Mature Market Experts

Mature Market Experts: More news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors and the mature market – Life settlements helping seniors fund their retirement needs – Let’s face it, the current economy has not been kind to seniors. According to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM),  two new reports out this week put the recession’s effects on seniors into perspective.  The National Retirement Risk Index  shows that a majority of American households are at high risk of not having enough money in retirement. The 51% finding is the highest at-risk percentage since the index’ creation in 2006.   The report concludes: 

“Ensuring retirement security for an aging popula­tion is one of the most compelling challenges facing the nation. Yet the National Retirement Risk Index shows that in 2009 half of today’s households will not have enough retirement income to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living, even if they work to age 65, which is above the current average retire­ment age. Even if the stock market should bounce back, the housing bubble is unlikely to reappear. And as defined benefit plans fade in an environment where total pension coverage remains stagnant, Social Security’s Full Retirement Age moves to 67, and life expectancy increases, the outlook will get worse over time.”

Simply put, to be able to afford a move to your retirement community, assisted living, or skilled nursing facility seniors will need cash – now. As they morn their ravaged portfolios and real estate values, along with a freeze in Social Security income; the life policies that they have paid in to for most of their lives, have become one of the few assets they can sell and still make money on. Unfortunately, however, most are unaware of the opportunity these untapped assets present. Amazingly, 85% of life insurance policies never pay out. Why? As premiums rise most seniors just stop paying into the policy. The policy then eats away at its principal until it’s gone.

But that may be about to change. The mature markets’ need for cash has several people paying attention to life settlements. Life settlements which are transacted by trusted third party brokers like Live Free Capital. Live Free Capital works with reputable investors that pay the senior a substantially larger sum than what the life insurance company would pay (what insurance companies call the “cash surrender value”). The life settlement company pays the senior a large cash sum for the right to then take over their policy, paying the premiums along the way with the goal of collecting the larger cash settlement value upon the insureds passing away. In return, the senior gets to use this sizable cash payout when it will do them the most good … NOW, while they’re alive! According to industry expert Steven Morelli,

“That need has lead to more regulators and commentators starting to appreciate life settlements. Stories in mainstream media such as the Dallas Morning News and Newsday are encouraging seniors to consider the worth of their policies above their cash value. Settlements typically pay three to four times the cash value, usually 15 to 20 percent of the policy’s face amount. While that recognition grows, another movement is sprouting in state legislatures that could rip the market wide open. Just this year, first Washington State and then Maine passed laws requiring carriers to present the life settlements option to insureds who might be susceptible to cashing in or dropping their policies. At least three other states are reportedly considering similar regulations. This represents a significant about face for states, some of which make settlements difficult enough that companies have pulled out. Legislators and regulators have traditionally looked at settlements as inherently unseemly and as stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI) waiting to happen.

Why this change? Long-term care. The huge generation that rocked its way through the ’60s soon will be rocking on the porches of assisted-living centers, a short stop on the baby boomers’ way to the beds of nursing homes. Boomers’ bank accounts and investments will be no match for the enormous costs of extended care. LTC insurance still has not made a significant dent in this market. So, a large part of this population will spend down into Medicaid, which is shared by federal and state governments already struggling with the entitlement expense.”

In short, despite the insurance industry’s amazingly powerful lobbying efforts, two things are conspiring against their holding the life settlement industry down: (1) the economy has forced seniors and their families to consider creative new ways to fund their retirement needs … these families have also discovered that a life settlement will pay them far more than the insurance company will, and (2) the government needs seniors to pick up more of their retirement and health care tab if Medicare and Medicaid are to survive.

A Powerful Financial Tool For You And Your Clients

78% of US families own at least one life policy. Our experience with our current retirement community clients (national average age of entry into a continuing care retirement community is 80) is that 1 in 20 prospective residents will find a life settlement very useful towards solving some of their cash needs. My suspicion is that companies marketing assisted living, and nursing care will find similar statistics (although, in this case you’ll be educating the care giver.)

So, you’re interested in giving your sales team this powerful sales tool. What’s your next step? Live Free Capital specializes in teaming up with retirement communities, assisted living communities, and skilled nursing care facilities. Our firm, TR Mann Consulting, has been successfully using them to help boast our clients’ sales. Why? After interviewing several life settlement companies, we felt Live Free Capital shared similar values, ethics, and empathy for seniors that we have. They have an excellent training program to introduce this useful tool to your sales team and an infectious energy that results in increased sales for you. Also, unlike many other companies, they can handle policies as small as $50,000. In short, we highly recommend them.

