Do you really need to take that vitamin? Probably not. More and more data shows that healthy people don't gain anything from popping vitamins and minerals, and supplements may even pose risks. Here’s what you need to know about these popular products:
Vitamin D
Despite the fanfare surrounding the sunshine vitamin, there’s growing concern that people are being over-tested and over-treated for vitamin D deficiency.
The National Academy of Medicine has determined that individuals are deficient if their blood levels of vitamin D fall below 20 ng/mL, which affects between just 6 and 13 percent of Americans, says Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and a leading vitamin D researcher. (Some doctors have considered blood levels under 30 ng/mL a problem.)
“Several randomized control trials have shown no benefit from supplements, and some have even suggested that very high doses of vitamin D supplementation — especially once-a-month or once-a-year dosing — are linked to an increased risk of fractures and falls,” says Manson.
A recent review  found that older adults who take vitamin D and calcium are no less likely to break their hips or other bones than those who don’t use the supplements. And so far, claims like cancer prevention haven’t panned out in studies. Make sure you are truly Vitamin D deficient before you take a supplement, Manson advises.
Calcium
Older adults need 1,000 to 1,200 mg a day, but chances are, you are getting more calcium from food than you think. Besides dairy foods, calcium is found in leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, canned salmon and sardines, white beans, figs and fortified foods like orange juice and tofu.
Calcium in pill form (rather than food) has been linked to kidney stones and heart disease. Data also show that calcium supplements don’t build bone mass significantly and aren’t as protective against fractures in postmenopausal women as once believed.
Who needs a calcium supplement? Elderly and infirm people with a poor diet and those with osteoporosis may still benefit. “But if your dietary calcium is reasonable, one 500 mg tablet a day is plenty,” says Dr. Clifford J. Rosen, an endocrinologist at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute.
Multivitamins
With hundreds of multivitamin formulations on drugstore shelves — and amounts ranging from the recommended daily allowances to megadoses — it's easy to understand why “many people use them in the belief that they are improving their health,” says Dr. Eliseo Guallar, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “But this hasn’t been proven.”
Multiple studies have shown multivitamins don’t have a substantial effect on the rate of heart disease, cancer or death from any cause. Other research has found they didn’t do much to help brain health or prevent a second heart attack.
An antioxidant supplement can slow the progression of macular degeneration, however, Guallar says. And people who have had bariatric surgery need a multivitamin because they don’t absorb nutrients from food very well, adds Paul M. Coates, director of the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements, which conducts supplement research.
Though it’s almost always better for other people to get nutrients from food, it’s fine to take multivitamins occasionally to make up for poor eating, Coates says.
Fish Oil Supplements
The American Heart Association endorsed the use of fish oil supplements for heart health in 2002. But now the group is walking this advice back.
Why?
“The vast majority of high-quality clinical trial evidence, most of which relates to heart disease, shows no benefit from taking fish oil supplements,” says Andrew Grey, associate professor of endocrine medicine at the University of Auckland School of Medicine, who studies bone diseases. “But they may slightly reduce the risk of dying in patients with heart failure.”
The bottom line: Fish oil supplements probably aren’t helping you. Eat fish instead.
B Vitamins
Adults need 400 mcg of folate, 1.3 to 1.7 mcg of vitamin B6 and 2.4 mcg of vitamin B12 every day. But you can probably get enough of these nutrients from food, especially if you eat fortified products like cereal and processed grain products. And studies on the effectiveness of B-based vitamin supplements against heart disease, cancer and dementia have found little to none.
“If your typical diet provides enough B vitamins, there appears to be no advantage to taking more,” says Coates. Plus high levels of B6 can cause nerve damage, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements.
However, vegetarians, vegans and older people (who are sometimes less able to absorb vitamin B12 in food) may need a B vitamin supplement. The diabetes drug, Metformin, also interferes with the vitamin’s absorption. People with kidney problems or autoimmune diseases may need a B6 supplement, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements.
If you are concerned, ask for a test.
Editor's Note: For more perspective, watch the "Frontline" episode, "Supplements and Safety":



Do Older Adults Really Need Vitamins and Supplements?

Beth Howard

In the packed hall, an audience of flickering bluish faces stare raptly as Janet Leigh's sister looks up, then down the creaky staircase. Having seen snippets of "Psycho," I had found the movie's shower scene only moderately unnerving. But now, as my fellow students cheer and stomp, the sister enters the cellar, turns the chair — and I scream. Just like Janet Leigh.
Grace Kelly and Anthony Dawson in 'Dial M for Murder,' 1954It startles and annoys the more worldly college kids around me, but Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud.
Hollywood's Golden Age is defined as ending in the early 1960s — so as a young boomer, I missed it entirely. Grown up among dairy farms and apple orchards, where our heavy Zenith TV brought in 2½ channels, there was no chance to catch up on much except the annual showing of "The Wizard of Oz."
For a rural kid who, by age 18, had seen just six movies in a theater, this was a revelation akin to being whirled out of the monochrome flatness of Depression Kansas.
But years before the arrival of cable and streaming services like Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Channel, immersion in 1940s and '50s movies came from an unexpected source. My university had no film course that I'm aware of, but it did offer so many film series in massive lecture halls, library meeting rooms and the student union, that an observant moviegoer could practically minor in cinema.
A Whole World Opens
I saw roughly 200 films over four years. This astonishes friends now when I mention it, but really, it works out to seeing just three movies every two weeks, hardly a startling number. If a roommate, friend or date wanted to go, great. If not, I'd go alone — just me and some 30 to 500 other students, soaking up thrillers and comedies, dramas and vivid musical extravaganzas.
For a rural kid who, by age 18, had seen just six movies in a theater, this was a revelation akin to being whirled out of the monochrome flatness of Depression Kansas.
Through film, I could travel to Ireland, Japan, Morocco. Marie Curie's lab, ancient Rome and Paris during the French Revolution. Never mind that documentaries were not exactly a thing yet and Cecil B. DeMille's epics were often filmed in California . . . that was the magic of cinema, n'est-ce pas?
Sharing a Love of the Cinema
It was also a bit of a family affair. On college drop-off night, the movie shown outdoors for hundreds of families was 1933's "Duck Soup." (Groucho Marx: "Why, a four-year-old child could understand this report. Run out and find me a four-year-old child.") Nothing like a roar of laughter to kick off freshman year.
My grandfather used to say Claudette Colbert was his favorite star and watching "It Happened One Night" (1934) made me see what he meant. She and Clark Gable peeking around her improvised room-dividing curtain cracked me up, as did her showing some leg on the roadside to stop a passing driver. (Three years later, in "Way Out West," Stan Laurel of Laurel & Hardy stopped a stagecoach by doing the same thing.)
It was interesting coming to my own conclusions on some films. In my father's eyes, James Bond was a tough guy, a world saver, a ladies' man. Seeing early Connery and Roger Moore for myself, I decided he was a human cartoon character. Space hijackings, hopscotch on crocodiles . . . James, really?
A Lifelong Love Begins
Part of my college education involved expanding my vocabulary, and the films I watched contributed to that. From movies, for instance, I learned the meaning of "gams" (legs), "gumshoe" (private detective), "stool pigeon" (informer), "a dame" (woman), "kisser" (mouth) and "going on the lam" (fleeing the police or some other threat).
Film noir. My early-1980s campus was awash with these 1940s and early '50s stylized mystery and crime dramas, the atmospheric ones with underworld characters scheming behind Venetian blinds, on dark, wet pavement and in shadows — everywhere shadows.
I was astonished to see Fred MacMurray, the affable father of TV's "My Three Sons," as an amoral murderer.
In "Double Indemnity" (1944), I was astonished to see Fred MacMurray, the affable father of TV's "My Three Sons," as an amoral murderer. (No spoiler here. Per the Hays Code, it's all in the first scene.) In "Laura" (1944), Dana Andrews fell for Gene Tierney's portrait, and I fell for Dana Andrews. In a classic plotline, Ray Milland was an innocent family man in "The Big Clock" (1948) forced to search for a killer while being framed for that very crime.
My spouse and I recently caught two of Hitchcock's best, "Dial M for Murder" and "Shadow of a Doubt." "Noir represents a fascinating meeting point of American and European styles and sensibilities," writes Kat Bello in The Collector blog. "The constant twists, betrayals, red herrings and double and triple crosses aim to constantly disorient the viewer. Film noir is never as concerned with the reveal of the mystery as it is with the psychological dimensions of crime."
I was able to draw the connection between this 1940s genre I instantly adored and 1974's cynical, corruption-ridden "Chinatown" (which took place in 1937). It may have arrived three decades later, in color and with a tremendous amount of sunlight, but "forget it, Jake" — it's still film noir.
Requisite Academic Connections
Several movies actually did complement my college studies. Those wacky 1950s monster and alien flicks ("The Blob!" "Invasion of the Body Snatchers!") and "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" (1964) provided insight into the neurotic early days of the Cold War. "The Third Man," filmed on location in Vienna in 1948, offered viewers a you-are-there look at Austria immediately after World War II.
Reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls," Ernest Hemingway's antifascist Spanish Civil War epic, and then watching the movie version filmed in 1943 amid WWII made for a gripping two-fer. (Did Ingrid Bergman, who starred in "Casablanca" as well as "For Whom the Bell Tolls," make a habit of playing stoic wartime heroines?)
Learning about the intricacies of the civil rights movement in the 1950s and '60s was eye-opening; encountering the blackface and cringeworthy racial references in such otherwise delightful films as "A Day at the Races" (1937) and "Holiday Inn" (1942) was eyebrow-raising.
Ever use "gaslight" to mean the psychological manipulation of someone to get them to doubt their own sanity? See the 1944 film that gave birth to the term.
When sociology courses examined the collapse of female employment and the push to diminish women's prominence after World War II, I saw this echoed in the difference between "Baby Face" (1933), in which a young Barbara Stanwyck cheerfully slept her way to the top in business, and "Marjorie Morningstar" (1958), in which our heroine Natalie Wood had romantic misadventures only to (apparently) settle down as a housewife.
Of course, the Hays Code also had something to do with that. But societal changes don't occur in a vacuum.
Why 'Old Movies'?
Not only were some of our best films made in the 1930s through the 1960s, but the best of recent films are influenced by those before them.
"Mank" (2022), which won two Academy Awards and was nominated for eight others (it won two), tells the story of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter who collaborated with Orson Welles on the script for "Citizen Kane" (1941); together, those movies make a perfect double feature. "La La Land" (2016) doesn't hide its connections to 1950s and '60s films of all kinds.
You'll get more out of "The Aviator" (2004) if you've seen Katherine Hepburn, Ava Gardner and Errol Flynn rule the screen themselves. "Star Wars" (1977) was said to be a Western set in space, a "yee-hah" rehash of the serials and adventure pics of George Lucas's boyhood. And so on.
Ever use "gaslight" to mean the psychological manipulation of someone to get them to doubt their own sanity? See the 1944 film that gave birth to the term.
Betty Bacall's Pursed Lips
Without knowing old movies, you won't understand some of the greatest lines, either. "Well, nobody's perfect." "Rosebud." "Goodness had nothing to do with it." "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve?" Eighty years after Lauren Bacall purred that to her future husband Humphrey Bogart in "To Have and Have Not," viewer reaction is still "Whew!"
Whether your exposure to the Golden Age is through a home screen or years of theatergoing, the experience is both enjoyable and enlightening. "To me, the perfection of classic movies is the pure art of the story," says Bennett Garner Green in The Odyssey. The plot and characters keep you gasping, guessing, laughing or swooning . . . no special effects needed.


