are fortunate enough to even think about a splurge, I encourage you to add a Lipslut product or two to your online cart. Yes, your selfie game will undeniably level-up, but you’ll also be helping those who don’t have the same luxury in times like these. Let’s also continue to help one another once we finally reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Ahead, some standout Lipslut products to shop right now.

Lipslut.

Lipslut F*ck Hollywood Matte Liquid Lipstick

A red-carpet-ready red created in response to the #MeToo movement.

Lipslut.

Lipslut Impeach Lip Gloss

A bold lip gloss created to “go towards organizations working to support women and other members of marginalized communities running for political office—hopefully ensuring someone like Trump never gets elected again.”

Lipslut.

Lipslut Clapback Matte Liquid Lipstick

A “magenta as f*ck” liquid lipstick and a reminder to never stay silent about the things that matter.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Hannah Ann Sluss’ Denim Jumpsuit on Instagram

The Bachelor Instagram Fashion 2020

Last Friday night Hannah Ann Sluss decided to show Peter what he’s missing by stepping out with Hannah Godwin (who fyi she was apparently already friends with before her stint on the show from the modelling world) in this fab denim jumpsuit. Which luckily you don’t have to miss out on for spring considering it’s still up for grabs and comes in about as many colours as there are Hannah’s in Bachelor nation.

Fashionably,

Faryn

Click Here to Shop Her Good American Jumpsuit in Limited Sizing

Click Here to Shop Additional Stock in Multiple Colours

Photo: @HannahAnn

Originally posted at: Hannah Ann Sluss’ Denim Jumpsuit