To find out more visit Live Free Capital’s website or call them toll-free 877-300-5551. Or email me and I’ll introduce them to you.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use of boomers, seniors and the mature market - Music therapy — new program with pre-loaded iPods for Alzheimer’s - Music therapy on iPods. Let’s start with a quote from today’s WSJ article, which gets right to the point: “Ann Povodator, an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in Boynton Beach, Fla., listens to her beloved opera and Yiddish songs every day on an iPod with her home health aide or her daughter when she comes to visit. “We listen for at least a half-hour, and we talk afterwards,” says her daughter, Marilyn Povodator. “It seems to touch something deep within her.”

If you can, sit down at the piano.  For several years, I played the piano in my mother’s nursing home, where ladies with Alzheimer’s — who never spoke or who only swore — would suddenly break out in song. My favorites and theirs? Gershwin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me”, Blue Moon, or George M. Cohan’s “Over There.” Eventually I assembled their favorites and mine into a book that could provide one hour of great music — people would dance, my mother would sing along, and all would be clapping wildly at the end during “It’s A Grand Old Flag.”

Or send in your iPod. If you can’t play the piano or don’t have one nearby, here’s another option. I was delighted to read that the actual effect on the brain that I observed is now documented by scientists — and actually improves mood, cognitive function and taps long-dormant memories.  And the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, http://www.imnf.org, founded at Beth Abraham Health Services in the Bronx, NY, will program a customized iPod based on an individual’s musical tastes.  (Personally, I think they’re missing a few songs.) They are also looking for donated iPods to use for those who can’t afford.

Musically inclined — here’s another career change for you.  Apparently music therapy isn’t more widely used with Alzheimer’s patients because of a lack of manpower. There are only about 5,000 certified music therapists and fewer than 20% work with geriatric patients. The IMNF launched the ’send in’ program to help bring music therapy into patients’ homes. So for you career-changers who are musically inclined, go for it.

Editor’s Note (Tom Mann) - Laurie’s blog is on the money. I’ve seen the power of music invigorate healthy, independent retirement community residents … ignite movement to assisted living residents … and restore spirit to skilled nursing care patients. If you want to see a great program in action, take a look at this short video on Conductorcise that NBC’s Today Show ran.

Full Disclosure: Conductorcise is a client of TR Mann Consulting. That being said, their program is amazing.

Filed under: Laurie Orlov, Mature Market Experts, TR Mann, Tom Mann, Uncategorized, fitness, health, mature, mature market | No Comments »

Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors, and the mature market - They’ll never get my tonsils - Several years ago, on the day before my birthday, my appendix broke. It was an amazingly painful experience that left me grateful for the surgeon who removed the little bugger (normally two to four inches long).

Not only is a busted appendix painful, but it can also prove deadly. Every year 300 to 400 people die according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The doctor who performed the surgery, in an effort to comfort me, assured me that the appendix was worthless. Still . . . since the experience, I have often wondered what the purpose of this organ was.

Think about it logically. This God person seems pretty smart. After all the human body is an amazingly sophisticated machine. Why would he/she just throw in an extra part? Well, turns out some scientists think they have figured out the appendix’s job . . . to produce and protect good germs for your stomach. A career hypochondriac, I am now left to spend my remaining years worrying about who will fight the bad guys in my tummy.

They’ll never get my tonsils!

We tend to joke that as boomers and seniors age, all they talk about is their ailments. To me, it makes perfect sense. After all, your health IS your wealth! If your retirement community is not capitalizing on this natural “obsession” by marketing or advertising a “preventive” health care approach you are missing a major opportunity.  Many of the boomers and seniors are just now beginning to discover their own mortality. This STAGE event, usually triggered by tragedy or illness causes a deeper reflection of their lives. A good example is my appendix … the what “ifs” of life become more meaningful.

As I’ve preached before, stage NOT age is what drives people’s behavior. This is why; despite tons of money being thrown at it, Eons has not been overwhelmingly successful … while WebMD continues to be a raging success.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors, and the mature market - Seniors in Workforce Increases by 101%! - “Between 1977 and 2007, employment of workers 65 and over increased 101 percent, compared to a much smaller increase of 59 percent for total employment (16 and over). The number of employed men 65 and over rose 75 percent, but employment of women 65 and older increased by nearly twice as much, climbing 147 percent. While the number of employed people age 75 and over is relatively small (0.8 percent of the employed in 2007), this group had the most dramatic gain, increasing 172 percent between 1977 and 2007.”

Source: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Source: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

For more information on this topic, visit here.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors and the mature market - An Over-Zealous Mission To Serve Seniors - I wanted to follow up on Tom Mann’s blog from last week. It strikes me that if Erickson Retirement Communities can be accused of anything in filing for Chapter 11 protection, it is for over zealously trying to serve middle-class American seniors. It is what defined our success, and what ultimately resulted in our failure. The fact that the need for alternative living environments and service delivery systems is so obvious, yet it is such a hard concept to sell, is a paradox that may never be resolved. Having committed myself to advancing the concept of service enriched senior communities for more than  twenty five years, I fear that the meager gains we have made have all been washed away and then some by the current economic malaise. The psychology of the marketplace will remain fragile and complicated, and the business of taking care of seniors will remain risk-laden at best.