When the Pictures Were Big

Ellen Ryan

Despite its long-standing reputation as a land of abundance, America can be more of a barren desert when it comes to male friendship. One in six American men are unable to name even one or two close friends. A little more than one quarter of men today report having at least six friends. Contrast that with 36 years ago, when a majority (55%) reported having at least six close friends.
"Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type,"Such extreme social isolation has led U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to declare an epidemic of loneliness, with implications for long-term health and longevity, including increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Now aged 54, and having experienced periods of intense loneliness in my own life, Murthy's announcement has led me to wonder, why is it so hard for men to form and maintain close relationships as we age?
Friendship Gap Opens
I pinpoint my friendship gap to when a close friend, a constant companion for hiking, biking, movies and sporting events, moved from the Bay Area, where I live, to Southern California in 2017. My deepest friendships predate my moving to California 25 years ago, and when Jeff moved, I wasn't able to replace him with anyone else with whom I had a seamless overlap in interests, and who was as available (he has no kids).
Most of the couples we socialized with were the parents of our children's friends. 
The onset of the pandemic in 2020, with its fundamental changes, exacerbated things. Like other extroverts, I missed having the office as a "second place" for community and friendship, a problem that may be ongoing for millions of us who no longer regularly go into a workplace.
I was also experiencing a major role change at home: my kids were growing up and no longer needed me in the same way. I had been the parent who planned family trips, vacations and cultural outings — the self-described "Chief Fun Officer." I relished that role.
College and COVID Take a Toll
When my oldest daughter left for college in fall 2021, it hit me really hard. I subsequently learned from my mother that my father experienced something similar when my brother and I left for college. (The impact of this role change among parents is a topic that deserves further exploration.)
Like most families with children, our collective social life revolved around our kids. Most of the couples we socialized with were the parents of our children's friends. Yet, at some point during the COVID quarantine these opportunities to get together dried up. None of the other dads reached out to make plans. Were these actual friendships? While friends of convenience are important, they aren't the same as deep, lasting friendships. For one thing, they're easier to dispose of without explanation.
How Men Connect
Social constructs around gender reinforce the way many men unconsciously operate. According to Judy Chu, who researches boys' relationships and development, the signal to "man up" begins as early as kindergarten. Young boys, she said, "are conditioned to not reveal things in a place you know is going to be unsafe to do so."
The combination of being lifted up and laughing nonstop for three days was the tonic I needed. 
The result, says Fred Rabinowitz, who teaches at University of Redlands and studies male friendship, is that "men are taught to shut down our emotional lives from early on." This impulse to exhibit strength, competitiveness and stoicism makes it harder to be intimate and vulnerable, with anyone, of any gender.
As women have ascended in school, the workplace, politics and elsewhere, the need for men to be like Gary Cooper, who Tony Soprano longingly referred to as "the strong silent type," feels outdated. What women (and men) need, Rabinowitz said, is somebody they can talk to. Once again, pop culture is mirroring this shift. Characters like Ted Lasso, with his fuller range of emotions and ease at expressing himself, offer a new model of masculinity.
An Epiphany
A turning point for me came in October 2022, during a hiking trip to the Grand Canyon with three fraternity brothers from college. The combination of being lifted up and laughing nonstop for three days was the tonic I needed. The most remarkable part was how effortless it all felt, despite the decades apart.
That trip was an a-ha for me: if I wanted more male friends in real life, I would have to work at it. I went home determined to use my skills as an organizer to make it happen. I joined a tennis club. Around the same time, I formed an all-male book club composed of neighbors on my block and some dads I hadn't been in touch with much since our kids were small.
And I resolved to continue to organize an annual (co-ed) trip to the Indian Wells Open tennis tournament in California. As noted by Aaron Karo and Matt Ritter, hosts of Man of the Year, a popular podcast on male friendship, being the designated organizer in a friendship group is a critical role and one that can be taken for granted (reward your organizers, people!).
Lonely? You Are Not Alone
If you feel isolated and yearn for more friends, here are some practical tips that may help.
Practice vulnerability: While it isn't easy for many of us, finding ways to be more unguarded is a key part of developing meaningful friendships. Chu and her colleagues have found that boys are more open and vulnerable with each other when engaged in a "side-to-side" activity (whereas girls tend to be more comfortable talking face-to-face). A friend with two boys made the same observation to me unprompted. I find it easier to open up more during a long car trip, when hiking or sitting side-by-side at a ball game. These situations may be a gateway to opening up more with other men.
Make a list of your interests, then a list of people you already know that you could invite to join you for an activity you like to do.
Diversify your portfolio: As with finances, it's important to diversify our assets — in this case, friendships. These days, I've noticed I'm doing activities with men of different ages, from early 40s to almost 80. Are you interested in baseball, politics, jazz or birdwatching? Make a list of your interests, then a list of people you already know that you could invite to join you for an activity you like to do.
Reach out: I skied twice last month with a guy I barely knew. It happened after I ran into his wife and lamented that I didn't have anyone to go skiing with. She said, "Oh, Greg loves to ski." We shared a hotel room and clicked on the long car rides. I feel like I've made a good new friend.
Someone else I have known since college told me that a fellow dad recently approached him and said, "You seem like a cool guy, I'd like to get to know you better.'" It's hard to argue with that opener.
Rabinowitz says to follow your instincts: "You may be thinking, 'I really like this guy, but I don't want to bug him." Instead, think, "What's the risk?"
Join a group: In 2022, I went to an event hosted by The Men's Circle, a local men's group in the Bay Area that meets weekly. In the end I decided the group wasn't for me, but I'm glad I tried it. Groups like these have grown more and more common in the past five or six years in many parts of the country.
If you cannot find an existing men's group, consider starting one. You may be surprised by how many other men in your area may have a similar desire but are waiting around for someone to organize them.
Show up: As we get older, "90% of friendship is about showing up," says Karo, of the Man of the Year podcast. This can take a variety of forms. "It can be as simple as texting somebody and saying, 'Hey, just checking in. I know you lost your job. Or I know you lost a family member. I know you're going through a hard time,'" he said. 
Who do you miss in your life right now? Make a list, then commit to getting in touch.


