For some other reading until I return, you might be interested in my most recent posts for the On Retirement blog at U.S. News and World Report: Three Steps for Easing into Retirement and Five Attitude Adjustments Needed for Retirement Success.

I will crank things back up next week with some interesting things to report.

Thanks for reading.

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Most baby boomers who have spent time investigating their own family history have learned that the big player in the field is the Mormon Church. The Mormons understand and promote the importance of genealogy and dedicate substantial resources to gathering and indexing family history information. They do not limit their efforts to members of the church. Their library is for and about everyone.

In the past, if you wanted to access the full resources of the Mormon family history library, you had to travel to Salt Lake City or visit one of the regional research centers.

More recently, the church has been electronically indexing all of their records and developing web applications for allowing anyone to find and see those records, using a browser from the comfort of their own home. The Mormon’s online research portal is called FamilySearch.org. I have used it to find and download historical documents about our families. I then upload those records to our family history wiki at WeRelate.org.

The FamilySearch.org site is changing and improving again.  A new beta site has been released. It is impressive in both scope and simplicity. Right from the main search page you can enter a name and a birth date/place or date and place of death about one of your ancestors. The search engine will then present you with information about people in their massive database that meet those criteria. The odds are good that your relative will be found.

From their, you can access, view and download historical records and documents.

Something new and useful that the beta site has introduced is an indexing service. If you access one of the online documents, you can add indexing information about the document and upload it to the site. This allows the community of users to improve the quality and quantity of family history data that is available to others.

If you are looking for hobbies and activities to explore in a pre-retirement phase of your life, genealogy is one that you should consider. Curiosity, time, and a computer is all you will need. The results of your “hobby” can be shared with others, a reward and legacy from your efforts that everyone will appreciate.

Here is the link to the beta site. FamilySearch.org

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I soon discovered that Twitter was more about self-promotion than about exchange of valuable information. Most of my Twitter followers were other bloggers promoting their own writing. The personal information I received was uninteresting and none of it pertained to people that I knew other than online. I received some helpful tips from large businesses with whom I had purchased items but nothing that could not be found from a less time-consuming source. I tried running searches inside Twitter for helpful information, all of which were unsuccessful.

Late last year I stopped posting on Twitter. Even then I continued to receive messages that another self-promoter was now “following” me. In other words, I didn’t have to tweet anything to add followers. That should tell you something about the Twitter wasteland right there.

I continued to check Twitter periodically but earlier this year I stopped doing that. The time invested in Twitter generated almost zero positive return on either a business or personal level. I still have new people following me each week. I don’t know any of them and they have nothing from me to follow. They just want me to follow them back. That is not going to happen.

Facebook was a better experience but not by much. At least I know most of my Facebook friends (including relatives) in real life. The problem is that 90% of what they say in Facebook is trivia. It’s not even worth my time to read. I found myself hiding updates from more and more “friends.” Other information posted fell into a TMI category – stuff that does not belong in a semi-public forum. People who post work-related information on Facebook (including some of my relatives) probably deserve to be fired.

I also found the privacy shenanigans inside Facebook – carried out by Facebook leadership in the name of dominating the web – to be disgraceful

I recently finished reading “The Four Hour Work Week.” I will be writing more about that in the near future. One of the lessons taught in that book is how much our lives are bogged down by information overload. I’m talking about information that does not enhance our lives. I decided that Facebook fell into that category. Just connecting to see if there was anything interesting to read (usually not the case) took too much of my time.

So last week I deactivated my Facebook account. I haven’t missed it at all. It is liberating not to be annoyed by the time wasted reading unimportant information.

So fellow boomers: What is your assessment of Twitter and Facebook on a personal level?

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First, I have had a Google Voice number for about six months. This week I asked friends and family to begin using my Google Voice number as my primary telephone contact. The primary reason is that it allows them to reach me by phone without knowing what phone I am near. In theory that’s the way a cell phone should work, but not always. A second reason is the elegant simplicity of accessing and processing voice mail using Google Voice. Every message is accessible from any computer, in both audio and translated text format. The translated voice message texts are quite accurate. I also receive the voice messages by email and text message.  No more dialing a voice mail number and going through menus.

There are many more technical features associated with Google Voice that just make things easier for me, particularly when I am working outside the office. I will begin transitioning some of my clients to my Google Voice number soon. You should check it out and try to get a number and see if it can simplify your life as well. Even if you want to keep your current number, you can still use many of the Google Voice features.