My own parents illustrate many of the issues that make the transaction so difficult. Mom, at 78 years old, was healthy and independent in her own mind despite a near death experience with an aorta replacement two Christmases ago. In fact, she had good days and bad days and had greatly curtailed her interaction with the world. In her mind, she would take care of my father, then 86 years old, and when he passed on she would scale down to a condo somewhere  and continue to live “independently.” In the meantime, panic stricken calls for help, and reluctant confessions of falls and on the origin of bruises and cuts, became more common. I was also aware of an endless barrage of doctor visits which frequently resulted in conflicting recommendations, sometimes bad drug interactions, and at the very least, dominated my parent’s time to the point that they couldn’t travel or get away. My suggestions that a more supportive, less demanding environment might be appropriate were severely rebuked.

Then mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed away after four months of sheer hell. The family lovingly pulled together and took care of things but it was much more difficult than it might have been. It didn’t take long for dad to decide to move to Charlestown. He may have been more motivated by a desire to move on from the memories of a house he had lived in with mom for twenty seven years than by the desire to get into a more supportive, appropriate environment but, it was a great decision.

A recent event clearly illustrates the wisdom of his decision. While my wife and I were in Boston visiting our daughter, dad took a fall. He was out walking his dog, slipped on some mud, fell hard, and couldn’t get up. Within minutes, a resident found him and called for help. An onsite EMT and a security guard responded, got him up, checked him out and got him safely back to his apartment. Later, he walked to the onsite clinic and his doctor examined him, took x-rays, and pronounced that there were no broken bones or anything that time wouldn’t heal. Imagine if he had been “independently” home alone.

This is what Erickson, and many other high quality providers represent, and why we must recover from this current situation and get back to our “over-zealous” mission.

Editor’s Note (Tom Mann): Kevin Glover has just formed a new firm KGRW and Associates. Kevin and his fellow principal, Rob Weaver, are two of the most talented people I know when it comes to designing and constructing continuing care retirement communities. With over 45 years of combined experience, their portfolio of communities is unmatched (my Dad lives at one of the communities they designed).

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors, and the mature market - Warm Weather, Mitch Albom, Conductorcise, and the International Council on Active Aging Conference (ICAA) - Need an excuse to get to sunny Florida just when the weather starts to turn? Look no further than the upcoming ICAA conference in Orlando, December 3rd through the 5th. This conference is a must attend if you are looking to bring your retirement community or fitness center to the next level.

Who couldn't use a little sunshine in December?

Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie and one of my favorite sports reporters will be the keynote speaker. Mitch is an author, playwright, journalist and screenwriter who has written seven books, including the international bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time.  His first two novels, The Five People You Meet In Heaven and For One More Day, were instant number-one New York Times bestsellers. All three books were made into acclaimed TV films. Plus, Mitch oversees three charities in Detroit.

Also presenting will be my good friend and client, Maestro David Dworkin of Conductorcise. If you haven’t seen his program yet, I can tell you it’s worth the trip. Here’s a TV clip that gives you a good idea of the fun you’re in store for.

Not on Mitch’s or the Maestro’s level … I’ll be (Tom Mann, Managing Partner of TR Mann Consulting and co-founder of Mature Market Experts) presenting “Becoming A Wellness Sherpa” which is all about relational marketing and becoming a trusted advisor. Here’s an article on the topic if you’d like a preview.

I hope I see you by the pool.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats on boomers, seniors, and the mature market that you can use - Interior Design Key to Aging in Place.

Aesthetics; noun; a branch of philosophy dealing with beauty (Merriam-Webster)

Four years ago I read an article that changed my thinking forever. I had what Buddhist call a “satoir,” or an instant awakening.

The article: Tracing the Flow of the Greek Aesthetic was written by Brian Krause. He interviewed Dr. Harris-Cline, a professor of Art History and Classics, as well as Greek Scholar.

Before you ask: What’s this got to do with aging in place? I’ll give you the substance of the article and tie it in…

Harris-Cline had been studying a phenomenon termed “flow” as described by psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990). Flow simply is the experience of being in what athletes call “the zone.” For a basketball player it’s shooting unconsciously and you can’t miss; for the writer it’s writing your best prose without lifting the pen to edit, or the runner who hits that sweet-spot where there is no fatigue, only a quiet zone of endless energy.

Dr. Harris-Cline applied the flow concept to develop her theory about Greek civilization. She suggested that: “The Greeks built a civilization where flow, and flow experiences, was part of everyday life.”

The theory posits that the Greeks developed a culture rich in sensual stimulation. They used incense and perfumed oils for smell; the lyre and flute for music; honey, olives, and fruits for taste.