Men and the Friendship Gap

Steven J. Birenbaum

"I have spent long hours sitting with my mother, age 90, and her brother, 92, listening to them talk about their misspent youths, and asking questions here and there," says Helen Chapman, a Kentucky author who loves collecting oral histories. "Some of their stories have wound up in my books, things like the boys following the garbage wagon up the back alleys carrying bats (they looked like cricket bats). The garbage was put out in bushel baskets. The basket would be dumped and rats would jump out. The boys would try and catch the rats 'on the wing' as it were."
"Oral histories preserve the personal recollections that might otherwise disappear."To get them started, Chapman says, "All I'd have to do is ask my uncle for my great-great grandmother's recipe for fruit cake or chicken soup and we'd be off to the races. Or I'd fix a meal like my grandmother made when they were young, like sauerfleisch (sour spiced pork) and potato dumplings. We'd wind up talking at the table until the gravy solidified into a loaf."
"All I'd have to do is ask my uncle for my great-great grandmother's recipe for fruit cake or chicken soup and we'd be off to the races."
Considered the gathering of information about events that happened to or were experienced by people, whether from a family, community or other collective, oral histories preserve the personal recollections that might otherwise disappear. Some say oral histories started when humans began to talk and that cave drawings and hieroglyphics are pictorial depictions of those histories.
They picked up in popularity in the 1960s as portable tape recorders became more accessible. "Popularity increased again as the Covid pandemic and social isolation set in," says Zach Ellis, founder and CEO of TheirStory, Inc. "We developed more of an intellectual need for human connection so there was probably an uptick in that time."
TheirStory is a remote interviewing platform that helps communities collect, preserve and engage with the audiovisual stories of their members. "We had a limit to in-person meetings, then Zoom came along," Ellis says. "Often this interchange is just as useful remotely, cheaply and geographically. A lot of podcasters are oral historians."
Collecting Histories, Facing Questions 
Organizations, businesses and universities started collecting memories. Their interests range from the Borscht Belt Museum in Ellenville, New York, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, New York's Museum of Modern Art and the USC Shoah Foundation in Los Angeles, which started as a way to chronicle the Holocaust.
When you decide to collect oral histories, you face a lot of questions. The first is whether you try to become proficient and comfortable with the process (by reading or taking classes/webinars) or just jump in because some people in your family are older or frail and may not live long enough for you to do enough learning. 
In addition to TheirStory, you can find how-to lessons, questions to ask and other tips and ideas on such sites as Oral History Summer School, NPR's StoryCorps, Baylor University Institute for Oral History, A Life Untold, and Ancestry.com. 
As an example, The Institute for Oral History offers a selection of training workshops each year and participants can attend from the comfort of their own home or office.
One major problem you may face is your family and friends may not think they're interesting. It's up to you to ask questions that prove them wrong.
Barbara Mistrik, a retired architect, says, "I'm researching family history in advance of a reunion where I want to make what I find available to cousins. I am now the crone and oldest cousin of some 22 original first cousins. I have already clarified a couple of questions about my Slovac grandparents, parents and that grandmother's half-brothers." 
"There are so many questions I never asked my grandparents on both sides and I'm sad about that."
She continues, "Interestingly both half-brothers died noteworthy deaths. One was the only death in a Pittsburgh public pool that season and the other was at my aunt's wedding reception. Both died of heart attacks, but the circumstances put the deaths in the news. I do remember stuff my younger cousins weren't around to witness and I hope some are interested to hear. Like our oldest aunt, I am the only one to visit my grandfather's village in (now) Slovakia."
New York publicist Lisa Hanock-Jasie says, "I think oral histories are terrific and I plan on recording my dad and mom on my next trip to visit them. There are so many questions I never asked my grandparents on both sides and I'm sad about that." 
When asked what her first question will be, she says, "'If you could've been anything else in the world, what would you have liked to be?' With that question out of the way, the real history begins."
Asking Open-Ended Questions 
Note both Mistrik and Hanock-Jasie are asking open-ended questions that need narrative responses rather than yes/no replies. Another starting point can be a photo album or home movies. Ask if the wedding dress was hand or custom-made, by whom? Was it handed down? Did the family gather frequently or just on special occasions? Finding the list of top-ten popular songs or newspaper headlines at a specific time can trigger memories. 
The questions I regret not asking my father was did he know about the Statue of Liberty when he and his family came to this country? Did he see it as they sailed into New York Harbor? I've asked the cousins (children) of his older siblings and they never asked their parents either.
The questions I regret not asking my father was did he know about the Statue of Liberty when he and his family came to this country? Did he see it as they sailed into New York Harbor?
Ellis says, "We found when recording stories with our parents that it was easiest to start by recording each person's favorite life stories. You know, the ones you've heard them tell 1,000 times and you always roll your eyes at, before asking deeper questions. This serves as an easy way for everyone to get used to the format and technology, and just to get comfortable having and recording meaningful conversations."
Capturing the Interview 
Steven Sielaff, Senior Editor & Collection Manager, Baylor University Institute for Oral History (BUIOH); Editor in Chief, Sound Historian, Texas Oral History Association (TOHA); and Associate Director, Oral History Association (OHA) says, "I love the oral history industry and the variety of interviews. They're some of the friendliest people who are interested in talking to new people and exploring new horizons.
"It's important," says Sielaff, "to record the interview in a quiet room. The sense of smell is important if cookies are baking or someone's smoking grandpa's favorite cigar." 
For another prompt, he suggests "a map of the area where the family grew up," perhaps an old one and a current one to notice the differences." He thinks a small recorder, maybe $200, works well. "Turn it on and put it on a nearby table and everyone forgets about it." Also, don't interrupt. Do ask follow-up questions.
Depending on how many people you interview, you're likely to hear different facets of a person's life. Someone may have been known as a class clown or life of the party by some and a strait-laced business person by others. 
Since the popularity of DNA tests, there have been a large number of "parent not expected" results. This could result from an unmentioned adoption, sperm or egg donor, or promiscuity. You might want to consider how this will be treated. The film "Stories We Tell" by Sarah Polley might help you resolve your issues in case the topic arises.