The other technology steps we accomplished this week were related to increasing our use of the Internet to access content that is generally provided by satellite or cable systems. First, we doubled the speed of our DSL service at our lake house. I then connected our home theater PC that we recently purchased to our lake house TV, using the HDMI input. That allowed me to use the HTPC to grab Internet media content from our newly upgraded connection and watch it on the big screen. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. Standard definition video content – even displayed at full screen resolution – was clean, smooth and steady. We don’t have enough bandwidth to watch streaming HD content yet but we can consider another upgrade when more HD content becomes available on the Internet.

Thanks to the generosity of tech guru son #1, we are using an X-Gene RF wireless keyboard to control the HTPC. This keyboard was designed specifically for this purpose, with an easy to use “hold in your hands” form factor and built-in mouse track ball and scroll wheels. We also installed the new Kylo browser which was also specially designed for using the Internet on a large screen TV display.

Although our Internet cost has increased because of the speed upgrade, our plan is to more than offset that increase by downscaling our satellite service. The faster DSL speed has also improved my remote connection to my office network so that working remotely is more efficient and pleasant.

Simplicity is a concept for which technology can help, if used carefully.

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The condo developer/builder is an expert in insulated concrete form (ICF) construction and is using this method for the condos. This works well because each of the six planned buildings are small – only 8 units each. Our unit is on the second of three floors which is perfect for us. Because the terrain is sloped, we are above the ground at the rear (where the water views and walking trails are) but our front door and garage are at ground level, so no steps to walk. This should help if one of us develops mobility problems down the road.

ICF construction definitely leads to a “green” building  in terms of energy savings. Basically, an insulated concrete form is made by interconnecting rigid foam structures, leaving a gap in the middle into which concrete is poured. The foam structures are then covered with exterior and interior finishes. ICF construction provides tremendous strength, air-tight walls, and 39% lower heating and cooling costs compared to wood frame construction. Also, because the walls are air-tight, noise levels are substantially reduced. The floors are also concrete so there will be little or no impact noises transmitted from above or below.

“Going green” when building a home for retirement living makes sense in several ways, apart from the environmental benefits. The lower energy costs mean actual dollar savings, important to someone on a fixed income.

ICF as a green construction technique adds other benefits to a retired homeowner or renter:

• Low air penetration reduces dust and allergens.
• The noise reduction provides enhanced levels of peace and quiet.
• There are no wall cavities to harbor pests, mold and mildew.
• The walls cannot rot or decay.
• High thermal mass in the floors and walls minimizes temperature fluctuations in response to outside temperature changes.

If you want to learn more about green building with insulated concrete forms, take a visit to Amvic Building Systems, the system that is being used on our condo.

Bottom line – if you are considering building or buying something new for retirement living, it would certainly pay to carefully investigate the use of green building techniques.

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These are some of the ways that have occurred to me in which a new retiree can use free time to reduce their personal cost of living:

1. Develop and use your cooking skills. Let’s face it – busy Americans tend to save their precious free time by eating out a lot and purchasing expensive convenience foods to eat at home. This adds a lot to the food budget. As a retiree, you now have plenty of extra time to plan and cook complete meals at home, using lower cost basic ingredients instead of prepared convenience items. You also have time to learn and develop improved cooking skills. If you do it right, you end up with a smaller food budget, a healthier diet, and better tasting meals. This is definitely on my list. I can imagine saving $50-$100 per month this way.

2. Comparison shop. Most everyone knows that the the Internet has dozens of different shopping tools and sites that enable the skilled shopper to find the best deal on thousands of different products. Similarly, carefully studying the local grocery and drug store ads can lead to significant savings. I do a poor job of comparison shopping now because I get in a hurry. There is no excuse for being in a hurry when you are a retiree with an extra 2000 hours of free time.

3. Find and exploit the senior discounts. Now that I am approaching 60, I am learning of senior discounts offered by stores that never occurred to me before. Some of these discounts are out there but not heavily advertised. It takes time to find them. It can also take time and planning to use them. For example, one of our local grocery chains offers a 10% discount on most food purchases to seniors (60 and older) on the first Wednesday of each month. With lots of free time to plan ahead, it is a lot easier for a retiree to find and use these senior discounts for yourself.

