Blog Posts - financial security

May 15, 2017 By Pepper Evans
I received a milestone-birthday gift from a dear, longtime friend. It was a generous monetary gift that came with a caveat: I must spend it on myself. No college tuition help, no car repair, no electric bill—I had to spend it on something that made me happy. Read more...

Where Medicare Fails

February 20, 2017 By Flora Davis
A friend of mine was hospitalized recently. What really worried her, she told me the day before she went in, was not the procedure she was about to have but her medical bills if the hospital decided not to admit her and instead placed her under observation. Read more...

New Names for Today's Households

October 22, 2016 By Pepper Evans
As I wrote in a previous blog about older kids returning to live with their parents, it really wasn't that long ago that it was okay, respectable even, for a young adult to live at home until marriage. Then it became almost unheard of in my generation. And now, everything old being new again, 85 percent of college grads return home before flying solo, according to Time magazine. Sociologist Katherine Newman, author of The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition (2012), says it's a global issue. Read more...

Reverse Mortgages: An Age-Old Bid for Security

October 07, 2016 By Flora Davis
What scares most Americans more than dying? The possibility that we’ll outlive our savings.

There have been times in my life when that’s worried me. In my worst moments, I even imagined ending up as a bag lady. Read more...

Retire? Never!

July 15, 2016 By Flora Davis
When I was in my 30s, a friend asked whether I was saving money for retirement. I laughed. As a single mother with two small children, I could barely keep my head above water financially. No, I told her, I had nothing saved. She asked how I’d manage when I stopped working. I had no brain cells to spare to think about my old age, which seemed unreal to me anyway. Read more...

Scammed! A Warning

January 18, 2016 By Flora Davis
That day in December, my bursitis had flared up and I’d lost a filling, but what really bothered me was that my computer wasn’t working and I felt stupid. I’d fallen for a scam. What’s more, I’d just read an article about how often that happens to older Americans like me. We lose almost $13 billion a year to scams and identity theft. No wonder we’re a favorite target of con artists! I couldn’t help wondering: Would I have been so easily fooled a decade ago? Read more...

Coming Up Short

October 22, 2015 By Pepper Evans
Can you talk about your finances without feeling uncomfortable? Let's face it: some topics are still off limits, even among the closest friends. I'm going to talk about income disparity, even if it IS the last taboo. Read more...

Do Older People Deserve Senior Discounts?

August 05, 2015 By Flora Davis
When I flew to Montreal for a college reunion, senior discounts helped me pay for my airfare and hotel room. While I was happy to take advantage of these perks of my years, was I more deserving of such modest concessions than, say, a 20-something on the same plane? Read more...

Going Nuclear in a Family Way

May 18, 2015 By Flora Davis
I grew up in a nuclear family—parents, kids and that was it—but I had the impression that practically everyone else in America lived in three-generation extended families. When grandparents grew old, I believed, their grown children automatically took them in, and everyone lived together like the Waltons on television. Read more...

Aging Actuarially

October 13, 2014 By Bob Bostock
It’s rare, these days, that any piece of mail carries unexpected news. Between phone calls, Facebook, Instagram, Tweets, texts and Snapchat, we learn of most events, both happy and sad, almost in real time. Read more...

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Our Mission

The Silver Century Foundation promotes a positive view of aging. The Foundation challenges entrenched and harmful stereotypes, encourages dialogue between generations, advocates planning for the second half of life, and raises awareness to educate and inspire everyone to live long, healthy, empowered lives.

"It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment; in these qualities old age is usually not poorer, but is even richer."

Cicero (106-43 BC)

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