How Oral Histories Bring Family Stories to Life

Judy Colbert

At the end of every year in the past, I anxiously waited to crack open my new daily planner for the coming new year so I could jot down resolutions. I like a clean slate. 
Every year those resolutions tumbled to the bottom of my to-list before I'd finished humming "Auld Lang Syne." Things like, be more disciplined/stop procrastinating, tackle my TBR stack/try a digital sabbatical, and cut out sugar/lose ten pounds/no more than one dessert a day, topped the list year after year.
"I'm thinking more about living for the first time in…well, at least four years"This year, I'm Googling phrases like "Is an advance directive the same as a living will?" "Where is assisted suicide legal?" "What drugs are used in assisted suicides?" When I type the last question into Google, the first thing that comes up is the number "988" and encouragement for me to reach out for support. 
My arm felt heavy, the muscles rippled beneath the skin and my finger strokes on the keyboard weren't landing as efficiently as they once had.
I don't have a solid diagnosis yet. Instead, I have a plethora of odds and ends symptoms, disorders, dysregulation, immunodeficiencies and viruses after I contracted a nasty respiratory illness that lasted for seven weeks at the end of 2019 after a return trip to the Midwest to visit family for the holidays. 
The Downward Spiral 
The downward spiral started with an episode of super ventricular tachycardia a week or so after I was "on the mend." My resting heart rate hit 150 plus beats per minute which began a series of trips to the local emergency room, tests and procedures. That illness triggered a marked decline of my health and was likely the beginning of this chosen end that I'm facing now. 
But then, last March, three years after that first trip to the ER, I noticed weakness in my right forearm while I was working from home one afternoon. My arm felt heavy, the muscles rippled beneath the skin and my finger strokes on the keyboard weren't landing as efficiently as they once had. Words were missing letters…Knoledge. Languge. Mariage. Muscles spasmed. 
The next few months brought resting tremors, and trouble swallowing. My speech became sluggish in the evenings when I was most fatigued. I started to struggle with short-term memory, mixed up words in conversation, and it felt like words I used frequently had been stowed on shelves in my brain and I could no longer reach them. 
I'm doing things like leaving the kitchen with the faucet running, burners on, and recently, I put a container of yogurt in the drawer with my Pyrex lids.  
'Maybe ALS' 
In August, my rheumatologist referred me to a neurologist — my life inundated with ologists. Immunologist. Gastroenterologist. Rheumatologist. Neurologist. He suspected that rather than an autoimmune disease, a neuromuscular disorder was the root cause of many of my symptoms including the weakness, tremors and autonomic dysregulation which caused functions like heart rate, blood pressure and temperature to become unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous. 
Now, after most physical exertions, like taking a mildly warm shower, my body temperature spikes to 102-104 degrees, my heart races to 130-150 plus beats per minute.  
"Maybe ALS," the rheumatologist said. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. A terminal diagnosis. 
Thus far, ALS can't be ruled out with certainty as a diagnosis, but it also hasn't been confidently diagnosed at this point in the MRIs, EMGs and blood draws. I'm being referred to another neurologist for further evaluation. According to the ALS Therapy Development Institute, some patients initially receive a "suspected, possible, probable, or definite ALS" diagnosis as other disorders and diseases are ruled out. 
I think in terms of quality of life, and regardless of which of those diagnoses the doctors land on, my decision to end my physical, cognitive and emotional suffering remains the same.
On paper, ALS is the worst-case scenario in terms of outcome with a life expectancy of two to five years depending on the progression of each individual patient. Best-case scenario, this myriad of symptoms, this failure of my fifty-two-year-old body, is that my faulty, gone-rogue immune system that has already attacked my other organs — lungs, liver and spleen — has started its assault on my brain causing inflammation and/or deterioration. 
A Decision Made 
This brain that I've filled with ten years of study in higher education, ideas for essays, books yet to be written, language, memories of my children, their children, my parents when we were all much younger — has been damaged. There is no way to know if there's any hope of recovering what's been lost. But now, I think in terms of quality of life, and regardless of which of those diagnoses the doctors land on, my decision to end my physical, cognitive and emotional suffering remains the same.
I haven't officially told my family, many of those relationships are estranged/strained, and, even as a child, I oft communicated in writing. As a child, I asked my mother if she was mad at me on lined steno pages left on the kitchen table, asked her to check yes or no. 
I've written letter after letter to my husband throughout our nearly-twenty-year marriage — in the beginning, letters of love and wanting, more recently, letters of request and reflection. I'm sorry you ended up with a sick wife. 
I have expressed my frustration and fatigue with being sick for so long to some members of my family, said things like "This isn't sustainable," or "I'm not sure how much longer I can do this." But they are of the mindset that I need to get out more, that I can somehow right the ship of my sick and fledgling body with positivity. Even my husband has talked to me about the power of "mind over matter." Those are all different conversations. 
On my worst days, I'm frequently utilizing my newly-purchased rollator after being humbled by several trips and a few falls.
Now, I have to try to take a short walk or do some sort of activity after every meal to help my stomach empty itself of its contents, lest the gastroparesis cause the food to stagnate and form a solid mass in my gut. On my worst days, I'm frequently utilizing my newly-purchased rollator after being humbled by several trips and a few falls. Some days, I struggle to feed myself and swallow food and drink, regardless of consistency. 
While my brain and my body continue to weaken, I think about the trivial, everyday things like not being able to make and pour my own coffee, think about how my hands are no longer strong enough to hold one of my beloved coffee mugs that I've collected over the years from my children or from pottery-making friends. 
I can no longer stand in the kitchen for extended periods while I make doughs and roll them into glazed and streusel-ed pastries or stir a pan of homemade hot fudge that I gift to friends and neighbors. I worry that my arms won't hold my new granddaughter expected in the spring. 
Leaning Into End-of-Life Plans 
On a grander, more humiliating scale, I've wet myself more than once trying to maneuver my faltering, quivering body out of bed in the morning. As my speech slurs with fatigue and my word recall is failing, I think about the joy I've always found in oral communication — it's how I connect with the world around me. I'm a storyteller, a teacher, a talker. The idea of losing these things that make me me is unbearable, as it is for anyone diagnosed with a debilitating and potentially terminal disease. 
See a meteor shower. I checked this one off the list.
I am leaning into these end-of-life plans, engaging both the creative and Type A aspects of who I am. I am taking online art classes, learning to sketch, to paint, trying to teach myself to knit while simultaneously writing my care plan, getting my "final wishes" down on paper. "Final Wishes" is such an odd statement. I imagine genies seduced from bottles and how you can't "put the genie back" once it's freed and am reminded of the permanence of my decision. 
Making Lists 
I don't like the term "bucket list," but I've been making one —well, part bucket list, part to-do list. In my mind, I've divided this into three parts: places to see/go, things to do, things to no longer do. The list has things like:
Places to see/go:
1.     See the northern lights in Maine, hike while I'm there.
2.     See fall foliage somewhere in the northeast. One more time.
3.     Visit another country. I've settled on Algonquin Park in Canada's Ontario province. Stargaze, see the northern lights from there too.
Things to do: 
1.     Go camping. Sleep connected to the earth. 
2.     See a meteor shower. I checked this one off the list.
3.     Plant a garden.
4.     Collect and compile recipes for my kids, make care packages for each one with sentimental items.
5.     Finish/sell my book.
6.     Write letters to loved ones. See loved ones.
Things to no longer do:
1.     No more offering myself up to those who aren't interested in genuine loving/considerate relationships.
2.     No more hating myself for the past. I want to love the life I lived, flawed as it was in many ways. 
3.     No more finishing books that I don't like. 
It's been four years now, counting that lengthy viral illness. I'm tired. I reached the decision to end my suffering after much thought and consideration. I don't know exactly when, but I'm close to settling on an assisted end-of-life plan. 
But now, instead of wondering how my disease/s and decompensation will progress, worrying about the logistics of needing a greater level of care, I'm thinking more about living for the first time in…well, at least four years, maybe more. I'm seeking joy, love and kindness and looking for everyday opportunities to pour those things back out into the world around me. 
Some days, I'm successful and other days, I'm not. I'm not a gracious sick person. But in all of this, I'm grateful that in planning for my death, I've finally learned what's important to me…finally learned how to live. 