4. Seek out free entertainment. Folks who work full-time tend to spend a lot entertainment dollars in a short period of time because they don’t have as much free time. Examples include the whirl-wind, high dollar vacations we take. With more free time, a retiree could end up spending even more entertainment money, if the entertainment activities are similar. However, if you use some of that free time to develop new interests and engage in activities that are less time intensive but equally enjoyable, you could spend less. Reading, gardening, volunteering, etc., are all hobby-type activities that can be free or inexpensive compared to some of the other ways we entertain ourselves when we feel pressed for time.

I’m sure there are lots of other ways in which a retiree’s free time can be applied toward retirement cost reduction. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in a comment.

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On the subject of parents, kids, and inheritances, I found a short article from CNN/Money fascinating in its simple message: If you want to inherit, treat your parents nicely.

The scary part of having elderly parents with money is that they will waste it away. The examples stated in the article are classic, including an elderly father lavishing expensive gifts on a gold-digger girlfriend. Fortunately, I don’t have those problems but I know others who do. We hate to see that kind of behavior in our family members, inheritance or not.

The authors’ research confirms a logical conclusion with a double-payoff. Children who treat their parents well (as we all should strive to do) thereby motivate their parents to want to leave the kids something at death. One consequence of this motivation is that the parents are less inclined to spend their money in meaningless or wasteful ways while they are alive. Bingo – everyone wins.

I’m not suggesting that treating your parents well should be financially motivated. Don’t even bother with that strategy. Just be a caring family member. The simple things are what matter – call and visit! Maintain those family bonds through communication. That way, elderly parents won’t be looking in the wrong places for attention, and then throwing their money in those wrong places.

Here’s another suggestion: send a link to this article to your own kids. Plant the seed for the future!

Source: Get your parents to stop spending your inheritance.

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Cable and satellite television costs are high on the list cost reduction targets. After much analysis of where home entertainment technology is headed, I determined that our focus should be on broadband technology, not dedicated cable or satellite subscription content. The broadband technology can be used for remote office work home activities and to access multimedia content, directly from the content providers. At the same time, we wanted to continue to use our large screen televisions to watch the entertainment and sports content that we enjoy.

The solution was to acquire a small form-factor computer that was relatively inexpensive but had features that would allow it to be configured as a home theater PC. The small form factor was important so that we could physically move the box from one house to another and connect it to our TV wherever we happened to be – here, at the lake, or eventually at our condo at Long Branch Lakes.

I finally found what I wanted – a Dell Zino HD unit – newly arrived and discounted at the Dell Outlet store. It was delivered yesterday. We immediately put our oldest son (an expert in home theater technology) to work configuring it. Although he is still tweaking some things, I am extremely pleased as to how it performs. Streaming content from the web – even HD content- through the HTPC box looks fantastic. I could not observe any quality difference between the cable content and the streamed content. We used the Boxee software media interface and it also worked well.  The Zino box looked fine on the TV stand – an inconspicuous 8″ x 8″ glossy black box.

This first test was using an Internet connection at full cable speeds. The next test will be at the lake, where we have a minimum speed DSL connection. Our son believes it should work OK for standard definition content but we may made need to upgrade our DSL speed to stream HD content. We shall see.

Because there is not a lot of free HD content online, we will probably investigate some subscription sources to find more, e.g ., Netflix.

This was a “spend money to save money” decision. By eliminating DVR and some cable and satellite channel subscriptions, our recurring costs will go down, providing a 6-12 month payback period on the cost of the HTPC.

Stay tuned for more on this cost reduction strategy.

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The advice came in a free email newsletter I receive each week called “Early to Rise.” The writer is Michael Masterson ( a pen name). Masterson likes to sell stuff (so be ready for that if you subscribe) but he writes well and about topics I generally find interesting. So I put up with the sales pitches to get the stuff that is helpful.

This is the common sense “using our time wisely” advice from Masterson:

The time we spend on each of our daily activities can either: (a) improve us; (b) keep us the same; or (c) damage us. That’s not a difficult concept to grasp. But what we sometimes forget is that these choices and options apply to all of our basic activities – working, eating, sleeping, and relaxing.

For example, sometimes relaxing means having fun. Getting drunk can be considered “fun” for some, but it can clearly damage us. Having a beer after work with friends is fun that causes no damage but is not exactly life-improving either. There are other activities with friends that can be fun and improve us. Example: For a number of years I belonged to an investment club with friends. That was fun and educational. I know people who embrace book clubs – reading and sharing with friends.