The Greeks also appreciated the richness of touch, using hand woven fabrics from linen to wool, and created beauty and good taste in their homes. She thinks the Greeks triggered flow experiences from them and over time began to love beauty and beautiful things.

Further, the flow experience brought on by aesthetics allowed the Greeks to produce political and philosophical ideas and inspired works of art that are still held in esteem today. And also helped breed tolerance and appreciation for diverse experiences of human life.

In my opinion Harris-Cline is on to something…and the implications for aging in place and interior design are significant.

I’ve always argued that interior designers are a key element in successful aging in place. The mature market is requesting home modifications to make them more energy efficient, convenient, comfortable, and safe.

What they don’t want is to live in an institution and any changes that hint at infirmity aren’t going to be received well by many older adults, especially boomers. The demand is for non-stigmatizing and aesthetically pleasing products.

Luckily there are designers who understand this and are turning obstacles into beauty. Individuals like Cynthia Leibrock and Michael Graves are liberating mundane assistive devices and making them not only non-stigmatizing, but a delight to look at.

Interior design and aesthetics matter, they’re not just niceties but can make the difference in adopting aging-in-place modifications and even being inspired by them.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors and the mature market - Aging with Style Means a New Luxury Market. According to an ASID (The American Society of Interior Designers) survey of U.S. homeowners, 82% plan to stay in their own home for as long as possible, even if outside assistance and care is required. The survey also found that 52% of American baby boomer homeowners age 45 plus are interested in learning more about how they can age in place - with style not sacrificed for function. Designers see this as an opportunity to develop a new niche market of high end products for mature market homes. For example, the simple grab bar has been redesigned from a purely utilitarian object to something luxurious. So rather than detracting from the look of the home, it actually enhances it. Other modifications being brought into mature market homes include raising the toilet height, lever door knobs, hands-free faucets, lower cabinet heights, and nonslip rugs. To read more click here.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors and the mature market - How to Be Sure Your Web Page Has Enough Color Contrast for Greatest Legibility.  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which sets technical standards for the web, has come up with a formula to check that your site has enough contrast between the foreground and background colors, or when viewed in a black and white mode, to ensure legibility - critical when marketing to boomers, seniors, and the mature market.

Several programming companies have taken this a step further and created a formula to automatically adjust foreground colors to pop against background color as it is chosen by the program user. To learn more about this click here.

From the W3C website: “Two colors provide good color visibility if the brightness difference and the color difference between the two colors are greater than a set range.

Color brightness is determined by the following formula:
((Red value X 299) + (Green value X 587) + (Blue value X 114)) / 1000

Color difference is determined by the following formula:
(max (Red 1, Red 2) - min (Red 1, Red 2)) + (max (Green 1, Green 2) - min (Green 1, Green 2)) + (max (Blue 1, Blue 2) - min (Blue 1, Blue 2))”

There are some fascinating entries here, including evaluating legibility with color blindness (according to W3C  one in twenty people have some form of color vision deficiency), low vision and other disabilities - perfect for those marketing to baby boomers, seniors and the mature market. To see the complete list of web accessibility evaluation tools put out by the experts at W3C click here.

Technical stuff, I know, but making sure your designers (both print and web) have an empathy towards the mature market’s vision issues can make all the difference. For a less technical discussion on understanding vision and contrast, here’s a video of me discussing the issue with the marketing group from T. Rowe Price.

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Mature Market Experts: more news and stats you can use on boomers, seniors and the mature market - Are Online Video Viewership Claims Realistic? The October 28th issue of Advertising Age raises some very interesting questions for marketeers to consider before purchasing online ad space. By asking some very pointed questions, author Jim Louderback (the CEO of internet video network Revision3) analyzes the validity of self reported viewings. Sites can claim a viewing even if it was watched for only a second, if a viewer has technical difficulties and repeatedly clicks on play, or even more egregiously, if the video starts automatically when entering a website. Would Nielson TV ratings include channel surfing for less than a second as a viewing? Advertisers wouldn’t stand for it, but they are being duped into just that by allowing the current self reporting to continue to mislead them (wittingly or not). Louderback suggests you ask the following questions when analyzing a site:

“How about multiple views from the same user?”

“How many views do you get for each episode?”

“Is viewership growing, shrinking or steady?”

“How do you count unique viewers?”

“Where do the views come from?”

“Do you pay for any views, or are they all organic?”

How important is this for the mature market anyway?

Keep in mind, that according to Pew that although internet viewing is not the norm among seniors, the 50+ segment of online video viewers continues to grow. In fact, among users ages 50-64, viewership is up 34% from just last year with 41% of this age group now saying they watch video on sites such as YouTube. In 2009, 27% of seniors 65+ now watch videos online, as compared to just 19% last year.

To read more click here.

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