How Planning My Death at 52 Helped Me Learn More About How I Wanted to Live

S.C. Beckner

The income Vivian Marlene Dunbar, age 75, earns as a freelance signature gatherer for ballot initiatives in California means she can afford groceries, pay medical bills and keep her car.
Older adults and many others like them prefer being independent contractors because they can set their own schedules and make time to care for a sick spouse or accommodate their own disability if they have one.Working as an independent contractor gives her the flexibility she wants and needs to schedule around doctors' appointments. She likes never having to answer to a boss.
"After just six months of freelancing, I thought to myself, I don't ever want another full-time job again."
It's the same for Lila Stromer, 65, a freelance academic editor in New York City for the last 14 years, and Roger Baumgarten, 63, a full-time freelance photographer in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, since 2017, working mostly for nonprofit groups and health care systems.
Entrepreneurs or Gig Workers?
AARP estimates that more than a quarter (27%) of older workers do freelance or gig work. Many worry a new Department of Labor (DOL) rule set to go into effect on March 11 may limit the work available to contractors, significantly shrinking their income as they head into retirement.
Like most independent contractors, Stromer and Baumgarten consider themselves to be small-business owners or "solopreneurs" rather than gig workers like Uber drivers.
For one thing, gig workers tend to freelance on top of holding a traditional job. Only 6% of gig workers (1% of all adults) earned at least 90% of their income from gig activities, according to Federal Reserve data.
"I like what I do — having my own business — and until my marbles go away, I plan to keep on working," says Stromer. "After just six months of freelancing, I thought to myself, I don't ever want another full-time job again."
An Independent Contractor Test
These older Americans and many others like them prefer being independent contractors because they can, say, set a schedule that allows them to care for a sick spouse or arrange their work to accommodate their own disability if they have one.
The new DOL rule rescinds a 2021 worker-classification regulation that had a looser definition of who is an independent contractor, replacing it with a six-factor test for companies to consider as they classify workers as employees or contractors.
The six factors — none of which carry more weight than the others, according to the DOL — include:
Opportunity for profit or loss depending on managerial skill.Investments by the worker and the potential employer.The degree of permanence of the work relationship.The nature and degree of control.The extent to which the work performed is an integral part of the potential employer’s business.Skill and initiative.Misclassifying Workers to Save Money
The DOL says "additional factors" could be considered, too, but doesn't specify what those are. The rule aims to correct worker misclassification, which has historically been a problem. Some companies classify workers as contractors instead of employees to avoid giving them benefits or contributing to taxes.
"Misclassifying employees as independent contractors is a serious issue that deprives workers of basic rights and protections," Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su says in a DOL press release. "This rule will help protect workers, especially those facing the greatest risk of exploitation, by making sure they are classified properly and that they receive the wages they've earned."
"This rule is about restoring an analysis courts have used for decades and making sure that vulnerable workers or workers subject to exploitation are protected as employees and given minimum wage and overtime."
In fiscal year 2023, the DOL investigated more than 600 employers who had misclassified over 23,000 workers as independent contractors, resulting in workers receiving more than $13 million in back wages, according to a DOL spokesperson. Proponents of the new rule though say it could prevent more people from being misclassified in the first place.
Sally Dworak-Fisher, a senior staff attorney at the National Employment Law Project, which supports the rule, says the six factors are the same ones courts have historically used, based on legal precedent, to decide who should be covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a labor law that establishes minimum wage and overtime pay.
"This rule is about restoring an analysis courts have used for decades and making sure that vulnerable workers or workers subject to exploitation are protected as employees and given minimum wage and overtime," she says.
In-home caregivers and construction workers are examples of occupations at high risk of misclassification, Dworak-Fisher says.
A company that willfully violates the FLSA could be criminally prosecuted and face up to $10,000 in fines.
Contractors Like Their Flexibility
Data suggest worker misclassification may be the exception rather than the rule in many industries. Surveys consistently show that most independent contractors prefer their independence. Around 79% of them prefer their arrangement over a traditional job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while fewer than one in 10 contractors want a traditional work arrangement.
Dworak-Fisher believes true independent contractors in business for themselves are unlikely to be affected by the new rule. "The north star for all the factors is: is this person running their own business or are they dependent upon working in the business of another?" she says.
"The Department does not believe that this rule will result in widespread reclassification or a reduction in self-employment."
The DOL recognizes independent contractors in business for themselves play an important role in the economy, a department spokesperson says. "The Department does not believe that this rule will result in widespread reclassification or a reduction in self-employment," says the spokesperson.
Yet, with "in business for themselves" not clearly defined in the rule and the factors not completely cut and dry, an unintended consequence could limit work opportunities for legitimate independent contractors, including older Americans, says Michael Lombardino, an attorney at the law firm Haynes and Boone in Dallas.
"It's definitely murky," he says about the rule. A Haynes and Boone bulletin on the new rule that Lombardino co-authored noted that "many features of the final rule will make it more difficult to classify certain workers as independent contractors."
A Possible Drop in Self-Employment?
Liya Palagashvili, an economist at the Mercatus Center, a free-market think tank at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia, believes the rule will likely affect two groups the most: women, who tend to pursue flexible work opportunities more so than men, and older Americans.
"Since a lot of older Americans do seek out these flexible forms of work as they near retirement — or after — this rule will likely lead to reduced work opportunities for them," she says.
"Since a lot of older Americans do seek out these flexible forms of work as they near retirement — or after — this rule will likely lead to reduced work opportunities for them."
Implemented in 2020 when acting U.S. Labor Secretary Su was California's labor commissioner, California's Assembly Bill 5, or AB5, similarly set out to protect workers by getting more people on the payrolls. But many Californians working as legitimate contractors suddenly lost income after businesses and nonprofits stopped working with them as freelancers and didn't hire them as employees.
In a recent study, Palagashvili found that after California passed its law seeking to reduce the misclassification of workers, overall employment in the affected occupations fell by 4.4% on average, while self-employment shrank by 10.5%. The state ultimately exempted 110 occupations from the law after Californians complained. The DOL rule has no exemptions.
"These results suggest the DOL rule may lead to a significant decrease in self-employment in the U.S.," Palagashvili says.
Instead of restricting independent contracting, the government could better support the workforce by encouraging options that allow contractors to maintain their non-traditional employment arrangements while still accessing benefits, says Palagashvili.
Will Contractors' Clients Care?
Stromer in New York fears her clients will sever their relationship with her out of an abundance of caution, not wanting to inadvertently apply the rule incorrectly. "It's going to handcuff clients so they're afraid to work with me," she says. "I feel like I'm fighting for my business, and it's exasperating."
Baumgarten also worries that his largest client, a health system with an in-house photography studio, may decide it's too risky to work with contractors and cut him loose. "This rule is intruding on an entirely voluntary relationship that works for my client and works for me," Baumgarten says. "I just want to be left alone."
In recent weeks, independent contractors in fields from writing to trucking have brought a series of lawsuits against the DOL in an attempt to stop the rule from going into effect. One came from a group of four freelance writers and editors, all women over age 50, including Kim Kavin, 51.
Freelancers Work Together
Kavin owns her own freelance writing and editing business in New Jersey and leads Fight For Freelancers USA, a nonpartisan coalition of freelancers from across the country that spans professions from translation to interior design. Around 20% of group members are ages 55 to 64 and nearly 10% are age 65 and older.
Some members turned to freelancing after suffering age discrimination that cost them a traditional job, says Kavin. "They still want to work and earn, and the way they're able to do it is as independent contractors," she says.
Kavin says she does well as a freelancer and does not want a traditional job, even if she could find one at her age. "It's a lot harder to find a traditional job in your 50s than in your 30s, especially one with the significantly higher level of income that I've been able to achieve as a freelancer," she says. "If I lose this self-employed business that I just spent 20 years building up, there may be no other place for me to go."