The books you read to relax can improve you (lots of choices there) or do nothing but take up your time (e.g., romance novels).

The work you do can provide a paycheck but may beat you down in other ways. If you “work for the weekend” you know what I mean.

The food you eat – well you know that story. Food damage is everywhere and sometime permanent (e.g., diabetes).

Sleeping? I suppose our choices there are to either (1) sleep long and well enough to keep our batteries charged for other activities or (2) remain sleep deprived and struggle through the day.

As Masterson points out, each of our activity choices during a day may not seem significant. But when you string them all together over a full day or a week, can you say that these activities have improved us?

For most of us, the sum total of a day’s activities probably fall within that neutral zone of keeping us the same. Perhaps we mix a few life improving activities with others that bring us down. There is another word for that lifestyle: Mediocre.

Do we lead mediocre lives because of our activity choices? We sure can. Do we choose the activities that offer the least resistance or require the least effort? Do we fill our time with stagnant amusement, e.g., watching our favorite television programs? A lot of us do these things, without thoughtful consideration.

I started blogging about retirement and personal finance 20 months ago. It has filled a lot of my time. I consider this a life improving activity. I learn new things while doing it. It may improve my writing. It makes me think about my life in different ways. I have made other important life planning decisions based on what I have learned and what I have thought about while researching and writing my blogs.

At work, I have made a sincere effort to choose those activities (and clients) that energize me and cause me to want to work harder. The boring stuff and negative clients I have tried to avoid or discard, with some success. These choices have made me a better worker. I am trying new technology and new approaches at work because I have made time for that, deliberately. I try to share what I learn with my co-workers.

What activities have I discarded? I watch less TV. I don’t go to sporting events as much as I used to. I don’t drink as much. I would still “enjoy” these things but not so much if I am considering the alternatives.

This post has been a bit of a ramble. Maybe it will cause you to think about your time-choices. Maybe you have some wisdom to offer the rest of us in a comment. Please do that.

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1.  Word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software: Google Docs. I use this because it is web-based, meaning that I can access the software and my documents from any computer. It is also easy to share documents with others. It is compatible with most file-types. Recently, Google has upgraded Google Docs to allow you to upload and store any type of file. This is a free way to back-up important files. Also, if you wish you can run Google Docs offline and sync your work to the web at your convenience.

2. Photo organization and editing: Picasa Another free Google application that takes all of the hassle out of finding and organizing photos and videos located anywhere on your computer. The editing features are not advanced but are suitable for most editing tasks. Creating and sharing online albums and slide shows is a breeze. Recently, Picasa has been provided with facial recognition functionality so that you can easily find and organize multiple photos that contain images of the same person.

3. Email and Contacts Management: Gmail. Nothing else comes close, not even Microsoft Outlook which I use at work. Again, because it is web-based, everything you need is accessible from any computer that is connected to the Internet. The ability to filter, search, and organize your mailbox is superb. If you use Picasa, Gmail integrates as well.

4. Genealogy and Family History: WeRelate.org For years I used Family Tree Maker. Then I realized how silly it was for various family members to work separately instead of collaboratively on family history. Thankfully, I discovered WeRelate.org which is a wiki-based website that allows you and others to build a family tree together. The primary drawback is that it does not let you (for obvious privacy reasons) input data on living persons.

5. Anti-virus and Anti-spyware:  Microsoft Security Essentials I think I’ve used most of the well-known free and fee-based anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Microsoft Security Essentials combines it all into a single package that updates itself behind the scenes. The best thing about it is that it uses so few of your computer’s resources compared to most of the other programs.

6. Back-up Software: Cobian Backup. Having a good back-up plan is critical. I save some super-critical files to remote sites but most of my back-up is to an external hard drive. Cobian makes it easy to schedule and implement full and incremental back-ups of the files and folders that you select.

7.  Windows Maintenance: Advanced System Care (Free Version). Windows is a program that unfortunately needs occasional tune-ups and clean-ups. The free version of Advanced System Care handles those tasks with ease. I don’t keep it running in the background. Instead, I run a scan weekly to fix any registry issues, etc. If you go to their site to try it, you will have to search carefully for the free version.

These are some of the free programs I use to minimize the costs of my computing. What about you?

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