New Law Redefines Employees and Contractors

Deborah Lynn Blumberg

Inflation is slowing down, hopefully for good. But real interest rates — what you can earn from investing in safe government bonds over and above inflation remain high. Since 2022 real yields on Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS), also known as inflation-indexed bonds, have gone from below zero to roughly 2%. Where savers were once willing to lend their money to the U.S. government in exchange for limiting their loss, they are now being compensated quite handsomely.
The goal is to have the TIPS provide inflation-adjusted income — a combination of interest and principal payments — in each year to meet some or all of your spending needs.Figure 1. Real interest rates have risen dramatically over the past few years
Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
For those preparing for or already in retirement, this is especially good news. Buying individual TIPS that mature across different years — a strategy known as building a TIPS ladder – can help you lock in a stream of inflation-adjusted income for as long as 30 years.
Let's put this into perspective. When real rates were 0% back in early 2022, it cost about $1 million to build a TIPS ladder producing $100,000 of inflation-adjusted income each year for the next 10 years. Now, with real rates near 2%, the same decade of $100,000 of annual inflation-adjusted income costs about $900,000.
Think about that for a minute. The same stream of dollars, precisely the same purchasing power, now costs $100,000 less, letting you spend $10,000 more per year.
Your Financial Plan
What does this mean for your financial plan? Now's a good time to build your TIPS ladder. Doing so can help you lock in a higher living standard without taking unnecessary risk.
Let's be more concrete. Consider the Johnsons, a 70-year-old retired couple with $40,000 a year in Social Security income and $2 million in savings, including $1 million in retirement accounts and $1 million in taxable investments. Back in early 2022, when real rates were 0%, if they had created a financial plan using a planning tool such as MaxiFi Planner, an application sold by a company I run when I'm not teaching, they could have built a TIPS ladder to support their spending over the next 30 years. They could safely afford to spend about $49,671 on discretionary spending, adjusted for inflation, each year through age 100. Discretionary spending is spending on top of fixed expenses, like housing, taxes and Medicare premiums.
Now, with real rates at about 2%, the Johnsons, with the exact same financial goals and resources, can safely afford to spend $69,579. In effect, the higher real return on TIPS has safely increased their discretionary spending in retirement by $19,908 every year for life. That is a 40% increase in their standard of living.
Figure 2. Higher real rates have increased how much the Johnsons can safely afford to spend on their living standard
How to Build a TIPS Ladder
In practice, building a TIPS ladder means buying inflation-indexed Treasury bonds of different maturities, either from your regular assets or a brokerage account in your IRA. The goal is to have the TIPS provide inflation-adjusted income — a combination of interest and principal payments — in each year to meet some or all of your spending needs.
Figuring out how much real annual income you need the ladder to produce, and for how long, is probably the most important question to address first. Start by considering how to build a TIPS ladder that produces at least enough income in addition to Social Security (and any other guaranteed income you may have, like a pension or annuity) to cover all your fixed costs in retirement.
Building a ladder is relatively straightforward. Use an online application like Tips Ladder to determine the best bonds for your situation, and then buy those bonds through your discount broker. It can be done in an afternoon — although getting a real human on the phone is usually best.
Let's consider the hypothetical Johnson family again. Between paying their taxes and covering housing and Medicare-related costs in retirement, their annual fixed spending is projected to be about $60,000, adjusted for inflation, for the next 30 years.
Figure 3. The Johnsons expect to spend about $60,000 per year on fixed expenses in retirement
With $40,000 of inflation-adjusted annual Social Security income, this means the Johnsons will require an additional $20,000 of inflation-adjusted annual income for the next 30 years to cover all of their fixed spending ($60,000 – $40,000 = $20,000). At today's real rate of 2%, this will cost them about $450,000. (Note that when TIPS rates were 0%, the equivalent ladder cost $600,000.) If they wanted to cover some portion of their discretionary spending as well — the turquoise bars in figure 3 — they could invest even more into their TIPS ladder.
Upside Investing Basics
Let's say you want to use TIPS to safely cover all of your fixed spending plus some minimum acceptable level of discretionary spending in retirement — what we'll call your living-standard floor. Having locked in this living-standard floor you can now engage in so-called upside investing, by investing your remaining savings in risky assets like stocks.
If the stocks underperform (or go to zero) you can still safely maintain your living-standard floor. And, if they perform as (or better than) expected you can safely increase your living-standard floor each year by converting a portion of the stocks to TIPS over time. Let's consider the Johnsons again.
The Johnsons desire a discretionary spending floor of about $40,000 per year, adjusted for inflation. To accomplish this, in addition to covering all their fixed spending in retirement not already covered by Social Security, they invest about $1.35 million of their savings into a TIPS ladder that produces about $60,000 of annual real income for 30 years ($40,000 to pay for their living-standard floor and $20,000 to cover their residual fixed spending).
Then, they take their remaining $650,000 of savings and invest it in stocks, like a low-cost S&P 500 index fund. Each year they sell a portion of the stock — gradually, so they do not risk exhausting this cushion before they die.
Invest that capital gain in TIPS and you can consistently raise your living-standard floor throughout retirement. If stocks perform poorly (see dark blue line in Figure 4), the Johnsons' living standard floor may not rise much. But, if stocks perform as expected (see light blue line), the Johnsons will be able to spend well above their floor by capturing the upside.
Figure 4. The Johnsons use TIPS to lock in a $40,000 living standard floor, and then invest the rest in stocks, hoping to increase discretionary spending in the future.
In a sense, upside investing is like having your cake and eating it too. By using TIPS to cover your fixed spending and lock-in a desired living-standard floor in retirement, you can safely invest in stocks for their potential upside. The lower you set your living standard floor, the greater is your potential upside, and vice versa.
Summarizing the Strategy
With real (inflation-adjusted) interest rates higher than they've been since the Great Recession, you can now safely afford to spend more without having to take unnecessary risk. This strategy involves building a "TIPS ladder" — that is, a portfolio of individual Treasury Inflation Protected Securities that mature on different dates over the coming years.
Locking-in a stream of real income payments in retirement via a TIPS ladder can both safely cover your fixed spending and create a living standard floor. Surprisingly, this approach can also make investing in stocks less risky from a living standard perspective. By setting a comfortable living-standard floor using TIPS, you can effectively afford to take more risk with your remaining investments in hopes of increasing your living standard throughout retirement.


Retirement Investing Tip: Take a Look at TIPS

Jay Abolofia

Laurence J. Kotlikoff

This article is part of Navigating Change, a Next Avenue initiative made possible by the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation and EIX, the Entrepreneur Innovation Exchange.Rick Bulan was watching television in 1994 when he saw something he wanted: A 1,000-pound, 12.5-foot-long piece of deteriorating handrail removed from the iconic Golden Gate Bridge a year earlier. "I remember thinking it would make a cool headboard for a bed," recalls Bulan, now 53.
Paul Block in his studioOn impulse, he bought the weathered relic. Later, with money he had been saving for a down payment on a house, he bought more handrail sections and founded Golden Gate Furniture in San Francisco, where he makes lamps, tables, bookends and jewelry from the steel.
Flip from Food to Furniture
Paul Block, while working as a chef 27 years ago at a winery in California's storied Napa Valley, was inspired to try turning discarded wine barrels into tables, chairs, benches and more.
Over time, he stopped cooking and opened Wine Barrel Furniture in Fairfield, California. In 2012, he began fashioning desiccated grapevines into candleholders, chandeliers, table bases and whimsical fencing. Now 55, Block aims to work as a zero-waste manager at a winery.
"A lot of people like to talk about what others should do with their lives, but when it boils down to it, it's just a matter of knowing what you want to do and making it happen."
Through the decades, both men have crafted careers by making something new from something old, using discarded items as raw material for creations that are both artistic and functional. Along the way, both have taken creative risks, pivoted when necessary and learned new skills.
Block designed and built a 6-by-12-foot kiln that "cooks" 50 grapevines at a time to kill any insects or fungus lingering in the leggy vines, some of them 8 feet wide. Bulan trained on the torches and saws he needed to cut through steel, and even took a job in marketing for a time to learn how to compose a compelling media release.
Both men have enjoyed success — and readily acknowledge that more change is inevitable. But they are ready. "A lot of people like to talk about what others should do with their lives, but when it boils down to it, it's just a matter of knowing what you want to do and making it happen," Bulan says. "That's a little scary, but there is always a payoff."
'I Turned Trash into Money'
The biggest payoff for Block, he says, is yet to come. "Basically, wine barrel furniture did not exist before me, and after I die and my furniture lives on, the true value of my handmade wares will become apparent," he says. "Price times longevity equals value, and many of my pieces will last 100 years. Plus, my art work had a global impact on the wine industry, because I turned trash into money."
Block embraced finding appropriate reuses for discarded items long ago. As a fine arts student majoring in sculpture at Boston University, he was hesitant to buy new materials. "Making art is not supposed to be stressful, and using stuff I found in landfills or collected from the garbage was fun," he says.
Later, Block attended culinary school in Boston and then enrolled at Parsons School of Design in New York, where he studied environmental design.
A Profound Impact
"When making a table at Parsons, I used cardboard and other trash as part of the process," Block says. "That mentality was strengthened there because the film 'An Inconvenient Truth' had a profound impact on all of us in the art world."
In 1996, Block moved to California to work as a chef. Some 16 months later, he built his first piece of furniture from a used wine barrel. In 2010, a winegrower invited Block to set up a furniture workshop in a barn on a four-acre parcel of land just outside Calistoga, on the northern edge of the Napa Valley.
Rick Bulan"He had intended to open a winery with barrel storage, a tasting room and offices, but he didn't have enough land," Block says. "I turned part of the property into an agricultural dump site for barrels and grapevines, and after I put up a sign on the highway, wineries brought me their garbage, because I was saving them thousands of dollars in dumping fees."
That won him recognition from the California Department of Agriculture as the only grapevine recycling business in the state. Block also established a community woodbin to collect dried grapevines for people to use for winter fuel.
"I was saving them thousands of dollars in dumping fees."
Early in 2020, the wine grower decided to sell the property in Calistoga. Block moved into a shop in town, then into a shared space in Sonoma County and later to a shop in Solano County.
"Now I'm looking to operate a waste management program, open to the public, at a winery," Block says. "All vines, barrels, bottles, wooden wine boxes, pallets and corks will feed through me, and I'll spin them into money. I've been doing that since I sold my first piece of furniture, and one thing leads to another with art."
'Blood, Sweat and Burns'
Bulan's metal art has led to almost 30 years of creative satisfaction as he has designed products and cut steel — and invested "blood, sweat and burns." He explains: "Sometimes when I use a dry metal saw, the blade flings hot little pieces of steel in every direction, so I've been burned a few times." Still, the Bay Area native notes that his early learning process was even more challenging.
"After I hired a truck to bring home that first big section and got it into my side yard, I spent a month trying to figure out how to cut it," Bulan says. A hardware store provided advice about blades for a circular saw and his neighbor taught him to use an oxygen-acetylene torch to cut the steel. Bulan used the torch to craft a 115-pound bed headboard instead of one that weighed 350 pounds.
'Golden Gate Bridge Handrail Queen Headboard,' made by Rick BulanWhen a friend asked Bulan to make him a headboard, Bulan put aside his diploma in finance and left a warehouse job so he could concentrate on a career that seemed to have chosen him.
"I never thought about where this would go," he says. "I just knew it was what I wanted to do and I pursued it." Over the years, Bulan has mastered tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding and a plasma cutter and learned the art of placing magazine ads.
Currently, Bulan fills custom orders and designs new products, "playing with different arrangements and shapes" that suit steel from the bridge. The pedestrian handrails he first bought were removed from the west side of the bridge, which takes the brunt of fierce wind and salty air from the Pacific Ocean.
A grapevine candelabra made by Paul Block"The sections weren't in terrible shape," he notes. That's because the base coat for the bridge, which opened in May 1937 after more than four years of construction, is a zinc primer and the top coat is an acrylic enamel moisture-cured battleship paint in a rowdy color known as International Orange.
Because bridge sections replaced in more recent years have not been made available to Bulan or other interested buyers, he does see an end in sight. What happens when he runs out of steel? Bulan laughs at the perfect set up and quips, "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."


Unexpected Career Pivots Can Lead to Job Satisfaction

Patricia Corrigan

With U.S. household debt at a record level and credit card debt topping $1 trillion, it's not surprising that paying off loans and credit cards is the most common New Year's resolution for boomers and Gen X in 2024, according to The Ascent personal finance site. The trick is actually doing it.
"If you're in the early stages of falling behind, there's still a way to work things out with your creditors to get back on track without going to the nuclear option,"Only 47% of credit card holders with balances have a plan to pay them off, a recent Bankrate survey found.
"If ever there was a year to avoid getting further into debt, this is that year."
"An increasing number of people, especially older Americans, are carrying debt from month to month. And the balances they're carrying are growing," Bruce McClary, senior vice president of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling said on the debt-reduction episode of the Friends Talk Money podcast I co-host.
Especially concerning: Interest rates on credit cards are about five percentage points higher than in spring 2022, on average, and rates on some department-store cards now exceed an eye-popping 34%. That has led to a rise in late payments.
Add Car Payments, Doctor Bills, Student Loans
Monthly car loan payments have been soaring, too, due to rising auto prices. So has medical debt, which is owed by one in three Americans.
Another problem: Student loan borrowers are facing long hold times trying to reach their loan servicers and getting inaccurate billing statements, according to a January 2024 report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Debt has become so overwhelming that the number of people aged 55 and older filing for bankruptcy has doubled in the past 16 years, accounting for 20% of all bankruptcy filings these days, my podcast co-host Terry Savage noted.
Depend Less on Debt
"If ever there was a year to avoid getting further into debt, this is that year," said McClary. "If you become less dependent on debt and your credit-card balances are under control, 2024 is going to be a winning year for you."
Here are a few suggestions to reduce your debt load in 2024:
"It's an easy conversation to have, but you don't know what you can get unless you ask."
Call your credit card company and try to negotiate down your rate. A recent LendingTree survey found that 76% of people who asked their card issuers for a lower rate got one — often six percentage points below what they'd been paying.
"It bothers me that so few people actually think to call up their creditor and have that discussion," said McClary. "It's an easy conversation to have, but you don't know what you can get unless you ask."
Look into a 0% offer for a balance-transfer credit card. Many card issuers, eager to attract customers, dangle 0% interest rates for 18 months or so for people who transfer over their current credit card offers.
Swapping your high-rate credit card for one charging 0% might save you hundreds or thousands of dollars. You can find such offers on sites like NerdWallet and Bankrate.
Just be sure you know what the new card's regular interest rate is since you'll pay that when the 0% deal expires if you have a balance at that time. "This is not a long-term strategy; it's great in the short term," said McClary.
Find out, too, if there are fees to transfer your credit-card balance. Typically, the fee is 2% or 3% of the balance you're rolling over.
Ask About a 0% Balance-Transfer Card
Not everyone can qualify for a 0% balance-transfer card, though.
"To get one, you can't have had any late payments," said Friends Talk Money co-host Pam Krueger.
You generally also need a top credit score in the high 600s or above to get approved for a balance-transfer card. So, before applying, ask your bank for your credit score or go online and request a free credit report. You are entitled by law to one free report per year; if you need more than one, you will have to pay for the score from one of the three big credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax or TransUnion.
You Do Have Other Options
If you have a lot of medical debt, try negotiating with your doctor or hospital. You might get a reduction in the amount you'll owe by agreeing to pay the provider faster.Meet with a nonprofit credit counselor. The free session to create a debt action plan will likely take 30 minutes to an hour, either in person or by phone.The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, the nation's oldest nonprofit for improving financial well-being, never turns anyone away; its 1,215 certified credit counselors work in 250 locations around the country.A debt action plan can stop the debt collection calls and emails that heighten financial stress.If you have student loan debts, apply to enroll in the U.S. government's SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) plan. This income-driven repayment program, which replaced the REPAYE (Revised Pay as You Earn) plan, calculates your monthly payment based on your income and family size.SAVE lowers payments for many borrowers and it will become more generous in February. Then it will start forgiving debt in as few as 10 years if borrowers originally took out $12,000 or less in student loans, down from 20 to 25 years previously.Loans eligible for SAVE are direct subsidized and unsubsidized student loans, direct PLUS loans for grad students and Direct Consolidation Loans that didn't repay any PLUS loans made to parents. Loans that aren't eligible include Direct PLUS loans made to parents, Federal Perkins Loans and any loans currently in default.Debt Forgiveness Extended
Take advantage of the government's newly extended deadline for debt forgiveness. Originally, the program to consolidate loans for the forgiveness was scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2023. "It just got extended to April 30," said Savage.This debt forgiveness program is for Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), school-held Perkins loans, Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL) and Parent PLUS loans in repayment for at least 25 years.If you're not sure whether your loan qualifies, go to the Loan Breakdown part of the StudentAid.gov site."If you're in the early stages of falling behind, there's still a way to work things out with your creditors to get back on track."
If your debt load is crushing, investigate filing for bankruptcy. A nonprofit credit counselor can discuss the pros and cons and help you go this route if appropriate.In fact, nonprofit credit counseling is a required part of the process for filing a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy or a Chapter 13 bankruptcy with a debt repayment plan."If you're in the early stages of falling behind, there's still a way to work things out with your creditors to get back on track without going to the nuclear option," said McClary. "But if you're facing potential legal action, that may be a more appropriate time to think about settling your debts and trying to get out of this with a pennies-on-the-dollar kind of approach."Sign up for a budgeting app to take control of your spending. The most popular one — Mint — was shut down by its owner Intuit late last year. But there are quite a few others that could be helpful.They include YNAB (formerly called You Need a Budget), Quicken Simplifi, Rocket Money, Tiller and PocketGuard. You'll typically pay $35 to $100 a year, but many of the apps have one- to three-month free trials."If you'll be using an app," said McClary, "just make sure your data is secure."


How to Get a Handle on Debt in 2024

Richard Eisenberg

Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl, escaped the Central Park Zoo when a vandal apparently cut a hole in his steel mesh cage in February 2023; he went on to live freely for a full year, soaring high in New York City. He had been at the zoo for 12 years, his entire life.
Flaco roosting in a Central Park treeFlaco passed away on February 23 of this year on the Upper West Side — the neighborhood where he'd been seen and heard hooting on top of water towers and apartment balconies in recent months. He was discovered lying injured in an apartment building courtyard. Rescuers from the Wild Bird Fund, located just blocks away, quickly attended to him but Flaco didn't make it.
"It's been an emotional experience for everyone at the clinic." 
"It's been an emotional experience for everyone at the clinic," says Catherine Quayle, communications director of the Wild Bird Fund.
The cause of Flaco's exact death is still pending. "The Wildlife Conservation Society is performing the necropsy, and we don't know how long the results will take," says Quayle.
Flaco captured the hearts of so many people around the world — and continues to do so.
Flaco also deeply touched my heart. I'd visited him often at one of "his" trees, beginning when he was scouting Central Park soon after his escape. My favorite spot to visit Flaco was when he'd begun to hang out in a tree near the waterfall in Central Park's North Woods.
"The odds were against Flaco," says Quayle. "In his many years in captivity, Flaco had never flown or hunted, and was loose in a city of glass walls, cars and other raptors with far more street smarts. He didn't eat anything for almost two weeks, and then one day he caught a rat. The joy and relief among the Flaco watchers was immense. Flaco knew how to hunt."
From then on, the owl seemed to thrive, says Quayle. "He found his niche, and he made his unusual situation work for a whole year. This is a story that all New Yorkers and, really, people everywhere, can relate to. It's inspiring."
And she adds, "He was also an extremely handsome fellow. The camera loved him."
Why Flaco Was So Loved 
A beloved pet is a family member and a best friend. When they pass away, the grief can be profound.
I was one of them who would visit when I needed a Flaco fix. And I always left feeling lighter and better after an encounter with this sweet soulful owl.
In many ways, although he was living in the wild, Flaco had become everyone's favorite pet. He was a best friend and a buddy and it felt like he had your back unconditionally. Flaco had visitors coming to him on days when they needed a Flaco wink or stare with those piercing golden eyes or a cute shake of his tufted ears.
I know this, because I was one of them who would visit when I needed a Flaco fix. And I always left feeling lighter and better after an encounter with this sweet soulful owl. He just made life better.
And at night, especially in recent months when Flaco had taken up residency on Upper West Side apartment balconies and water towers, it was comforting and exciting for neighbors to hear him hoot. He also enthralled and surprised unsuspecting residents with a peek inside their window. He was clever and fun.
For the most part during his Manhattan life, post zoo, Flaco made the trees in Central Park his home, especially fond of a couple that he'd return to nightly after his fly out — with his enormous six-foot wingspan like a New York Knicks player — to hunt for rats (and there was certainly no supply issues.)
"When I last saw him a week before his death, he looked as healthy and strong as ever, hooting from atop his favorite water tower and buildings on 86th Street."
Flaco's daily whereabouts were documented on X (formerly known as Twitter) by those who had spotted him on a morning run or on their way to work and by David Barrett, owner of popular Manhattan Bird Alert, who had amassed a huge following, thanks to his daily tweets about Flaco's hoots, or which tree Flaco was in that day, and smart insight into Flaco's behavior, like an owl whisperer.
"I am alright, but missing the beautiful creature whom I visited nearly every day when he was free in Central Park and with whom I often connected at night during his months on the Upper West Side," says Barrett. "When I last saw him a week before his death, he looked as healthy and strong as ever, hooting from atop his favorite water tower and buildings on 86th Street."
Flaco's story is one of triumph against the odds, says Barrett. "He amazed everyone by quickly adapting to life in the wild, learning to hunt and to fly skillfully. By thriving as a free owl after twelve years in a tiny enclosure, Flaco came to symbolize freedom and resilience."
A memorial for Flaco in Central ParkBarrett says there are several Flaco memories that will make him smile in the days and years to come. "Flaco's curiosity about the world around him was charming," says Barrett. "He typically chose daily resting places in Central Park that allowed him to view human activity. He was comfortable with quiet people nearby, enough so to show us his owl behaviors: stretching, scratching, preening, hooting and sleeping. He took us on adventures in Central Park, and then when he wanted to explore new territory, across all Manhattan. He made the most of his year of freedom."
Remembering Flaco 
There is a memorial for Flaco in Central Park beneath one of his favorite oak trees at East Drive and 104th Street — hundreds of flowers and notes and artwork and photos hug the tree. And the outpouring of love on social media has been staggering and continues.
"By thriving as a free owl after twelve years in a tiny enclosure, Flaco came to symbolize freedom and resilience."
There are also efforts to erect a permanent statue in Central Park. Thousands have already signed a petition. "I think the ultimate goal is to have a sufficient number of signatures to encourage the New York City Council to recommend commissioning a Flaco statue," says Barrett.
And the Wild Bird Fund has been receiving donations from all over the country, and overseas, following Flaco's death. "We're truly touched by this outpouring of generosity. It will help many other birds who've fallen on hard times in the city," says Quayle. 
Also, a Central Park memorial service was scheduled for Sunday, March 3 in the afternoon at Flaco's oak tree.
Spring Migration 
It's spring migration time soon, a challenging time for birds who try to navigate through the city.
"The city's lights are a beacon, drawing large numbers of migrating birds into the streets and parks," says Quayle. "Although we have lots of rich habitat for these visitors, much of this habitat is surrounded by walls of glass, which birds can't see or understand. They only see the sky or the trees reflected in the glass. This is why there are so many collisions here."
But, she says, it's important to note that this is not a skyscraper problem. "Most collisions occur at or below the treeline," says Quayle. "If the skyscrapers contribute, it's because of the bright light they emit, attracting birds to hazardous areas. Many of the newer skyscrapers also have floor-to-ceiling windows at the treeline. This is a deadly combination. Reducing the lights at night, and marking those lower-level windows to make them visible to birds, would greatly reduce window collisions."
Flaco, a Eurasian eagle-owl, with a trap zoo staff set out for it, April 2023Quayle says the Wild Bird Fund would like to see many more building owners take the initiative to make the necessary critical changes.
"The other component is light," says Quayle. "We need a solid lights-out program that will substantially reduce nighttime light during spring and fall migration. A bill addressing this issue will be reintroduced in the city council this year, and we hope to see it succeed."
And Flaco will continue to affect change. There is a bill being renamed for Flaco to address the building and window collisions.
Note: It is not believed that Flaco died from a building collision. The thinking is that he died from poison, and most likely falling off a railing as a result of being ill.
Birthday Boy 
Flaco would have turned 14 on March 15 this year (he was born in North Carolina and then brought to the Central Park Zoo when he was months old.) Surely, there will be a birthday tribute in Central Park. As much love and comfort as Flaco brought to so many, I hope he knew how loved he was and that he will always be celebrated. He is really missed.


Spreading Wings of Love for Flaco

Laurie Bain Wilson

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